Collaborate or Commiserate…

By Prof. Gordon Wallace
ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES)
University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia

Also published in ‘Chemistry in Australia’  
Follow Gordon on Twitter  – @GordonGWallace

The ability to build effective collaborative research activities is no longer a secondary skill for scientists. It is a skill critical to the development of a successful career. Without a demonstrated capacity to deliver on projects that mandate collaboration, a competitive position cannot be sustained.

The importance of collaboration in delivering efficient, effective and high impact advances in research and innovation is well documented. See for example the position paper entitled “Australian Science in a Changing World: Innovation requires Global Engagement” published by the Australian Academy of Science in 2011.

A scant search of the research literature also shows numerous studies highlighting that collaboration is essential (plug – collaboration, research and innovation into your search engine). A simple survey of high profile publications shows multiple authors from different backgrounds and research organisations are usually involved.

At a local level, on a daily basis, it is obvious that the complex global research challenges we face cannot be effectively confronted by individuals, indeed not even by a group of individuals, from a single discipline.

In our Centre of Excellence (ACES) the pursuit of more efficient energy conversion systems using biomimicry calls on the talents of Biologists, Chemists and Chemical Engineers, Materials Scientists / Engineers to design and synthesis new material structures and Mechanical Engineers who can build fabrication equipment to assemble these in appropriate configurations. Our quest to build next generation Medical Bionic Platforms also calls on these skills; in addition to the input needed in the areas of physiology, electronic engineering and the direction of clinicians who will use the outcomes. This collection of highly-talented individuals, technically gifted in their chosen fields, and with interpersonal skills that have enabled effective collaboration, have achieved advances that would not have been possible individually.

The interpersonal skills essential for collaborative success include:

-       The ability to listen.  Respect for the talents of others and an innate thirst for knowledge usually result in an individual who can listen and acquire information from a completely different discipline.

-       The ability to clearly articulate complex phenomena in simple terms. A detailed knowledge of your own field is needed if you are to be able to break the message down into digestible chunks.

-       The ability to be creative with the wide range of communication tools now available to help listening and articulating.

-       The ability to help build a rapport with individuals and with the team that facilitates the collaborative process.

-       The highest level of integrity and patience. The ability to put the collaboration and longer term benefits for all ahead of short-term benefits for the individual.

We do have a choice. We can either develop such interpersonal skills and establish ourselves in an effective integrated team of high calibre researchers and collaborate – or commiserate with those that thought collaboration was not necessary!

Ten steps to building effective research collaborations.

1. Establish the Vision.
2. Identify the skills needed to take the Vision forward.
3. Take the Vision “to the streets” – make sure the Vision is embedded in and promoted through every opportunity. Get others excited !!
4. Bring others to the Vision – organise symposia, workshops, invited talks. Tap into existing collaborative networks such as Centres of Excellence, Co-operative Research Centres, Australian Nanotechnology network, or the many others you will find relevant to your field of expertise. As a PhD student start to build links – with other researchers. Make the most of visiting experts to your labs. Get prepared and be enthusiastic. Every visitor is a prospective collaborator at some point  in your career.
5. Refine the Vision as needed – the first idea is unlikely to be the best. If it finds itself in the wrong place at the wrong time it is easier to refine the idea than manipulate these physical realities.
6. Recognise Collaborative Opportunities. It is more than just a collection of appropriate skills that makes collaborations work. You need to identify and align yourself with like-minded individuals. If it doesn’t feel right almost immediately then in my experience it is probably not going to work. Ninety nine per cent of the time you can gauge the likelihood of collaborative success very quickly (two beers and a packet of Nobby’s Nuts should do it).
7. Once identified, treat the relationship as precious. Identify a short-term opportunity to get some runs on the board, and build on that. If you can produce an output that has required collaborative planning, execution and delivery, you are more ready to seek external investment in the partnership.
8. Build the collaboration – patience, integrity and enthusiasm will be required. Building the collaboration requires resources and practical support. You need to ensure that resources can be kicked-in to breathe life into the collaboration. Those resources are usually more than just cash; it is the dynamic supportive environment that fosters real collaboration.
9. Acknowledge collaborators – celebrate Success! Researchers are not good at celebrating success because we always want to make it better. Celebrate significant results together Celebrate that joint publication !!
10. Would be great to hear your ideas.

So we have discussed why and suggested how, but where ?

Not all organisations are adept at facilitating collaborative research. So if you are choosing where to work – chose carefully.

While there is no doubt that these skills will make individuals more attractive to prospective employers, the collaborative research environment to be supplied and resourced by the employing organisation is also critical to success.

So be prepared for the  “do you have any questions for us” routine.

1. How does the organisation support a collaborative research environment ?
2. What resources are available to initiate meetings and fund collaboration promoting events ?
3. What resources are available to initiate collaborative projects ?
4. How does the organisation facilitate (not just encourage) cross department collaborations ?
5. This does not just include across technical Departments, for example, do the organisations marketing people work effectively on collaborative projects with researchers ?
6. How does the enterprise actively facilitate collaborations?

Organisational structure and attitudes are critical to efficient building of successful collaborations. So don’t go to the wrong place !!

Remember your collaborators may be hampered by the policies of their organisation as you will be by yours. Understand that and work together on them. For many research organisations/bureaucracies,   collaborative research arrangements are really a hassle (the lip-service is usually politically correct) but the practical support afforded to those who are collaboratively active can be a number of decibels below the usual lip-service.

So we have covered why, how and where ….but when ?

Having established yourself in an appropriate organisation, you will be expected to deliver research impact in a timely manner. So when do you expend the effort required to establish collaborations.

