IQ inside
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Queensland University of Technology Newspaper Issue 294 May 12 - July 13, 2009
www.news.qut.edu.au George Street Brisbane 4000 Telephone (07) 3138 2361 Registered by Australia Post – Publication No. QBF 4778. CRICOS No 00213J
IT research
QUT cyber-terrorism researchers have travelled to New Delhi to meet with their Indian counterparts involved in a $5 million joint project between the two countries.
The three-year project, Protecting Critical Infrastructure from Denial of Service Attacks:
Tools, Technology and Policy, has been granted
$2.25 million from the Australian government, through the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research Australia-India Strategic Research Fund, and $3 million from the Indian government.
Nine members of QUT’s Information Security Institute (ISI) visited New Delhi in April for a workshop to review their progress on the project, and to also attend the 5th Indo-Australian Conference on Information Technology Security.
ISI director Eric Hall said QUT was collaborating with the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras and the Society for Electronic Transaction and Security on world- leading research to prevent cyber-terrorism.
The project puts researchers in the shoes of internet criminals to work out how to better defend both nations’ IT networks against attack.
Mr Hall said the conference at Jawaharlal Nehru University gave researchers a platform to
discuss their work with key stakeholders from Indian government, academia and industry.
“Simple computer programs can bring countries to a standstill by shutting down bank and government websites,” he said.
“One of the vulnerabilities inherent in modern internet architecture is that computer servers are vulnerable from attacks that bombard them with massive volumes of traffic.
“Perpetrators write very simple programs, called ‘botnets’, which are targeted at a key server of a significant network – for example, a server that controls a city’s electricity.
“They ’jam’ the server with synthetically produced traffic and effectively shut it down so the server can no longer do its job.”
Mr Hall said the attacks might be linked to terrorism or the work of criminals seeking to blackmail businesses.
“Recently there have been significant attacks on government web services and critical, national infrastructure in Estonia and Georgia,”
he said.
“An attack like this could halt not only our online banking transactions, but also freeze our rail, power and water distribution networks.”
Mr Hall said the world-leading research would include the construction of test beds to simulate denial-of-service attacks.
Page 7 - More global connections
Courtesy Getty Images
Silver success
Creative industries success QUT acting graduate Gyton Grantley is doing his university proud, winning a Silver Logie at last week’s TV Week Logie Awards.
Gyton, pictured, won Most Outstanding Actor for his portrayal of Melbourne gangland criminal Carl Williams in the Nine Network production Underbelly.
In his acceptance speech, Gyton thanked QUT for his training.
Gyton, who graduated from the QUT Bachelor of Fine Art (Drama) degree in 2001, also won the latest AFI best lead actor in a television drama award for the same role.
Gyton told QUT that his training prepared him well for taking on the challenging role.
“QUT gave me the tools that I needed to perform my craft,” Mr Grantley said.
“(Playing Williams) I got to use everything I learnt at QUT.”
Creative industries Executive Dean Professor Susan Street said the multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary nature of the creative industries faculty
also helped to broaden students‘
perceptions of creativity.
“Training in many of our discipline areas is an intense experience for students. The courses are practical and require a high level of personal commitment,” Professor Street said.
“Having f ilm, TV, media and communication, creative writing, visual art and performance and design disciplines all in the one place enables students to broaden their interests and opportunities.
“When the faculty was set up, QUT invested not only in developing human capital, but also research in the Creative Industries, which informs the teaching.
The third pillar is Creative Enterprise Australia - QUT’s commercial arm, Australia’s only specialist business incubator and business suppor t organisation dedicated to the Creative Industries Sector.”
“Put all this in QUT’s ground-breaking
$60m Creative Industries Precinct located in Brisbane’s knowledge corridor at Kelvin Grove and you’ve got something very special.”
- Rachael Wilson
21 st century crime Celebrate Reconciliation Week
Events
STUDENTS and staff can celebrate Reconciliation Week at QUT this month – in person and online.
Kelvin Grove campus will host the main event on May 26 on the C Block lawn from 11am, which will include a fundraising barbecue, information stall and live entertainment from Indigenous singers and traditional dancers from the Torres Strait Islands.
Barbecues and stalls will also be held in Main Drive at Gardens Point on May 27 and on the Caboolture lawn on
May 25.
The activities have been organised by the university, the QUT Student Guild a n d t w o c o m m u n i t y organisations – Link-Up and ANTaR (Australians f o r N a t ive T i t l e a n d Reconciliation). Money raised from the lunches will go to ANTaR.
The QUT Student Guild will also sell reconciliation wrist bands for $2 from Guild outlets during the week to raise money for their Indigenous portfolio.
This year, QUT’s Equity section has increased the focus on online activities and is encouraging people to take part in a campaign seeking health equality for Indigenous people.
The “Close the Gap” campaign asks people to sign an online pledge of support and also write to Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin to encourage a long-term plan on the issue.
To find out how to take part, visit www.
reconciliation.qut.edu.au and follow the Reconciliation Week link or visit oxfam.
org.au.
Coffee week
PAVE Main Drive with gold during QUT Coffee Week and help disadvantaged students at QUT achieve their best.
For every gold coin given to the QUT Learning Potential Fund from May 4 to 22, a gold token will be lined up from Gardens Theatre down Main Drive at Gardens Point, on Friday May 22, from 10am to 11am.
