Painting by Sugimoto

I spent a day at La Trobe University whilst my son Darcy made a presentation to future graduates about how best to apply for graduate programs.  I enjoyed myself immensely, everyone was pretty fresh at the uni and many people were lost, I found the library (see the Kitaj drawing of David Hockney) and I found their art gallery.  I went to a gorgeous cafe in Smith Street Fitzroy, dont recall the name as I just stumbled upon it.  It is near to Kerr Street end of Smith Street.  The pigeon is a mixed media piece I made in 2008 and the angel child is an oil painting of mine (rare) from 2004 (it’s the same child that gave the speech).  So I just cobbled together some bits and pieces for some visual stimulation and hope soon to produce some more work even though we have another hot week ahead of us in Melbourne.

Rowan English: highlighting huge demand for prosthetics services in Southeast Asia

Health scientist Rowan English has set out on a 19,000 km motorcycle trip across Asia to raise awareness of the pressing need for artificial limbs in many Southeast Asian countries.

Mr English, Head of La Trobe University’s National Centre for Prosthetics and Orthotics, this week kick-started a four-month journey from the Melbourne campus to Kobe in Japan, stopping at universities and colleges in Southeast Asia on the way.

He also hopes to highlight the work done by charities such as the Cambodia Trust, Handicap International and the Red Cross.

These organisations, he says, aim to increase the mobility and functional skills of people with disabilities. This often involves providing access to prosthetics and orthotics services, and training skilled practitioners in the field.

‘La Trobe is the only university with this level of prosthetics and orthotics program in the southern hemisphere,’ says Mr English. ‘Given the need for expertise in this area in Southeast Asia, La Trobe can continue to play a role in helping develop this knowledge.

Mr English with a third-year student at the University

‘Landmines and unexploded ordinance have been a big issue in Cambodia and Laos since the 1970s, leading to huge demand for prosthetics services,’ he says.

Developing new partnerships 

‘Now it’s not just landmines, but also an increase in traffic accidents in Cambodia, as the cities become increasingly modernised and crowded.’

He will also visit a number of universities and colleges, including in Jakarta, Bangkok, and Phnom Penh, as part of his journey.

Mr English aims to continue to develop partnerships that allow students from countries such as Cambodia to come to Australia to continue to their studies, and also provide opportunities for La Trobe students to study or undertake placements in Southeast Asia.

La Trobe has had a partnership with a college in Phnom Penh, offering distance education to students from a range of countries to help them develop skills and expertise in prosthetics and orthotics.

But while there is a work component to the trip, he says it is also about enjoying the experience of what is bound to be a challenging trip. The journey culminates a decade of daydreaming and two years of planning.

‘It combines my passions for travel, meeting people and riding motorbikes, as well as my profession of prosthetics and orthotics.’

Mr English grew up in Finley, NSW. Accompanying him will be his childhood friend, Bruce Taig. Both men grew up on farms and have been riding motorbikes since they were kids.

They are sure to have their skills tested as they travel to Darwin, on to Dili, then through Timor Leste, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, China, South Korea and Japan. –   Suzi Macbeth

Follow the journey on Facebook 

Readers of Independent Australia have been full of praise for their recent article by Alan Austin titled “Fairfax’s anti-Government bias is as clear as (David) Day“.  I have been doubly honoured that Alan has contacted me with the offer of also posting his re-badge of this article on Café Whispers and that he looks forward to engaging with our readers.

Alan (pictured) is an Australian freelance journalist currently living in Nîmes in the South of France, but who returns to Australia regularly. His interests are religious affairs, the economics of development and integrity in government and the media. He has been published in many print outlets and worked for eight years with ABC Radio and Television’s religious broadcasts unit. He has also worked as a journalist with the aid agency World Vision and the Uniting Church.

Here is his post; Fairfax gets academia to out-Murdoch Murdoch:

The Fairfax media group has ramped up its campaign against the Gillard Government. It appears now to have abandoned any pretence of reporting fairly on its successes and failures.

It has also copied the Murdoch ploy of enlisting academics to its tawdry anti-Labor campaign.