Well that’s a real dilemma in our current environment. The suitor needs some credentials to look attractive and those credentials are not just technical. Much to the astonishment of most administrators in research organisations, the establishment of collaborations consumes  energy and resources (this is widely recognised in the business community) where relationships are valued and appropriate resources to initiate and sustain them are supplied. But for researchers, something has to give !

This is usually the shorter term return, linked to “tenure” and promotion. 

In some way, it is much simpler NOT to collaborate; the shorter term returns will most likely be better.

Of course the longer term returns will not compete, so here we start to see the importance of engaging in collaboration with an organisation that really understands and appreciates what is involved, and what the benefits will be if sustainable support is provided.

So Collaborate or Commiserate ….a bit harsh ?   a bit simplistic ?

Yes ….. and very real !

In the space available, all I can hope to have achieved is to have sparked some discussion so that you can refine and customise everything above for your own personal situation.

Your comments are welcome.

Additive BIO Fabrication: Impact, Opportunities and Challenges

Written by:

Prof. Gordon Wallace and Dr Stephen Beirne
Follow Gordon on Twitter: @gordongwallace

ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES)
Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, AIIM Facility, Innovation Campus
University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia

First published in ATSE magazine (Academy of  Technological Science & Engineering)

In recent years we have outrun our ability to fabricate structures from the amazing materials that we can now create. While this can be said of many areas of materials research it is particularly so in the area of biomaterials. Here, we are often confronted with delicate compositions with nano- to microscopic features that will not survive the traditional (hammer and chisel) approach to fabrication. There is good reason why nature “grows” complex, highly functional structures. Such structures with functionality determined by the spatial distribution of composition with nanodimensional resolution can not be chiselled from a slab of material.

Additive fabrication (AdFab), often referred to as 3D Printing, involves layer-by-layer deposition and fusion of materials to create customised structures. The structure to be produced can be conceptualised, manipulated and defined within a growing array of modelling environments; from conventional parametric Computer-Aided Design (CAD) solutions such as Solidworks™ or ProE™, through to free-form animation toolsets such as Autodesk 3ds Max™, and even free web-based applications like Tinkercad™ (www.tinkercad.com). Once a design is completed, a file that describes the structures’ surface geometry is generated and a set of digitised instructions then drives the printer to create the required structure layer by layer.

The fabrication process can involve several deposition modes. In fused deposition modelling / extrusion printing, a molten build material is deposited and solidified on cooling.  For higher resolution structures (layer thicknesses as low as 16 µm), a fluid material precursor is ink-jetted onto a substrate and simultaneously transformed into a solid structure via a chemical reaction (UV induced polymerisation). Metal structures can be fabricated through a physical micron-scale welding process known as selective laser melting.

The Impact

The recent race to embrace AdFab has had significant wide-ranging impact on those of us involved in biomaterials and biodevices research. For example:-

In Wollongong, we have established Additive Biofabrication capabilities within a dedicated Processing and Devices Facility (Figure 1). Equipment housed here includes commercial additive fabrication systems like the Objet Connex 350™ and Relaizer SLM50™, commercial bio-fabrication systems such as the EnvisonTec Bioplotter™, and customised printing systems such as the KIMM SPS1000, a Reactive Ink-jet Printer and an Extrusion Printer. A more detailed description can be found at http://www.electromaterials.edu.au/equipment/index.html

Figure 1: AdBioFab at Innovation Campus – UOW

The ability to create customised 3D polymeric or metallic structures in the laboratory accelerates experimental design by enhancing the realisation of material components that facilitate experimentation. Additive fabrication provides an in-house capability to design and realise unique set ups in a minimal period of time.

One case in point was the development of an experimental procedure to electrically stimulate cells in vitro on organic conducting polymer surfaces (a study in the field of “Organic Bionics”[1]). Off-the-shelf chamber wells were removed from their original substrate and bonded to a conducting polymer coated gold Mylar substrate to act as a media reservoir. A custom platinum counter electrode mount was produced by additive fabrication (see Figure 2). The mount allows accurate placement of the platinum mesh electrodes in the media reservoir and ensures a repeatable electrode orientation. A proprietary bio-compatible material, Objet MED610™, was chosen as the build material. Production of these components by conventional machining would have been relatively expensive and would not have easily facilitated the small dimensional features of the component.

Batch production of biocompatible components using Objet MED610™ for use in biological experiments (Fig. 2.A)

Platinum mesh electrode mount as used to provide repeatable spacing between electrode surfaces during cell stimulation trials
(Fig. 2.B).

Another example of experimental tool production involved the development of a device to enable studies related to the alleviation of eye pressure arising from glaucoma; a study led by Prof. Michael Coote at the Centre for Eye Research Australia. Concept outline sketches were provided and translated into 3D CAD models. Graphical representations of the implant design allowed for revisions and modifications to be easily communicated and implemented before fabrication (Figure 3).

Batch production of an array of design permutations was achieved in a single build tray printing cycle. Design iterations were simply undertaken without any concern for re-tooling of the hardware.

Figure 3: Illustration depicting concept glaucoma implant as developed within Solidworks™ 2012 and highlighting external dimensions. Completed device as produced using Objet MED610™, after addition of 700 μm OD silicone tubing.

These examples illustrate what can be achieved with commercially available machinery and materials. In other aspects of our work within the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES), we are concerned with the fabrication of structures containing biopolymers, organic conductors and even living cells within new structures for bionics[1].