The street will be paved amid celebrations and street performances from QUT staff and friends,
Pave Main Drive with Gold will also celebrate the final day of QUT Coffee Week, when participating cafes will donate $1 for every coffee, tea and hot chocolate sold.
Money raised during QUT Coffee Week will be matched dollar-for-dollar by QUT.
The donations will help provide much-needed financial support for disadvantaged students through the QUT Learning Potential Fund.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor and chair of the Staff Giving Committee Professor Vi McLean said QUT Learning Potential Fund scholarships and bursaries were vital in helping low-income students stay at university.
“Some of the scholarships and bursaries are quite small but make a huge difference to the students who receive them,” she said.
Professor McLean said while the Staff Giving Committee have only been operating for a year, some dedicated staff had been giving to the QUT Learning Potential Fund for years.
“Sometimes staff have a better idea of how students are affected by poverty than anyone else,” she said.
“Giving to the QUT Learning Potential Fund is a really practical way we can help students achieve their potential.”
Cafes participating in QUT Coffee Week, which will run from May 18 to 22, are Merlos and Dusk at Gardens Point and Beadles on the Quad and the Student Guild Bar at Kelvin Grove.
For more information about the Learning Potential Fund, visit www.
giving.qut.edu.au.
Staff can give regularly to the QUT Learning Potential Fund through payroll donations, one-off online donations at www.giving.qut.edu.
au/howtogive or directly into one of the collection tins which will be located at faculty offices.
- Rachael Wilson
Nurses’ Day
QUT’S Caboolture campus celebrated International Nurses Day (May 12) with a chance for local nurses to see the nursing education facilities for students and to have postgraduate study inquiries addressed by the acting director and co-ordinator of postgraduate nursing programs.
The big day provided the students with the chance to network with people in the industry as well as catch up with nurses they may have already worked with in clinical situations.
Academic co-ordinator (Nursing) Eleanor Horton said it was also a great chance for Caboolture nurses to come down and see what was happening at the university.
“We wanted local nurses to come and see what we are doing here, and showcase the nursing facilities we have, which the students have been using since late last year,” she said.
“This year we have the three years of the Bachelor of Nursing program with all classes being held at the campus.”
Second-year nursing student Jessica Carl, pictured, said she thought International Nurses Day was a good opportunity to reflect on the importance of the industry.
“It is a good chance for people to be informed about what nurses do and to have a day just about them,”
she said.
“A lot of people whom I speak to say that they admire nurses so much for what they do.
“It is something I have always been interested in because my mum is a nurse so I guess I am just following in her footsteps.”
Jessica also said the new nursing facility at Caboolture was excellent.
“We have a ward set-up with all the apparatus and dummies which are designed with the symptoms of different illnesses so we can learn how to deal with them,” she said.
“It was very exciting when it opened and we really feel like nurses when we are in there.”
Postgrad network
POSTGRADUATE research students often work in isolation, but a new QUT initiative will soon help them link together.
The Postgraduate Research Student Network (PGRS-Net), created by International Student Services for both Australian and international research students, will connect researchers through e-mail groups, Facebook, forums and a program of workshops and seminars.
A special morning tea was held last month to launch PGRS-Net, at which postgraduate research students expressed their enthusiasm for the network and shared their ideas and suggestions.
“Both international and domestic research students work independently, often in isolation, so we saw a need for a network to help these students make contact and support each other, Maria McCarthy said.
“Already, 130 people have signified interest and we hope the network member s will take ownership of it and consider it their own.”
Nursing open day
Student networking
Raising vital money:
that’s gold
Adchara Khamchiangta and Guo Mei
Tom Chen and Angela McCabe
Law
THE Oxford International Intellectual Property Law Moot has been won by QUT students for the second time in the competition’s seven-year history.
The team, consisting of Tim Wilkins and Srdan Radojevic, with Ashleigh Harrold as researcher and Judith McNamara from the QUT law faculty as coach, went to Oxford University, UK, to compete.
The competition involved 20 university teams from countries around the world, including UK, Canada, India, Singapore, Hong Kong and France.
“We won our first two rounds and scored enough points to get through to the quarter finals, where we faced Oxford University and in a very close moot were successful in winning and advancing,” Tim said.
“In the semi-finals we were against a team from the University of British Columbia and in the grand-final we were against the University of Edinburgh.
“In the grand-final we appeared as Ingenious Pty Ltd, a fictional company who had developed a cure to a rare disease and was appealing to the court to uphold a patent over the cure and prove that the Respondent had infringed that patent.”
“We were successful in proving that the cure should be patentable and that
the patent was infringed, winning us the final.”
The team members were able to attend the competition with support from the law faculty. They also won best written submissions and Srdan won the best speaker award.Srdan has also received a bursary from the Learning Potential Fund to help him study at QUT.
The Learning Potential Fund has assisted to provided more than 5000 scholarships and bursaries for low income students since its inception in 1998. For more information, visit www.giving.qut.edu.au.
Law moot
winners
Portable forensic tool could help crime
scene analysis
Health
INCREASING the levels of vitamin D and calcium in older people could contribute to reducing the number of falls and fractures in older Australians.
QUT research, based in the AusSun Research Laboratory at the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, looked into the calcium and vitamin D levels of Australians aged over 55.It found that even healthy, independent older people are at a higher risk of falls and fractures if they do not meet the required levels of these minerals.
“Both vitamin D and calcium are needed for bone strength, muscle function and to reduce the risk of osteoporosis,” said researcher David Borradale, pictured.