Monday’s National Times featured a bizarre opinion piece by honorary associate at La Trobe University David Day.

The article was headlined triumphantly ‘Final nail in PM’s coffin’ and sub-headed just to make sure we understand ‘Julia Gillard’s lack of leadership has spurred on her inevitable demise’.

So what is the basis for the academic’s claim that a ‘demise’ is now ‘inevitable’?

Well, there are the polls, of course. The endless feedback loop of bad reporting leading to poor polling leading to more negative reporting leading to poor polling … and so on.

But does Day offer evidence of actual bad government? Well, there’s this:

“  . . . her [Gillard’s] propensity for political stumbles have seen her repeatedly fall flat on her face. The September election date and the resignation of Nicola Roxon and Chris Evans were just the latest of them.”

Really? The careers of two ministers came to an end with plenty of advance warning to the PM, allowing her to determine the timing of their completion. Since when does this constitute evidence of a PM’s “propensity for political stumbles”?

John Howard asked for the resignations of retiring ministers David Kemp and Daryl Williams in 2004 in near identical circumstances. Was that evidence of the PM falling flat on his face? Or was it hailed as an opportunity for renewal, fresh perspectives and youthful energy?

Is Day aware the rate of ministerial sackings and resignations under Rudd/Gillard has been the lowest of any government in any Westminster nation since the 1820s?

Is there any evidence that the ministers left for anything other than admirable reasons? In Roxon’s case, including wishing to parent a 7-year old daughter.

When asked these questions by email, Day responded thus:

“I was referring to the timing of the resignations. I agree with all you say [re ministerial resignations] but the timing gave the appearance of chaos. It was a poor political calculation and nothing was done to hose down the hooha in the press.”

This is further nonsense. It was never poor political calculation when John Howard did precisely the same. And just how can a government ‘hose down’ media hooha? Arrest the lying journalists? Ban the mendacious mastheads?

What else could have been done by whom? Whose responsibility is it in a liberal democracy to report what governments are doing? Could the media release have been any clearer?

And why is calling the election date evidence of the PM’s “propensity for political stumbles”?

Every election year in living memory has had retailers, businesses, traders, investors, state governments, community organisations and others screaming for certainty and an end to the election date speculation. Now we have it. For whom is that disastrous, and why?

Day then criticises the Government for its failure to win support for its environmental initiatives.

“With the carbon price in place, the government should be earning kudos from the many Australians who care about the environment and are concerned about human-induced climate change.”

Again, whose job is it to report the substantial drop in emissions since last July? Positive reports in the mainstream media – brief, down page and rare – are simply drowned out by the constant prominent misreporting on the matter.

Day continues with a spurious attack on foreign policy unbecoming of a political history scholar:

“The Prime Minister has also disappointed many Australians with a foreign policy that is not discernibly different from that of John Howard. She kept the troops in Afghanistan and has thrown Australia open to American bases.”

Yes, some aspects of the previous foreign policy regime were continued. Specifically concerning the US alliance. But actually very few.

Labor’s foreign policy has been worlds away from the previous administration’s in signing strategic international treaties and accords. And in restoring relationships in the Asia pacific region. In these vital areas, just no comparison.

The serious damage done to relations with Australia’s neighbours during the Howard years have virtually all been reversed. Australian embassies are no longer targets for bombing; ambassadors are no longer expelled by friendly neighbours; Australians in nightclubs abroad are no longer being killed; false allegations are no longer levelled against neighbouring allies; official visits between friendly countries are no longer threatened; millions of dollars of aid money is no longer illegally paid to Australia’s enemies in trade bribes; and Australia’s defence chiefs and diplomats no longer condemn the government for its gross ineptitude endangering Australian lives.

Most disturbing is Day’s reference to Australia’s jobless. The article claims that “Julia Gillard has not shown sufficient commitment to protect Australian workers. She seems content to have unemployment at about 5 per cent, to have about 15 per cent of school-leavers without a job . . . ”

Really? Where and when has employment been any better? Here in France the jobless rate is above 10%. In the UK and the US it is above 7.7%. In the Euro area it is 11.7%, more than double Australia’s rate.