Existing commercially available equipment can not handle such materials. Consequently we have been involved with the Korean Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) and the company M4T, who have supplied a customised Scaffold Plotting System (SPS1000™) that is capable of extrusion printing biopolymers; including synthetic biodegradables such as polycaprolactone, or naturally occurring biopolymers such as chitosan. Using this system, we have printed 3D scaffolds (Figure 4(a)). The lower feature size is limited to about 200 µm and is determined by the rheological properties of the bio-ink. Such structures have previously proven useful as scaffolds for tissue regeneration. More recently we have modified this extrusion printer to enable co-axial printing. This required the design and fabrication of a dual reservoir system and a co-axial print head (Figure 4(b)). These components were designed and fabricated in-house – the printhead itself was produced using a 3D metal printer – the era of printing printers is upon us!  Co-axial structures with an inner core diameter range of 200 to 500 µm and an outer core of 600 to 1200 µm diameter were produced. This customised co-axial printing system has already proven useful for the creation of alginate / polycaprolactone co-axial 3D structures and even the creation of structures containing living cells[2].

4a: Porous polycaprolactone (PCL) structures produced through hot-melt extrusion printing in an array of structure geometries based on geometric .stl data and user defined grid spacing parameters.

4b: A batch of co-axial extrusion tips, before final finishing and polishing, produced in Stainless Steel 316L with a Realizer SLM50™ operating with layer slice thickness of 25μm

Using a commercially available ink-jet printer from Dimatix™ and a customised ink using organic conducting polymer nano-particles, we have printed features as small as 20 µm that have been used as bionic guidance tracks to control the direction of nerve growth[3]. Another addition to our printing armoury is a custom built multi-head ink-jet printer that allows printing of multiple components to create new material structures during fabrication, so called reactive printing, wherein the individual components react to form a more mechanically robust structure. For example, this has been used to form biopolymer hydrogel structures that are ionically cross-linked during printing.

With minimal modification, we have also found these print heads to be useful in allowing for the effective delivery of living cells during the printing process; delivering both nerve and muscle cells to create unique biofunctional structures. The cells are maintained using a biopolymer suspension with optimised rheological properties that enable effective delivery through the ink-jet head. The formulation used is multi-purpose and multi-functional, in that it maintains the cells in a healthy state in suspension for many hours, protects cells during delivery and sustains cell viability after printing [4].

AdBioFab – Changing the way we teach, commercialise and do research

After a number of decades wherein advances in materials science have often been limited by our inability to fabricate effectively, we have now entered a new era. Biomaterials researchers have been empowered with the ability to fabricate customised structures using hardware that can be accommodated in most research laboratories at reasonable cost.

The convergence of advances in biomaterials, AdBioFab, Information technology, Nano technology and Bio technology is set to move us forward in biomedical science at an unprecedented rate. Our ability to convert data into knowledge and to effectively disseminate that knowledge has been outrun by our ability to create the primary data!

The knowledge dissemination gap continues to grow wider and this has implications for:

•  Schools and Universities: those responsible for skilling the next generation of researchers.
•  Regulatory authorities: who require information and an understanding of the implications of advances occurring on a number of technological fronts simultaneously.
•  The commercialisation sector: these advances are challenging traditional commercialisation models that are based on mass-manufacturing / cost reduction / sales targets. With additive biofabrication, localised manufacture using exotic materials will deliver the most effective solutions.
•  The community: social acceptance of advances in the medical sector is obviously critical to success. We must develop innovative approaches to present understandable chunks of knowledge.

Now we in materials science can be bold, even audacious. We can develop materials not amenable to current processing and fabrication approaches with the knowledge that we can print-printers; creating the fabrication machinery of the future in tandem with breakthroughs in materials science!

Advances in AdBioFab will have a staggering impact because it not only accelerates the thought-to-thing process, delivering practical solutions sooner, but it also empowers us to make unprecedented fundamental advances. For example, the ability to arrange living cells in 3D within naturally occurring or synthetic biomaterial structures will give insights into environmental effects on cell behaviour – insights hitherto unavailable.

Acknowledgements

The establishment of Additive Biofabrication capabilities in Wollongong has been made possible through the support of the Australian Federal Governments EIF program in providing a processing and devices fabrication facility. Equipment has been made available through EIF as well as the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF) via the Australian Federal Governments NCRIS program. Personnel and personnel support has been provided through the NSW State Government Science Leveraging Fund and the ANFF.

References

---

[1] Wallace, G.G., Moulton, S.E., Higgins, M.J., Kapsa, R.M.I. “Organic Bionics” Wiley-VCH Verlag & Co. KGaA, Boschstr. 12, 69469 Weinheim, Germany 2012.

[2] Cornock, R., Honours thesis, University of Wollongong 2012.

[3] Weng, B., Liu, X., Higgins, M.J., Shepherd, R., Wallace, G. “Fabrication and Characterization of Cytocompatible Polypyrrole Films Inkjet Printed from Nanoformulations Cytocompatible, Inkjet-Printed Polypyrrole Films” Small 2011, 7 (24), 3434-3438.

[4] Ferris, C.J., Gilmore, K.J., Beirne, S., McCallum, D., Wallace, G.G., in het Panhuis, M. “Bio-ink for on-demand printing of living cells” Biomaterials Science, 2013, 1, 224-230.

Hate blood but want a career in medicine? Don’t worry, there’s a job for you

Written by Ian Wilson, Professor, Associate Dean – Learning and Teaching at University of Wollongong.

Some students come into medicine with a fixed idea of what they want to do – but this often changes. uonottingham

Just before I finished high school, my local general practitioner suggested I consider medicine. But the thought of blood made me feel squeamish, so I went to university to do maths and physics, and to try the new field of computer science. Needing a fourth subject, I opted for biology so that my friend who also did biology could give me a lift to campus.