“Most volunteers in my study thought that they were getting enough of these nutrients but that was often not the case, so there needs to be more awareness about the issue.”
Mr Borradale’s study found that only 32 per cent of older Australians in south- east Queensland met the recommended intakes of calcium, and just 13 per cent had adequate levels of vitamin D.
“I used a sample group of 47 people who were over 55, healthy and living at home,” he said.
“The findings have major public health implications, as lower vitamin D may affect physical (muscle) function in older adults which could lead to increased risk of falls and fractures.
Supporting this, Mr Borradale found that female participants with lower vitamin D had significantly decreased physical function ability for simple tasks such getting up out of a chair.
He said people needed to be educated about what they could do to increase their intake, in order to prevent osteoporosis and falls.
“I think the most important thing is for people to ensure they are getting enough vitamin D and calcium in their diets,” he said.
Mr Borradale said that although 95 per cent of vitamin D came from sun exposure, he did not want to encourage people to increase their intake by going out and spending more time in the sun.
Director of AusSun Research Laboratory and supervisor of Mr Borradale, Professor Michael Kimlin, urged people to seek medical advice if they were concerned about vitamin D, rather than to seek vitamin D through sun exposure.
Calcium is found in dairy products, such as milk and cheese.
-Sharon Thompson
Help prevent falls in the elderly
Chemistry
ANALYSIS of human hair at a crime scene may be possible with a portable technique adapted by QUT researcher Sarina Brandes.
The technique, called Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS), has the advantage of being readily available and Ms Brandes has demonstrated it could be used to analyse hair for forensic purposes.
A chemistry masters researcher, Ms Brandes said this method was independent of DNA analysis, which could break down quite quickly, especially at disaster scenes such as after a tsunami.
Her supervisor, Dr Serge Kokot, pictured with Ms Brandes, who has researched the forensic possibilities of human hair analysis for the past 12 years, said human hair could survive relatively harsh environments, where DNA couldn’t.
“NIRS has been found to need only a few millimetres of a single hair for analysis, but until now, we have not had the ready capacity to apply this technology in harsh environments,”
Dr Kokot said.
“Ms Brandes’ achievement is several fold:
it opens the door for on-field measurements;
it provides a method for analysis of hair after
immersion in water, and it also has the ability to readily differentiate a naturally coloured hair from that treated with a hair dye to give a similar colour.”
Dr Kokot said Ms Brandes’
technique could obtain the infrared profile from only a tiny part of a strand of hair and then interpret this profile using specialised mathematical methods to compare it with similar prof iles collected from suitable reference hair samples.
“The results can be displayed in an easily understood diagram and/or the profiles can be rank- ordered and the position of the tested hair can be established relative to the reference samples,”
he said.
“In this manner, Sarina’s technique can establish a person’s gender, race and whether they had chemically treated their hair, as well as what the original hair colour was.”
Dr Kokot said the use of Ms Brandes’
research could help to identify victims of
natur al disasters, like tsunamis, where hair has been in water.
“Other useful spin-offs have been that Sarina’s technique can also identify what type of water the hair was found in, like sea water, and how long the hair had been immersed in it,” he said.
“Hair found at a crime scene could be matched against hair found in a comb of the
v i c t i m which can be used as the reference sample, or it can be compared against hairs from suspects in a similar manner.”
Dr Kokot said portable NIRS instruments were available and could be used at a crime or disaster scene.
- Rachael Wilson
Health science
A SIMULATOR allowing cancer patients about to receive radiotherapy to experience the treatment room and view the equipment in operation prior to being treated is being developed by QUT researchers.
Professor Christian Langton from the School of Physical and Chemical Sciences in the Faculty of Science and Technology, and his team have developed an immersive 3D Radiotherapy Simulator.
It will allow the patient and their family to go through a realistic 3D experience of the treatment area and view the Linac radiation machine using a handheld remote to navigate the virtual room.
The development of the simulator is being funded by Queensland Health.
“Usually, patients cannot see the treatment room or machine prior to the treatment itself, so the first time they experience it is on their first day of treatment, which means they are more stressed,” Professor Langton said.
“It also means that patients, even young children, are by themselves, but with the 3D simulator, they are able to experience it and so are their parents, which can help put their mind at ease a little before they undergo treatment.”
Professor Langton said that calming patients before their treatment could also have positive clinical outcomes, as well as obvious psychological ones.
This is because patients who were calmer would breathe more steadily IHBI
ONE of the few research projects to study the spread of prostate cancer to the bones using three-dimensional models of tissue-engineered bone is underway at QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI).
Shirly Sieh, a PhD student at IHBI, pictured below, is studying the way cancer cells escape from the prostate through the bloodstream to form tumour colonies, most often in the spine and long bones.
“It is an innovative study which uses a tissue engineering platform technology developed by IHBI’s Professor Dietmar W. Hutmacher in order to investigate the interaction between bones and cancer cells,” Ms Sieh said.
“Tissue-engineered bone provides the 3D architecture for the cancer cells which more closely resemble bone metastasis instead of growing the cancer cells and bone cells on a flat Petrie dish.
“I am growing prostate cancer cells on the tissue-engineered bone to observe the interactions between the cells and the surrounding tissue so it is a way of mimicking the cancer cells invading the bone environment.”
Ms Sieh said it was still not clear to researchers how bones and cancer cells interacted.
“With this 3D method we can see if and how the cancer cells ‘set up home’
in the bone cells,” she said.