In fact, as academics should well know, taking participation rate and unemployment rate together Australia has had a higher proportion of people in work during the Rudd/Gillard years than in any period in Australia’s history. This despite the devastating global financial crisis.

So why imply the opposite? That may be a dopey question to put to Australian journalists. But not to academics.

Finally, to dispel any doubt that Fairfax is driving the Coalition’s election campaign, here’s the opinion poll at the bottom of the article:

Poll: Do you think a leadership change will help Labor’s chances of re-election?

(a) Yes, something has to change
(b) No, it’s the Labor brand that’s on the nose
(c) Not sure

Now, could there conceivably be any other answer to that question than those three?

First Murdoch. Then Fairfax. And now the universities? Such, it seems, is Australia’s doom.

Achieving better outcomes for people with autism

La Trobe University is a core partner in a new $100 million national Co-operative Research Centre to improve the lives of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

With a baffling 25-fold increase in the number of diagnoses over the past 30 years, these severe neuro-developmental disorders affect about a million Australians – and at least one in every 100 children.

Last week Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced government funding of $31 million to establish the new ‘Co-operative Research Centre for Living with Autism Spectrum Disorders’.

Director of La Trobe University’s Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, Professor Cheryl Dissanayake, hailed the new CRC as ‘game changing for Australia’s autism community’.

Great cost to community

Professor Dissanayake, right, with La Trobe autism studies benefactor Olga Tennison

She said Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are life-long conditions estimated to cost Australia more than seven billion dollars a year.

‘We can now harness our work nationally and internationally to achieve better outcomes for people with an ASD, their families and the professionals who work with them.’

La Trobe is a key player in two of the CRC’s three main programs. Professor Dissanayake will lead work on tracking pathways to ASD, while Associate Professor Amanda Richdale will be responsible for studies enhancing teaching and learning for people with ASD.

The new CRC, headquartered in Queensland, represents a ‘critical mass’ of 12 core partners and more than 40 participants, including universities, not-for-profit as well as commercial autism service providers and government departments.

In addition to Federal Government funds of $31 million for the next eight years, contributions to the CRC from various participants exceed $63 million.

Ground-breaking advances

Dr Richdale: enhancing teaching and learning for people with ASD

Autism research at La Trobe University over the last decade has led to many ground-breaking advances.

Early studies into biological markers revealed that children with ASD have faster physical growth rates during their first three years of life. The research was carried out by Professor Dissanayake, medical geneticist Dr Danuta Loesch, and statisticians Dr Richard Huggins and Dr Quang Bui.

Other work – the first of its kind published last year – profiled young children in order to predict treatment responses. Led by Dr Giacomo Vivanti, it represents ‘the first step towards being able to identify which intervention programs are best suited to specific children’, Professor Dissanayake said.

And psychologist Dr Kristelle Hudry was a key researcher in a recent international study that found how a baby’s brain reacts to shifts in eye contact might help predict the development of autism symptoms from as young as six months.

‘Staggering generosity and leadership’

Supported by an extremely generous private donation of a million dollars from benefactor Olga Tennison, in 2008 the University set up Australia’s first research centre dedicated to Autism Spectrum Disorders.

At its opening, Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Disability Services, Bill Shorten, described its formation by Mrs Tennison and Professor Dissanayake, as ‘staggering generosity backed by staggering leadership’.

La Trobe’s Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre (OTARC) plays an important role in trying to unlock the ‘puzzle of autism’ through basic and applied research. It is also involved in training new scholars as well as in continuing education for health and education practitioners.

Mr Shorten, Centre, and Disability Reform Minister Jenny Macklin at La Trobe’s Autism Specific Early Learning and Care Centre

The Centre now has 15 staff, more than 25 post-graduate research students and there are laboratories for observational and experimental studies of children.

These studies range from identifying the first signs of autism in infancy to investigating biological markers of autism.

OTARC also collaborates with community services, other research centres and international research groups.