I ended up becoming fascinated with biology, so much so that I wanted to study neuroscience, and I felt the best way into a research career was through medicine. Luckily, I was successful. As an undergraduate I discovered patients and shifted my focus to a career as a psychiatrist.

I was called up for National Service and ended up on a Defence Force Scholarship. During this time I became interested in trauma surgery and after discharge joined the surgical training scheme. After six months of surgery, I was bored with the technical side but still enjoyed the patient contact and interaction. Being married with one child and another on the way, I opted for general practice with a mental health and procedural focus.

I tell this story in some detail to highlight the meanderings that many students undertake in their career decision-making. Some students come into medicine with a fixed idea of what they want to do and spend their time achieving that goal.

But the majority are more like me and develop multiple interests. Where they end up generally depends on a number of factors such as available training posts, skill levels, controllability of lifestyle and to a very small extent, salary.

The Medical Schools Outcome Database and Longitudinal Tracking Project (MSOD) asks students about their career intentions on entry to and exit from medical school, and as interns (their first year working in a hospital) and residents (their second year of work). On entry to medical school in 2011, 25% of medical students had a first preference for surgery with paediatrics and general practice the next most frequent.

The preferences of those exiting medical school in 2011 were a little different: internal medicine and surgery were the most common career choices (18% each) followed by general practice and then paediatrics. Towards the end of the internship, the preferences changed again, with internal medicine the most frequently chosen (19%) followed by general practice and then surgery.

The least preferable career options tend to be rehabilitation, public health and palliative care – most students come into medicine to save lives, making these specialities less appealing.

With the growing number of medical graduates and the relative shortage of intern and specialist training positions, we have noticed a change in student behaviour.

Increasingly, students are attempting to ensure their undergraduate experiences provide them with the best advantage for their career selection process. Honours degrees or the publication of papers will add a few extra points in some speciality selection processes and students are working hard to achieve these goals.

Hospital choice is also seen as important, as there is a perception among medical students that undertaking an internship in a specific hospital increases their chances of being selected into a specific specialist training program. But these beliefs aren’t necessarily based on facts.

Some experts have suggested using career counselling to increase the number of students entering careers that are less appealing or where there are significant shortages. But there’s no evidence to show career counselling works in this way.

The best way to deal with this issue is around student selection and undergraduate experiences. Choosing students who are more likely to enter a given profession and providing them with experiences that are positive will work much more effectively in promoting careers in the generalist professions (medicine, surgery and rural general practice).

But often the impact of changes does not stop at the school level. Many professionals, including doctors, invest so much of their time and energy into their careers they are surprised that their practice takes on a sameness. Once you have delivered 200 babies or conducted 100 gall bladder operations the procedures lose their excitement.

This is the point at which many doctors start looking for something new and engage in medical politics, education, research, business ventures or artistic endeavours.

Some, like me, become dissatisfied with individual care and want to have a bigger impact on the world. Moving into academia to train the next cohorts of doctors seemed a logical step. In light of my original interest in research, this was a hugely positive for me.

Originally posted on The Conversation

Meet Boston Dynamics’ LS3 – the latest robotic war machine

By Associate Professor Katina Michael. Originally posted on The Conversation.

On first viewing Boston Dynamics’ latest creation, the LS3 (Legged Squad Support System), I could not help but be taken back to the AT-AT (All Terrain Armoured Transport) walker, as depicted in the Star Wars film The Empire Strikes Back.

But it is the AT-TE (All Terrain Tactical Enforcer) walker that appears in Attack of the Clones which strikes the most eerie resemblance to the LS3 concept, as the two images below demonstrate.

The AT-TE is a six-legged walker that appears in Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, and The Clone Wars multimedia campaign. starwars.wikia.com

Boston Dynamics’ LS3 Concept. Boston Dynamics

Star Wars toys have become, it seems, real-world creations. The only discernible difference is that the AT-TE is a six legged beast, while the LS3 has been dubbed the “packed mule”.

According to Boston Dynamics – which made its name with the development of the BigDog quadruped robot in 2005 – the LS3 has been designed to accompany war fighters into battle, carrying 180kg payloads and freeing up troops that would otherwise be carrying such equipment themselves.

The demonstration video below gives a sense of the LS3 in action.

One cannot help thinking this packed mule could serve a variety of functions in a war, as its real-life counterpart did in the Great Wars.

In other words, the LS3 won’t just be carrying the necessities of water, food, shelter and medical supplies – it’s more than likely it will be carrying the instruments of war.

All washed up: have surf megabrands forgotten their roots?

By Andrew Warren, Post-Doctoral Researcher at University of Wollongong and Chris Gibson, Professor of Human Geography at University of Wollongong.

Australia’s surf megabrands — once thriving cultural icons — are now facing a changing tide of fortunes.

 

Yesterday’s announcement that iconic brand Rip Curl plans to sell-up raises the question: just what has happened to Australia’s iconic surf brands?

It has been well publicised that the big three surf labels – Rip Curl, Quiksilver and Billabong – have experienced shrinking sales and expanding debts. Suburban consumers have turned away from expensive surf-branded apparel. Coupled with the rise of online shopping, doubts are growing about the future viability of corporatised surf brands.

Raw economics certainly matters to the surf industry. The big three have been hit hard by recession in the United States and Europe, where they have concentrated most of their retail investment. Their timing was terrible. Just before the GFC, Quiksilver and Billabong both expanded their business operations. Billabong bought up a substantial number of surf retail outlets. Quiksilver acquired, and has since had to sell, a series of non-surf leisure brands – including Rossignol skis and Cleveland Golf equipment. Expansion added huge debts, which became difficult to finance when retail returns evaporated.