“We want to study how the cancer cells degrade the matrix, or the mix of proteins and growth factors produced by these cells, and then remodel the
environment to suit the cancer cells to grow a tumour.”
Ms Sieh said scientists also wanted to understand why prostate cancer cells were attracted to the bone sites.
She and Amy Lubik, a PhD student supervised by Professor Colleen Nelson, are studying the effect the cancer cells in the bone have on male hormone production, particularly on the hormone, androgen.
“People with advanced cancer who have had prostate removal surgery should have low levels of androgen and the cancer cells should be suppressed.
However, sometimes the cancer cells do recur,” she said.
“We think it might have something to do with the fact that the cancer cells are very sensitive to androgen and even low levels of androgen in the body could promote the growth of these cancer cells.”
Ms Sieh said previous research had found that when the prostate cancer cells changed the bone environment they eventually induced more bone formation.
“But it is very abnormal growth which can cause bone fractures and painful spinal compression for the person.”
Ms Sieh’s research is supervised by an interdisciplinary team made up of Professors Hutmacher, Judith Clements and Colleen Nelson.
- Niki Widdowson
IHBI
IT is possible that a genetic disorder which can increase the chances of a child developing ADHD, depression, anxiety, and cognitive problems, could be eased by taking an amino acid supplement.
PhD researcher Rachael S h a r m a n , p i c t u r e d, h a s been studying the disorder Phenylketonuria (PKU) and said that while all babies were now tested for it, and the disease could be controlled, there were still some risks of cognitive functions being impaired.
“With PKU, the body is unable to process a certain amino acid found in protein, phenylalanine (phe), so patients must eat a very low-protein diet to prevent brain damage,” she said.
“They also have to take a lot of phe-free protein formula to ensure they are getting the other essential amino acids in protein, as their diet contains few ‘typical’
foods.
“What we have found is that they also have low levels of tyrosine, another amino acid, which can increase the risk of low dopamine in the brain, and may be associated with ADHD and possibly, anxiety and depression.
“We want to see whether low levels of tyrosine combined with high levels of phe, are responsible for these persistent problems.
“Our hope is that, eventually, children born with PKU have no more risk of developing cognitive problems than children born without it.”
Ms Sharman’s PhD project involves a collaboration between QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI) and the metabolic clinic at the Royal Children’s Hospital.
The project is partly funded by the Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation, and will look at levels of phe and tyrosine to see what effect they have on the development of cognitive impairment and depression.
“This is a link we want to take further, and my study will take a direct inventory of biochemical functions of children with PKU over seven years, to see the differences in the effects of having high levels of phe in combination with low levels of tyrosine,” she said.
“The answer to the PKU problem could be as simple as taking a tyrosine supplement so that the phe:tyr ratio is kept within safe levels.”
Ms Sharman said that PKU used to cause severe brain damage, and any damage was irreversible, but research into the condition stopped short of completely curing the cognitive impairment of sufferers.
“Now, there are only subtle differences between kids without PKU and kids who have the condition and receive treatment for it, but the aim is to make sure there is no difference in their quality of life,” she said.
“It would be the icing on the cake really, to ensure that people with PKU can reach their full potential.”
- Sharon Thompson
Supplement
could end PKU side effects
Probing the spread of prostate cancer in 3D
Try before treatment - simulator eases patients’ nerves
and reduce the potential for the tumour to move out of the radiation beam during treatment.
The simulator can also be used by physicists and radiation therapists, who could play out different scenarios using the simulator.
“We can simulate a number of scenarios which would not happen in a normal procedure, but which might occasionally occur due to error, just as pilots train on a flight simulator,”
Professor Langton said.
“Alternatively, we can set it up in such a way that the settings are not quite correct, and see if a trainee physicist for example would check for errors in the set-up of the Linac radiation machine before performing their routine quality assurance measurements.
“There has been some interest from a number of training facilities already in the radiotherapy simulator.”
Professor Langton is currently working on developing the simulator further to best replicate the clinical experience of the patient.
He is working with local radiation oncologists and members of cancer patient support groups.
“This project has a high real-world need and significant potential for positive impact,” Professor Langton said.
“It is highly innovative and may be duplicated for the benefit of patients and their families world-wide.”
-Sharon Thompson Professor Christian Langton
Web of intrigue
Student opinion
DO you have a lecturer who uses blogs, wikis, podcasts, vodcasts, Facebook, Second Life or Elluminate to get your attention?
Two researchers are looking for QUT students to interview to find out what they think about lecturers using new media technologies as part of their teaching.
The interviews are anonymous, will take about an hour, and students will be
offered a gift voucher as a thank you.
Dr Lynda Andrews and Associate Professor Judy Drennan from QUT’s Faculty of Business are investigating how and why lecturers use these sorts of technologies in their units, and what students get out of it.
“Up to now our research has focused predominantly on lecturers, but now we are ready to get the students’
perspectives,” Dr Andrews said
“We’re keen to find out how students perceive and experience these new media
technologies as part of their studies and how they see them in relation to their own learning outcomes.
“We want to interview undergraduate or postgraduate students from any faculty where these technologies have been used either as an optional extension to the unit or where they formed an integral part of the unit.
“So, for example, if a student has been involved in Second Life in landscaping, marketing and law units, or wiki/blogs in industrial design, public relations, or
management units, Facebook in any units, or podcasts/vodcasts in any units, or Elluminate to learn statistics, we’d like to hear from you.”
The researchers would also like to interview students who opted not to participate in the use of new media technologies when it was optional in their units.