First Early Assessment Clinic for ASD

In 2011, OTARC opened the first Early Assessment Clinic for ASDs in Australia, with a focus on children under three years of age to facilitate earlier diagnoses. Funded by the R E Ross Trust, the William Buckland Foundation and the Phyllis Connor Trust, families are able to access this service on a largely subsidised fee.

La Trobe is also the first Victorian service provider under the Federal Government’s national Autism Specific Early Learning and Care Centre program, offering care and early intervention for children with autism as part of a regular child care facility.

The service is located in the Margot Prior Wing – named after leading developmental psychologist and former La Trobe Professor, Margot Prior AO – at the University’s Community Children’s Centre on the Melbourne campus.

It was established with $4 million grant in partnership with the Royal Children’s Hospital and provides 20 full-time places for children with Autism. Also used for research, professional development of clinicians and as a community resource for children with autism and their families , the facility, began operation in 2010. – Ernest Raetz

More details about the CRC for Living with Autism Spectrum Disorders and a list of other core partners

Lectures and seminars will be delivered throughout 2013 on topics ranging from Mesopotamian Empires, ancient Greek and Roman culture and literature, to modern Mediterranean culture and history. This year Ancient Mediterranean Studies at La Trobe University is also very happy to include seminars with internationally acclaimed author David Malouf, and University of Adelaide’s expert in Roman literature, A/Prof Peter Davis, as well as two Sicilian cookery workshops.

Some classes have been specially designed around the Victorian secondary school curriculum and would be helpful to both high school students and teachers. Coming up very soon and of particular interest to Classics VCE teachers is the seminar to be delivered by Chris Mackie and Rhiannon Evans comparing Iliad 23 and Aeneid 5. The class will take place on Saturday, 9th March and registrations need to be in before the 1st March.

Registrations for all lectures, seminars and workshops are now open online at: http://www.latrobe.edu.au/humanities/litc.

For instant updates, news and information about all lectures, workshops, seminars and other interesting events please ‘like’ us on Facebook (facebook.com/latrobe.mediterraneanstudies<www.facebook.com/latrobe.mediterraneanstudies>) and ‘follow’ us on Twitter (twitter.com/ltu_medstudies).

AASCF Nationals 2011

Award reception: Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence and Access Scholarship winners

Innovative La Trobe University scholarships are boosting the chances of success for students from city and country alike.

With people in rural and regional areas significantly less likely to attend university, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank and La Trobe have joined forces in providing up to twenty new $36,000 scholarships to support outstanding students entering university for the first time.

Under another scheme, the University has ramped up its efforts to attract high-achieving students by introducing Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence and Access Scholarships.

These are available for students with high ATARs (Australian Tertiary Admission Rankings) in one of 29 target courses. They provide each student with an annual $6,000 living allowance for up to three years and $1,500 to help them study abroad.

Best and brightest from all backgrounds 

Scholarship winner Katherine Arditto with Vice-Chancellor John Dewar

The two scholarship announcements follow the University’s new ‘Future Ready’ strategy, which targets the best and brightest students from all social backgrounds, to increase enrolments over the next five years, from 26,000 to 33,000.

The strategy, to enhance excellence and innovation in education and research by focusing on key issues facing society and the environment, aims to place La Trobe among the three top-ranking universities in the state, and top 300 in the world, by 2017.

Vice-Chancellor John Dewar said the new categories of scholarships broaden the range of assistance already available.

‘The Excellence Scholarships will help students who already show great potential to reach even greater heights academically by reducing their financial burden, allowing them to focus on their study.

‘La Trobe is known for its diverse student body and for assisting our disadvantaged and “First in Family” students.  The Access Scholarships will ensure that this diversity is maintained.’

Professor Dewar said the new scholarships respond to growing demands made on today’s students, who often have to balance the responsibility of a job and paying rent while maintaining a demanding study schedule and other commitments.

He met with seven of the winners at a recent award reception and said the scholarships were well received. ‘La Trobe is home to intelligent, committed students who want to make a real difference to their world.’