A subcultural industry

We think the problems facing the big three can also be explained through understanding surfing subculture. From informal beginnings shaping boards in backyard workshops and tool sheds, the selling of the surf remains strongly influenced by subcultural values and fashion cycles within the surfing scene.

In our new book on the surf industry, to be published next year by University of Hawaii Press, we make the point that, like music, it is a subcultural industry defined by a tension between “major” corporate labels and smaller “independents”. Independent labels have more credibility because they are considered closer to the grassroots of surfing culture. They are often based in specific surf cities and regions – southern California, the Gold Coast, north shore O’ahu – where surf subcultures are strong.

When brands grow and expand, they take on the character of corporate enterprises. The listing of Quiksilver on the NYSE in 1998 and Billabong on the ASX in 2000 signalled abrupt changes to the existing structure of the surf industry. Rightly or wrongly, many surfers felt that profitability and capital growth became more important than fulfilling surfer’s needs and desires. Surf companies have up-scaled production, acquired smaller brands, opened flagship retail stores and supplied stock to department stores. Quiksilver now supplies their surf-wear to department chain Macy’s in the United States and David Jones in Australia. Increasing market share is the goal, to pay shareholders dividends. Brand visibility to the masses is everything. But this undermines the claim to service local roots and the needs of every-day surfers.

Undermining credibility

The marketing of surfing’s cool image has allowed companies to sell the surf to a wider range of consumers. Despite its inland geography, in 2010 the US mid-west region was worth a remarkable $457 million in surf retail sales. The trade-off is that selling surf-wear through department stores undermines scarcity and subcultural value. Brand credibility falters.

This is not new. In the 1960s surf, labels Ocean Pacific and Hang Ten successfully diversified from surfboards and board shorts into different types of surf and swimwear. Yet in the 1980s, when their products moved out of surf shops and into department stores, subcultural affiliation collapsed. The big three now appear to be heading in the same direction.

When scarcity value is lost, other independent labels fill the niche. They look much more authentic and responsive by comparison. Their surfboards, clothes and apparel are harder to find, raising scarcity value. Independent brands appear rooted in surfing cities and regions. Corporate surf firms, by contrast, appear placeless and “uncool”. In time, the “majors” swallow up newer, smaller “independents” (as happened with RVCA, Palmers, Dakine and Von Zipper), temporarily leveraging their street cred. But the cycle starts all over again.

Differences and divergences

While the big three surf brands clearly face hardship, it is wrong to assume that all three are the same, or are equally doomed. Quiksilver and Billabong are listed companies. Responsibilities to shareholders and investors will influence future business planning. Any restructuring of Billabong and Quiksilver, or recapturing of their subcultural cachet, is unlikely to involve winding back stock from department store shelves. The recent appointment of former Target CEO Launa Inman as head of Billabong confirms this.

Rip Curl, on the other hand, remains privately owned. Whether this grants more flexibility to maintain ways of doing business that retain credibility and profitability is moot. Nevertheless, Rip Curl maintains a stronger strategic focus on surf “hardwear”: wetsuits and surfboard retail. Despite a dramatic fall in the last 12 months, Rip Curl remains profitable.

Surfing industry, surfing subculture

Broader economic conditions have gutted the performance of Australia’s largest surf brands. But macroeconomic conditions do not explain the full story. Surfing is a subculture, not an anonymous market for run-of-the-mill consumer goods. Given Australia’s strong connection to surfing, demand for surf products and equipment will endure. Newer, edgier brands will emerge and compete for market share. Whether the big three Australian firms can adapt and maintain their connections to surfing subcultures will be interesting to watch. Beyond the shopping mall, the key to understanding surf capitalism is watching the unfurling logics of its subculture.

This article was originally published at The Conversation.
Read the original article.

What’s wrong with Science education?

By Dr Wendy Nielsen, Faculty of Education

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a science educator, I am sometimes asked, why do our kids have trouble learning science? The related question is, ‘what is wrong with science education?’ These questions may reflect an echo from a media story or an education minister’s complaint about weak science knowledge or PISA results posted by our students. Most often, they reflect the questioner’s personal memory of how science was learned (perhaps from the perspective of one who was successful at learning science). The predominant experience and/or memory for most people is from their own high school science classrooms, where students sat in rows and copied notes that were either written by the teacher or recited in a lecture style. You too may ask, well, what is the problem with that? Those that can, will learn the information, and those that can’t, well, they don’t really need to, because they aren’t going to be scientists anyway.

The problem is that this is a 1960s attitude toward the nature of science knowledge: science as a field of study weeds out the best students so that they will be trained as scientists. Science is important for all students because they learn about how societal understandings have been built over human history, including the structure of knowledge; the bases for evidence and logical argument; a critical ability to question claims (made across all sectors of society); an open view of the nature of knowledge and how new knowledge is built; a passing fluency with the big discussions that have historically puzzled humans and human ingenuity; a foundational ability to contribute to discussions about big issues, involving for example, the environment, land and resource management, agriculture, urban infrastructure, transportation and communications, to name just a few. In short, learning science teaches students about how to think and how to inquire into problems. A population that is a) unable, or, b) unwilling, to engage with these and other issues that have science knowledge at their core is impoverished and retrospective, rather than innovative, entrepreneurial and future-oriented and, further, lacks the capacity for problem-setting, let along problem-solving.