Interested students can contact Dr Andrews on [email protected] or 3138 4203.
- Mechelle McMahon
Tell us: does Second Life or Facebook help you learn?
Home help the hi-tech way
Information technology FORGET sticky notes, mobile phone reminders, and paper diaries to keep track of your busy life in a frantic world, a QUT PhD student has researched a system that not only remembers all the everyday chores but does them for you.
Mary Tom from the School of Information Technology, pictured, has produced “eHome” a roadmap for an automated personal assistant that could wrest back a precious hour each day from the drudgery of home and personal organisation.
“Most people run two diaries – one for home to keep tabs on birthdays and family celebrations, and insurance payments etc and one for work with a variety of reminder methods in between,” Ms Tom said.
“Imagine if these were integrated and automated into one system that could automatically collect data from a range of outside organisations all
‘plugged into’ your system?
“It would pay your energy, gas or insurance bills on time, manage your household finances, and monitor your child’s diet to ensure it’s balanced
while working out a meal schedule and shopping list for you to feed the family.”
Ms Tom said an eHome owner could have as many repetitive, but critical, tasks integrated into their home system as they wanted and these could be accessed from anywhere in the world using the internet or a mobile device.
“Not only would the average user gain at least one, possibly two, hours a day free from these tasks they would also save lots of worry, hassle and stress,” Ms Tom said.
She said her research had shown that many people felt overwhelmed by the number of roles they held each day and would be delighted to have an automated system that they had control over but that worked behind the scenes to streamline their lives.
“I see the system as being invaluable in the key areas of managing education, finance, health, socialising, and household management,” she said.
“Working families are under lots of stress with coordinating all the children’s activities. eHome could improve the efficiency of how we manage daily living and improve our
quality of life.
“Take the average family with children at school – there are sports days, camps, parent teacher evenings to attend and provide money for – eHome would receive input from the school and remind you in advance and have paid for the event on time.
“eHome could also, for example, manage children’s ordering from the school tuckshop – parents could input restrictions on inappropriate foods or the system could point out that the child’s choice was too high in calories and provide alternatives or ensure food allergies were catered for.”
Ms Tom said eHome could put an end to impulse buys.
“It could keep track of your finances so if you see something you wanted to buy you could check instantly if it was within your budget through your mobile phone at point of sale.”
Ms Tom is seeking funding to progress to the next stage of the project which is implemention of the eHome ideas to make it a useful tool for busy families and individuals.
- Niki Widdowson
Information technology YOU may not be aware of it, but two interesting behind-the-scenes events take place every time you use a web search engine.
Firstly, your search words and sequences may be used by researchers for insights into information behaviour techniques.
Secondly, your brain, probably entirely unconsciously, is relying on the same information behaviour abilities you developed to use when searching for information in libraries, says QUT Research Capacity Building Professor of Information Science Amanda Spink, pictured right.
“Our web search techniques are often not well-developed nor all that effective,”
said Professor Spink, who is a global authority on information behaviour, the study of the way people seek, gather, organise, retrieve and use information in an information-rich world.
Her research on information behaviour and web technologies has earned her the second highest citation score in the world in the field of library and information science.
Professor Spink said we could learn much about our own information behavior from examples of highly effective information gatherers, organisers and users such as Charles Darwin, Napoleon Bonaparte and Casanova.
“They each used their information behaviour ability effectively for different purposes. Darwin was a scientist, Napoleon a military leader and Casanova was a business man and spy. But, they were all meticulous, goal- oriented information users who actively sought and organised information that they then used effectively.”
Professor Spink said in today’s society “everyone” was expected to be an effective information gatherer and user to be able to function well in a world with information overload.
“But we often don’t understand how to go about tapping into our own information behaviour abilities,”
she said.
“We are not good at evaluating which information tools to use as people think all web search engines are the same and use Google or the first one that comes to hand.
“Our basic web search behaviour has not changed dramatically in the past 15 years. We still put in a few words and expect the web search engine to respond effectively. People are not very interactive and don’t like to spend time with the web technologies, and we don’t usually go beyond the first web page of results.”
She said under standing the techniques people employed to search for information they needed and what they did with it was of great commercial and technical interest to
the internet industry.
“One reason for the huge interest in people’s information behaviours and web searching is that users’ click- throughs on advertisements are what earns the web search engine money,”
Professor Spink said.
“The second reason is that a better understanding of the way people gather, organise and use information is crucial for designers of web search and information technologies.”
Professor Spink said information behaviour academics were trying
to model the psychology of basic information behaviour.
“We need to know more about how people assess information from libraries, web search engines and websites, and how we learn to be effective information searchers,” she said.
“The main problem is we don’t have a good complete model of people’s everyday information behaviour and what makes people effective. We don’t think consciously about our information behaviour and so we
can’t describe it. We take for granted our personal information behaviour abilities.”
To get what you need from web technologies, Professor Spink recommends talking about what you want to find with another person.
“Knowing which is the best source of information for your topic is crucial – a web search engine might not even be the best option – you might find what you want better in a library.”
- Niki Widdowson
in BRIEF...
LEX survey
Students again have the opportunity to provide feedback on all of their units and teachers. The Learning Experience Survey (LEX) is available online until May 31 for students to help QUT improve the quality of teaching and learning.To complete the LEX, log onto QUT Virtual at qutvirtual.
qut.edu.au and in the messages box, eligible students will see a Learning Experience Survey message.
Click on ‘Complete the survey’ to provide your feedback. There are twenty JB Hi-Fi Gift Cards, each valued at $200 to be won by completing the 10-minute survey. Feedback is confidential. For enquiries about LEX, contact IT Helpdesk at ithelpdesk@qut.
edu.au or phone 3138 4000.
Nano Network
QUT has joined with the four other universities in the Australian Technology Network to establish the ATN-ISTA NanoNetwork, which links with more than 20 Chinese universities in the International Strategic Technology Alliance (ISTA).
The agreement allows QUT nano researchers and those from other ATN universities to partner with Chinese universities in the field of nanotechnology. The priority research themes for ATN-ISTA NanoNetwork will be health diagnostics, environment and renewable energy. QUT’s first
NanoNetwork project will investigate the efficiency of organic photovoltaics and dye-sensitised solar cells which use nanostructured elements to transport electrical charge through the devices. QUT’s Professor John Bell, from the Institute for Sustainable Resources, said the project would bring together nano-polymer science and engineering, nanomaterials and solar cell skills from several NanoNetwork universities
to develop an integrated systems approach to solar cell design.
Commiserations Hailey Commiserations go to QUT student Hailey
Turner, pictured, who has missed out on “The Best Job in the World.” The clever Tourism Queensland competition,
which invited people from all over the globe to apply for the job of Hamilton Island caretaker, was won by UK entrant, Ben Southall.
Hailey did make the final cut though after embarking on an impressive worldwide campaign.
Goodbye 3864
The two-year grace period for the transition of QUT phone numbers to a new prefix has ended. The old 3864 prefix was
decommissioned on April 30, meaning calls to numbers with the old prefix will no longer be forwarded to the QUT numbers, which now start with 3138.
US guests
QUT’s Caboolture campus has hosted 17 American teaching students for six weeks while they gained practical experience in local schools. The students were in their fourth and final year at Minnesota State University (MSU) and took classes at Morayfield East State School and Morayfield State High while staying with homestay families in Carseldine. The students do get some accreditation for their work here. QUT academic coordinator, Suzanne Hudson, said MSU chose QUT because its program had the most to offer in terms of supporting the school placements and the homestay accommodation.
Magazine launch
QUT business student Sophee McPhee has an important message – and she has come up with an ideal vehicle to push it.
At 22, Sophee is the editor-in-chief and founder of QCG Magazine, a publication which aims to connect, inspire and celebrate Queensland women.
The magazine had its official launch at New Farm on May 1.
Sophee, who battled anorexia as a teenager, chose to direct her passion for business into the media sector.
“We need to take a good, hard look at messages being communicated through women’s magazines,” Sophee said.
“Magazines continue to promote
‘being thin, young and picture perfect.
Sophee said she has the support of Brisbane City Council CEO Jude Munro, Hall of Fame fashion designer Richard de Chazal, founding director of the
Women’s Network Austr alia Lynette Palmen AM and the editor of ourbrisbane.com, Kathryn Lyall- Watson.
“If you are willing to work hard, follow your passions and make things happen, nothing is impossible – that’s my philosophy,” Sophee said.
QCG Magazine can be downloaded from www.qcgmagazine.com.
Industrial design
PINPOINTING the attractive powers of interactive product design could lead to the introduction of green-friendly products, said a Queensland University of Technology PhD researcher.
Industrial designer Cara Wrigley, pictured, is embarking on a study to find out which “visceral hedonic” features of interactive products like MP3 players, mobile phones and PDAs make customers fall in love with them.
“We fall in love at first sight with a product, even if we don’t know why,” Miss Wrigley said.
“We may be immediately attracted to various products, depending on their size, shape, colour, material, texture or brand, and I want to find what those properties are and how they rate against each other.”
As part of the study, Miss Wrigley will show display mobile telephones to study participants in the BE&E People and Systems Lab, and ask them which features they like best about these interactive products and why.
“If a consumer is emotionally attached to a product, they will keep it for longer and won’t want to throw it away so wastefully into landfill,” she said.
Miss Wrigley said this immediate attraction to products was caused by
“visceral hedonic rhetoric”.
“‘Visceral’ relates to instantaneous attraction or rejection, ‘hedonic’ relates to what drives people to purchase particular products, and ‘rhetoric’
relates to how design features persuade the consumer to buy,” she said.
People interested in participating in the study are encouraged to email cara.
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QUT pharmacy student Jane Morgan has raised more than $30,000 for her fellow student Thuy Nguyen, who has been diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour.
Jane coordinated a glittering cocktail and canapé evening in April, with an exciting live and silent auction featuring signed celebrity and sporting memorabilia, including a 2006 Broncos shirt.
It was attended by more than 200 QUT students and friends of Thuy.
The money raised will go to help support Thuy and her mother, who has moved from Darwin to care for her, with medical and living expenses.
As Jane says, “Thuy’s trip of a lifetime is to stay on studying at QUT while she receives treatment”.
Power of attraction
Sophee’s voice
Thank you
Jane Morgan, left, and Thuy Nguyen
Sophee McPhee, left, with QCG model Sheryle-Lee Stoodley
Research capacity building QUT hosted a group of 12 senior academics from the Royal University of Bhutan and several Bhutanese government departments from April 21 until May 8.
The group took part in a research capacity building program funded by the Royal Civil Service Commission of Bhutan and delivered by the Australian Technology Network (ATN) e-Grad School, through the QUT Research Students Centre.