Was Einstein wrong? The CERN experiment that could change modern physics

Einstein’s special theory of relativity rests on two postulates: a) there is a maximum speed at which particles can travel through space and b) this maximum speed is the speed of light. The special theory of relativity becomes important when speed of particles approaches the speed of light. For lower speeds, it gives the same results as the Newtonian mechanics. The general theory of relativity was developed subsequently, to describe the gravity based on relativistic principles. These theories have been verified in a large number of experiments, setting foundations of modern physics.

However, a recent report questions the validity of one of the two postulates of the special theory of relativity.  In an experiment called OPERA, elementary particles called neutrinos were produced at CERN and directed towards detectors in an underground Gran Sasso laboratory, 730 km away inItaly.  Neutrinos are particles that do not interact with matter almost at all and they were passing almost unobstructed through the rock/soil formations on their way to the detectors.  Measuring the time it took to the neutrinos to travel the distance of 730 km, the physicists came to a surprising result: the neutrinos had to travel with the speed 0.0025 % faster than the speed of light. Careful rechecking of the experiments confirmed that the accuracy of their results is better that the obtained difference between the speed of light and the measured speed of neutrinos. While the difference of 0.0025% may be minute, this result is challenging one of the basic pillars of modern physics.  This finding is being tested by other groups. If proven correct, it will require modifying the basic theories of physics.

25 Years at UOW – “what a privilege”, says Prof. Gordon Wallace

Twenty five years ago I received a call in my University College Cork office from Prof. Leon Kane-Maguire, then Head of Department of Chemistry at University of Wollongong. I did not know that call was about to change the course of my professional life – allowing me to embark on an incredibly exciting research journey.

This year I celebrate 25 years “service” to the University of Wollongong. Arriving in Wollongong I found myself in a University keen to establish international research credentials and to be innovative in the approach that was used to do that. I have been privileged to be caught up in and to be allowed to contribute to that exciting venture. A start up research grant of $2,000 (AUD) was proudly negotiated by Prof. Kane-Maguire and the University hierarchy (I guess). Start up research funds at other Universities were significantly greater but I have since learnt that enthusiasm, camaraderie and the working environment (eventually) outweigh any lack of funding available.

I was fortunate that at this point in time some of the best PhD students in Australia were also attracted to this challenging dynamic and rapidly growing research environment. Together we forged viable research activities, faced with the challenge of balancing applied research (the major source of our support at that time) with our desire and need to build a strong fundamental research base. A research theme emerged that could satisfy these twin desires and was “sexy” enough to generate interest at all levels in our community – it was intelligent polymers. Polymers, for example, that could monitor and respond/shut down corrosion or that could detect biological imbalances or imperfections and correct them. The concept was indeed visionary (perhaps more so than we thought at the time) with short term outcomes possible and the longer term continually presenting us with significantly more research challenges. Twenty one years later (2011), the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute has come of age and the science is as intriguing as ever. We are excited by on-going discoveries and enthused by the outcomes we see possible by integrating multifunctional behaviour into devices at the molecular level.

UOW ’s Research into Schizophrenia and Better Treatments

Written by Dr Elisabeth Frank
Schizophrenia Research Institute (SRI)
School of Health Sciences, University of Wollongong

 

“Schizophrenia is a devastating brain disorder that affects up to 1 per cent of the population worldwide…” is a frequently used statistic in publications on schizophrenia research. Whereas worldwide seems far away, it is a fact for our community; over 2,000 people in Wollongong alone have schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is a chronic psychiatric disease, which has its onset mostly in the late teens or early twenties. It significantly impairs normal brain function; the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia assumes that it is a consequence of disrupted brain development in early-life.

Clinically, schizophrenia is divided into positive, negative and cognitive symptoms. What this means for patients is paranoia, hallucinations, a retreat from reality; total social isolation is often the result. The emotional burden on sufferers, families and friends is considerable, and the disease is estimated to cost the Australian community $2 billion every year.

There is currently no cure for schizophrenia; and though there are antipsychotic drugs, they are insufficient. Patients are medicated at high doses over their entire lifetime and the drugs cause serious immediate and long term side effects.

For these reasons and more, research into schizophrenia and better treatments is critical.

At UOW, several centres and researchers from various scientific fields are engaged in cooperative research on schizophrenia. Many of the basic and clinical researchers are found under the roof of the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute (IHMRI) and are associated with the Schizophrenia Research Institute (SRI).

The Centre for Translational Neuroscience (CTN) has a special focus on schizophrenia. Under the lead of Professor Xu-Feng Huang and based at IHMRI, the majority of the 30 research fellows and research students are working to uncover the neurochemical and genetic underpinnings of schizophrenia as well as neurophysiological consequences of antipsychotic drug treatment.

Studying samples from patients in Australia and China, human post-mortem brain tissue and rodent models, we use sophisticated state-of-the-art biochemical, genetic and intracranial techniques to explore neurochemical mechanisms of the disease in vitro and in vivo.

For example, the NHMRC-funded research team of Professor Xu-Feng Huang, Dr Kelly Newell and Dr Teresa Du Bois examines the glutamatergic NMDA receptor, since it is highly relevant for adequate neurodevelopment. Our second neurodevelopmental target and studied in its interaction with the NMDA receptor is the neuronal growth factor Neuregulin-1, which was identified in human genetic population studies as a major candidate for schizophrenia risk.

In a NHMRC-funded linkage project, Dr Mei Han and Dr Francesca Fernandez are screening schizophrenia patients in Beijing for mutations in this gene in correlation with symptomatology and neurochemistry. By comparing this to a Neuregulin-1 model at UOW, my SRI-funded research team is making discoveries in the novel field of neuroimmunology, which has only recently been unravelled for its aetiological relevance for schizophrenia.