Prof Rod Wissler, dean of research and research training at QUT, led the program with the input of several other ATN presenters from around Australia who facilitate units offered through the e-Grad School.
To p i c s i n c l u d e d s u p p o r t for supervisors, research career development, leadership skills and workplace communication, research project management, Biotechnology
A QUT delegation will jet off to the United States this month to take part in the world’s biggest biotechnology event – BIO2009.
The massive gathering has attracted 20,000 people and 2200 companies from 70 countries, including the 11-member QUT delegation, and will be held in Atlanta from May 18 to 21.
Three of the university’s most promising researchers will be among those taking part, after they were each awarded a bluebox / IHBI BIO Travel Fellowship to attend the event as QUT ambassadors.
Spinal researcher Dr Ben Goss, molecular scientist Dr Flavia Huygens and prostate cancer expert Dr Jonathan Harris are all members of QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation.
This year’s Bio International Convention has a theme of “Heal, Fuel, Feed The World”.
Dr Goss works on a variety of spinal research, including spinal cord regeneration, and said he was keen to find out what colleagues around the world were doing.
“I think it will be an interesting opportunity to meet people, so I expect networking benefits will be the main outcome for me,” he said.
Dr Huygens, who is part of a team of scientists spearheading a new technique that can test for pathogens in hours rather than days, said she wanted to explore industry links at BIO.“This is a fantastic opportunity for me at the present moment in my research career, as BIO2009 is specifically focused on bringing academics and industry together in one place,” she said.
“Currently, I’m working with bluebox (QUT’s commercialisation company) and looking for potential new industry partners to link up with, so I’m looking forward to the business forums at BIO2009 that are aimed at
‘matching’ researchers with industry partners.
“I’ll also attend workshops with a focus on ‘de-mystifying’ the process of commercialisation.”
Making Global
CONNECTIONS
Global research unites
Bhutanese visitors
• QUT is strongly committed to being a part of the international community and to producing graduates with the skills and abilities to work anywhere in the world.
• International students make important contributions to QUT and the wider community.
Our staff also come from far and wide.
• QUT has established formal links with more than 100 institutions in 25 countries to facilitate academic collaboration or staff or student exchanges.
• QUT welcomes more than 150 exchange students each year and provides competitive travel scholarships to on-campus students.
• Through its international visitor program, the university also caters for about 300 visitors annually from institutions, government and private organisations.
• All faculties are encouraged to build international components into their teaching programs and to participate in international research
initiatives and projects.
Dr Harris is also working with bluebox after discovering that a mini-protein found in sunflower seeds could be the key to stopping tumours spreading in prostate cancer patients.
“Atlanta will provide a biotech- intensive milieu that will enable us to see what’s happening around the world,” he said.
QUT and the Queensland Government will also host a high- profile lunch in Atlanta on May 17 to coincide with BIO2009.
The annual lunch will this year feature guest speaker Dr Howard Soule – the chief science officer of the USA-based Prostate Cancer Foundation, which is the world’s leading philanthropic organisation for funding prostate cancer research.
Queensland Trade Minister Stephen Robertson and former premier and current Queensland Trade Commissioner to the Americas Peter Beattie are also scheduled to attend the event.
- Mechelle McMahon Left to right, Dr Ben Goss, Dr Flavia Huygens and Dr Jonathan Harris
Left to right, Jamba Gyeltshen, Tashi Samdup, Sonam Wangmo and Dorji Thinley
re s e a rc h a n d d eve l o p m e n t management, knowledge transfer and commercialisation of research and entrepreneurship.
QUT already has a group of 25 fully sponsored coursework masters students from Bhutan who started study this semester and recently
hosted the registrar of the Royal University of Bhutan on a three-week shadowing program.
The supervision training program will help consolidate a valuable multi- faceted partnership with Bhutan, and will, it is hoped, be the first of several over the coming years.
WHAT’S on...
WHAT’S on...
Astra Dadzis (Editor) 07 3138 2361 Sandra Hutchinson (Tu/We) 07 3138 2130 Mechelle McMahon (Mo/Tu) 07 3138 2130 Sharon Thompson 07 3138 4494 Rachael Wilson 07 3138 1150 Niki Widdowson 07 3138 1841 Erika Fish (Photography) 07 3138 5003 Marissa Hills (Advertising) 07 3138 2999 Richard de Waal (Design)
about IQ
Inside QUT is published by QUT’s Marketing and Communication Department.
Our readership includes staff, students and members of the QUT community. The paper is also circulated to business, industry, government and media. Opinions expressed in Inside QUT do not necessarily represent those of the university or the editorial team.
Research participation
TAKING part in research at QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation was fun for 11-year-old Oskar from Aspley.
Oskar’s mother Mandy Hastie, saw an ad seeking volunteers for a study on children’s movement and thought her son would be an ideal participant.
“I thought it would be interesting. I didn’t know if it was a medical thing but I thought it might help Oskar in the long run because he is a big kid,”
Ms Hastie said.
“When I took him along you couldn’t wipe the grin off his face – he was carried away by the novelty.
It wasn’t scary or threatening and he could do all the tasks.”
The study involved two visits to QUT’s metabolism lab, one lasting three hours and the second one for 10 minutes. Oskar wore a pedometer to monitor his movement for 24 hours a day for a week and he also had a bone density test.
“We were given the results which we could take to his doctor and Oskar was delighted with the two free movie tickets and $50 voucher he was given.”