 The severe side effects of antipsychotic drugs are also being investigated at the CTN. Currently available drugs have limited efficacy and are associated with a range of side effects. The NHMRC-funded research team of Professor Xu-Feng Huang investigates antipsychotic action on neurochemistry in relation to side effects like weight gain and metabolic disorders. The NHMRC-funded research team led by Dr Chao Deng is studying the functional selectivity of antipsychotics in treating schizophrenia.  These projects are expected to lead to better treatments for schizophrenia patients with reduced side effects.

 The schizophrenia research projects underway at our centre complement and collaborate with many others at the University. Working with researchers from IHMRI, the School’s of Health Sciences, Psychology and Nursing, the Graduate School of Medicine, the Illawarra Institute for Mental Health (iiMH) and the Brain and Behaviour Research Institute (BBRI), we further our understanding of disease development and treatment through combined approaches.

 We have close collaborations with the School of Psychology, where Dr Nadja Solowij, Dr Emma Barkus and several collaborators have attracted major funding for their research on the role of cannabis in the risk for schizophrenia. In a new collaborative project, an Illawarra schizophrenia patient cohort has been established. Patients will be studied by clinical and basic researchers from several schools and centres from a psychiatric, psychological, drug-compliance, dietetic, genetic, lipidomic, neurochemical and neuroimmune perspective. This will not only be a unique project due to its inter-disciplinary approach, but has the potential to directly feedback to patients and carers in the Illawarra community. Determining factors that predict a good treatment response as well as indicators for side effects of drug treatment will allow us to improve the choice of drugs used as well as to better monitor indicators for, and therefore potentially prevent, deleterious side effects in our patients.

 Linking as well with researchers from the School of Chemistry and Intelligent Polymer Research Institute (IPRI), and having access to their highly developed tools, gives us the opportunity to explore novel ways to target discovery, drug development and drug application. This is additionally supported by our cooperations with pharmaceutical companies.

 Our investment into schizophrenia does not end at the lab bench. In addition to our scientific investigations, our researchers also engage in community awareness and education around schizophrenia. With the support of IHRMI and SRI, our researchers and students have organised and contributed to a Schizophrenia Awareness Event and Mental Health Expo; and the Illawarra Mental Health Round Table which brings together major stakeholders of schizophrenia research and care in the Illawarra.

Schizophrenia is a devastating disease, but many researchers at UOW are working actively together to improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia, and finally help patients and carers lead a better life. 

More information:
www.uow.edu.au/health/healthsciences/ctn/
http://ihmri.uow.edu.au/nmh/schizophrenia/index.html
www.schizophreniaresearch.org.au

A geological excursion to the Shakey Isles and an account of the Christchurch Earthquake

Rock fall following the Christchurch 6.3 earthquake. Source http://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2011/02/23/on-the-causes-of-the-high-levels-of-loss-in-the-christchurch-earthquake/

Posted 28 February 2011

Last week 11 students and staff from the School of Earth & Environmnetal Sciences (SEES) returned from a geological fieldtrip to the South Island of New Zealand to investigate active tectonic processes including the fault rupture from the magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Christchurch last September. Little did we know that a second large earthquake (magnitude 6.3) would devastate much of Christchurch only 5 days after our return highlighting the unpredictability associated with seismic hazards. 

The fieldtrip was organised by two SEES PhD students, Steph Kermode and Nathan Jankowski, who head up the student social group – GROUNDSWELL and was supported by SEES staff Brian Jones and Solomon Buckman. The students included a mix of postgraduates and undergraduates from all levels. The purpose of the trip was to observe active tectonic and glacial processes that have sculpted the landscape in New Zealand that are not readily observable in the relatively stable Australian continent. The long-term aim is to run this fieldtrip each year as an intensive field-based summer subject in which students can get first hand experience of active geological processes including volcanoes, geothermal power stations, glaciers and faults associated with active mountain building.   

The landscapes and mountains of New Zealand are incredibly young with most of the relief having formed in only the last 5 million years. This is in stark contrast to the Australian continent that has not experienced any major mountain building activity for the past 200 million years and subsequently been eroded down to a vast, flat continent. Despite the contrast, Australia and New Zealand share a common geological origin as they were joined together 85 million years ago as a part of the supercontinent Gondwana. Between 85-45 million years ago New Zealand rifted away from Australia creating the Tasman Sea that now seperates the two continents. New Zealand is situated directly on the boundary between the Australian and Pacific plates making it a particularly active in terms of volcanic and seismic activity. In the North Island the Pacific Plate is moving to the east and subducting (sinking) beneath the North Island resulting in the development of an active volcanic arc and a deep sea trench to the east which extends all the way to Tonga. To the south subduction has flipped with the Australian Plate subducting beneath the South Island to form the Macquarie Ridge and Southern Alps. In between the North and South Islands is an intense zone of faulting where the New Zealand continent is being wrenched apart by the Alpine Fault. This is a major transform (strike-slip) plate boundary and has been active for the past 25 million years. The Alpine Fault consists of many subsiduary fault splays along its length. The big surprise with the Christchurch earthquakes has been the fact that Christchurch has not experienced large or regular earthquakes in historic times and that the fault line has not been identified  due to it being buried by thick sequences of river sediment that has been eroded off the Southern Alps. Christchurch is also quite a distance from the Alpine Fault which may have built a collectively false sense of security. New Zealand is referred to as the Shakey Isles for good reason. It sits on the Pacific Rim of fire and is subject to regular, intense seismic activity as the tectonic plates jostle and collide with each other.

It was clearly evident when we visited Christchurch that it was still rebuilding from the September 3, 2010 magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck 45 km west of the city in the rural outskirts of Roleston. It is important to realize that the Richter scale used to measure the magnitude of earthquakes is a base-ten logarithmic scale so an earthquake measuring 5.0 has a shaking amplitude ten times that of an earthquake of magnitude 4.0. However, the total energy released is 33.3 times the amount for a difference of 1. Put simply a difference of 2 on the Richter scale results in about 1000 times the amount of total energy released. Most movement on faults is accommodated by large earthquakes. Unfortunately earthquakes remain difficult to predict in the short time-scales useful to people due to the numerous variables – build up of stress, time since last rupture, water saturation of the fault plane and most importantly the fact that earthquakes generally occur 10’s to 100’s km below the surface where we cannot make direct observations of the physical conditions. Geologists rely solely on geophysical and seismic data to interpret conditions and structures deep in the lithosphere.

We visited the fault rupture and although the roads had been repaired the 4 m offset of roads, fences, hedges and canals was clear to see as well as numerous cracks and compressional mounds along the fault trace. It was also evident that many of the locals weren’t happy with the attention they were getting from passers by like us who wanted to stop and view the fault. There was a real sense amongst Cantebrians that they were lucky to get away without any loss of life after the first earthquake. Unfortunately that was not the case with the recent earthquake in which the death toll has just passed 100 and there are still over 200 people missing.

The epicenter of the February 21, 2011 magnitude 6.3 earthquake was only 5 km from the centre of Christchurch with the epicenter centred on Lettelton.  Because of proximity to the epicenter and the shallow depth (5 km) of the hypocentre, ground shaking in Christchurch was much more severe for this latest earthquake than for the larger magnitude 7 event in September. Ground accelerations were unusually high for this event, probably due to the shallow depth of the earthquake hypocenter and the thick unconsolidated substrate of wet mud and sand that much of Christchurch is built on. Compared to solid rock, sands and muds have the effect of slowing and amplifying seismic waves as they travel through the earth resulting in greater shaking. Wet sediments are also prone to liquefaction when shaken which means they suddenly change from behaving as a solid during normal conditions to a liquid during an earthquake. During an earthquake liquid sand or mud can spew out of cracks in the ground and flow down roads and collect in depressions and drainage networks. Heavy buildings and structures will tend to sink and become unstable during liquefaction if they do not have adequately engineered foundations. Typically ground shaking is in the order of 25%g  for a magnitude 6.3 earthquake but the Christchurch earthquake produced shaking of up to 188%g. To put this in perspective, any shaking above 100%g is enough to overcome the acceleration of gravity and start throwing objects up in the air! Although New Zealand has a very strong and strictly enforced earthquake building code, this level of shaking resulted in severe and widespread damage. The Modified Mercalli Intensity scale (I-XII) is used to measure damage based on observations and interviews. Levels of IX to X were recorded around the epicenter which means intense to violent damage of well-built stuctures and damage or destruction of some well built wooden structures. Most houses are built of wood in New Zealand because it is much more flexible and resistant to earthquakes than brittle brick structures. Unfortunately, aftershocks can occur for many months after an event creating dangerous conditions in already weakened structures. The other aspect is that where stress is released by an earthquake it can result in increased stress along other faults segments resulting in an “unzipping” effect as stress in the crust is redistributed and comes to a new equilibrium. This appears to be the case with this second magnitude 6.3 earthquake following the magnitude 7.0 earthquake last year some 45 km further west.

Part of my research involves investigating evidence of ancient earthquakes (Paleoseismology) in areas of Australia that are prone to seismic activity and I have a PhD student – Chulantha Jayawardena, investigating active faults in the Adelaide region. Although Australia is relatively stable compared to New Zealand it is still affected by earthquakes as evident by the magnitude 5.6 Newcastle earthquake in 1989 and the magnitude 5.4 Adelaide earthquake in 1954. Earthquakes in Australia are referred to as intraplate earthquakes as they do not occur on plate boundaries and are much less understood and certainly less predictable in terms of their distribution. The danger with these intraplate earthquakes is that they may have long recurrence intervals of 100’s or 1000’s of years before the crustal stresses build up enough to rupture and generate an earthquake and they can strike areas that are underprepared for such events. We are investigating active faults along the margins of the Mount Lofty and Flinders ranges in South Australia by way of trenching, mapping and using ground penetrating radar to identify previous ruptures. Some of these faults have rupture lengths and offsets of single events that suggest magnitudes in the order of 5-7 on the richter scale. Part of our research involves dating these paleoseismic events by sampling the sediments that have accumulated adjacent to the fault rupture using luminescence dating techniques (OSL) to further constrain the timing of past earthquakes. Identifying hidden fault lines and constraining the timing of past seismic events is of fundamental importance in understanding how mountains such as the Flinders Ranges form in intraplate settings and of course it has important practical implications in terms of planning and implementing appropriate building codes in earthquake prone regions of Australia.

Earthquakes are a global hazard that knows no political boundaries. Earthquake response and rescue efforts are often globally assisted and require the expertise of many disciplines including engineers, geologists, planners, medics, police and emergency response personnel. Earthquake mitigation is an ongoing process from the initial identification of faults and historic seismic activity, through to developing appropriate building codes, to the rescue efforts when these hazards strike through to planning for the next event. The tectonic processes so evident in New Zealand provide an important modern-day analogue in terms of understanding how older continents like Australia have been shaped and formed in the past.

For further information please contact Dr. Solomon Buckman solomon@uow.edu.au in the School  of Earth & Environmental Sciences