QUT’s School of Human Movement Studies always has a number of studies going on for which participants – both adults and children – are needed.
Dr Sarah Schulz said a study on physical function in children was seeking 20 overweight and eight normal weight 10 to 13 year olds.
She said participants would have body composition scans, and be required to balance on one foot, walk for six minutes, climb stairs, ride a stationary bike and have their thigh muscles strength tested.
“The project aims to help us understand the pain overweight children feel during basic activities and how this might affect their ability and motivation to exercise so that we can develop pain and injury-free environment.”
For more information email emg@
qut.edu.au.
Industrial design
IT’S a recreational diver’s dream – a small, wearable, safety device which helps you easily locate the boat, your dive buddy or supervisor at any time during a dive.
‘Exitpoint’ is a concept for a sonar navigation and early warning system, designed by QUT industrial design graduate Tom Fraser, pictured above, and is a finalist in the student category of the Australian International Design Awards – The James Dyson Award.
Tom, a former dive master, has been responsible for taking many groups of novice and experienced divers on underwater odysseys throughout Thailand, Indonesia and Australia and has witnessed many dangerous situations where the use of Exitpoint could have been extremely valuable.
“Poor diving conditions, namely strong currents and low visibility, can easily separate divers from each other and make it difficult for them to navigate their way safely back to their boat, buddy or supervisor if they get lost,” Mr Fraser said.
“During my time as a dive master I often thought ‘why isn’t there something to prevent divers from becoming lost or separated and directs them to where they need to go if they do get lost?’.”
“Exitpoint works by alerting divers with an alarm and a visual display if they stray beyond a certain distance from their dive buddy, dive supervisor
or boat.
“When divers receive an alert they can look around and visually locate them. If the diver can’t see them they can then locate them using Exitpoint, while at the same time, their buddy and supervisor can look for them using their units.”
Mr Fraser said Exitpoint, pictured
inset, could reduce a lot of time and stress for divers when monitoring their location and that of their dive companions or when navigating in unfamiliar surrounds to make recreational diving safer.
Exitpoint is worn on the back of the hand so as not to interfere with dive watches or dive computers. A key difference between it and existing navigational aids is that Exitpoint is designed to prevent divers from getting into situations where they would need to use it to locate a lost or stray diver.
“While some devices have been developed to assist divers in finding the boat at the end of a dive, many of these are limited in functionality and have often been criticised for being unreliable and inaccurate,” he said.
“Exitpoint uses two-way broadband acoustic telemetry (adapted from
autonomous underwater vehicles used in undersea exploration) to send signals between divers
and the boat.
“ T w o - w a y b r o a d b a n d signalling allows the diver’s identity and depth to be e n c o d e d i n t o the signal and allows for a more accurate method of range and position estimation to be utilised by the system.
“This not only extends functionality but also makes calibration between units easier and allows a limitless number of units to be used in the system. It is also less prone to noise and other forms of interference which can severely affect sonar communication underwater.”
Tom is now also one of 13 Australian designers competing in the global James Dyson Award against projects from 20 other nations including the UK, US, Japan, Germany, Canada, France and Italy.
Winners of the Australian Design Award – James Dyson Award will be announced at the Australian I n t e r n a t i o n a l D e s i g n Awa rd s presentation night on Friday, May 29, 2009. These have been selected by Dyson and a panel of industry experts.
The latest in dance
- Essentially Dance 09 The best of QUT’s dance
performance students will showcase their skills in original contemporary dance works, including a specially created aerial dance work.
Performances Gardens Theatre, George Street, Brisbane, June 9-13 at 7.30pm, with a matinee on June 11 at 11.30am. For details and tickets, phone 3138 4455.
Events
MAY 19
Trade your gorgeous pre-loved clothes with someone else’s at the first Glamour Grab swap event. Glass of bubbles on arrival.
Strictly no tracky- daks allowed! Swap participants donate several items to a central pool in return for white gloves, which are then used to ‘buy’
other donated items, at The Glasshouse, 5-6pm.
For details, email [email protected].
MAY 26 Hear Reserve Bank of Australia board member Jillian Broadbent AO speak about resilient leadership during adversity and the ‘art of recovery’ at the QUT Business Leaders’
Forum, at the Hilton, 12-2pm. For details, visit www.bus.qut.edu.
au/blf.
Info
JUNE 3
People interested in returning to study, either as a first-time university student, postgraduate student, or student returning from a break, are invited to the Return to Study Evening, 6.30-8.30pm at Creative Industries. For details, email s.griinke@qut.
edu.au or phone 3138 8501.
JUNE 10 Find out how a postgraduate degree with the Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering can keep you at the forefront of your industry, at the Postgraduate Information Evening, 5.30- 6.30pm. For more details, visit www.
bee.qut.edu.au/
postgraduate.
Festival
JUNE 5-7 Join QUT students who are helping bring a festival to life by voluneering at this year’s Greenfest. The festival features music, film, food, fashion and creative workshops. To volunteer, register at www.greenfest.com.
au.
Drama
MAY 21-30 Final-year acting students perform The Golden Age, a play directed by Sean Mee about the discovery of a group of convicts who, over three generations, have developed their own culture, language and traditions. At The Loft, 7.30pm.
For details, email [email protected].
Visit www.whatson.
qut.edu.au for more event listings and to submit your upcoming event.
Dive safety
All the right moves for young people at IHBI
Left to right, Dr Sarah Schulz, Mandy and Oskar Hastie