Scholarships holders, he added, are also able to take part in the Deans’ Scholars Program, which provides mentors and opportunities for students to extend their academic and personal capabilities.

Success for our communities

La Trobe Pro Vice-Chancellor, Regional, Professor Hal Swerissen, right, and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank’s Head of Community Solutions and Partnering, Mr Scott Elkington, at the scholarship launch

Professor Dewar said the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Scholarships are for school leavers who studied VCE or HSC in Victoria or southern New South Wales. Mature-aged applicants may also be considered.

Almost 600 applications had been received at the time this article was posted. ‘We want our communities to succeed and we want the students from these communities to succeed,’ Professor Dewar said.

‘The further we travel from major cities,’ he stressed, ‘the less likely we are to find people with higher education degrees.’

Statistics from 2006 show that 27 per cent of people aged 25-64 who lived in major cities held a Bachelor degree or above.

This figure declined to 15 per cent for Australians living in inner regional areas, to 13 per cent for outer regional areas – and down to only 10 per cent for very remote areas.

‘There is growing demand from families and the community for a quality university education, but for many in the regions who are first in family the obstacles can appear daunting,’ Professor Dewar said.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Chairman, Robert Johanson, said the scholarships will be of particular benefit to extending education programs at the University’s Bendigo and Melbourne campuses.

‘Bendigo has a proud tradition of being a premier university and learning city and the Bank’s partnership with La Trobe University seeks to cement this future for quality higher education across regional Victoria and southern NSW,’ Mr Johanson said.

Linh Vo: positive and supportive environment

Significant help for winners

Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence and Access Scholarship winner Linh Vo from Broadmeadows, who is studying Bachelor of Nursing and Midwifery, said she was ‘honoured and  delighted to have been given this opportunity’.

‘It will enable me to devote more time to my studies, help with daily living cost and cover some of my HECS fees’, she added.  ‘I want to enhance my capabilities as a learner and challenge myself, and I believe La Trobe will help me do this due to its positive and supportive environment.’

Bachelor of Arts student Katherine Arditto from Ivanhoe said she looked forward to learning more about psychology, politics and Spanish.

‘I hope to one day study overseas in Spain. The significant financial assistance will allow me to focus more on my education and give me the opportunity to broaden my studies internationally, help with daily living cost and also reduce my HECS debt.’ - Ernest Raetz with Tom O’Callaghan and Dian Lipiarski

Read more:

Stories about all the winners

Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence and Access Scholarships.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Scholarships

Ms Andrews: Aboriginal knowledge is best taught in a wider setting than a class room

An award-winning La Trobe University Aboriginal history and culture course in northern Victoria is doing more than advancing the knowledge of students.

It’s also building an educational bridge for regional Aboriginal people who have not previously considered tertiary study. 

The week-long intensive course is called ‘Encountering Aboriginal Victoria’. It is taught by La Trobe academics and local Yorta Yorta and Bangarang Aboriginal Elders on the Shepparton campus ¬– and on Aboriginal country including the historic Cummerganja Mission and Barmah Forest.

Local participation, says course co-ordinator and La Trobe lecturer in Aboriginal Studies and Anthropology Julie Andrews, aims to build the capacity of Indigenous communities by exposing them to a greater knowledge of their own history.

‘The course is about developing greater pride in their culture, heritage and traditions, reaching out to the next generation from an academic setting, and encouraging links between Aboriginal community groups, businesses and the University.’

Authentic and compelling

The program, for which La Trobe has also won the Aboriginal education achievement ‘Wurreker Award’, brings students and Aboriginal groups together. ‘It speaks with an authenticity that students have found compelling and life changing,’ says Ms Andrews.

A Yorta Yorta woman who is completing a PhD at La Trobe, Ms Andrews says Shepparton, with around 1,800 Indigenous Australians, has one of the highest Aboriginal populations in Victoria, almost six times the Victorian average.

It is also an area of socio-economic disadvantage with high unemployment and a university participation rate well below the national average.

‘The close involvement of community Elders with La Trobe students is a good way to help build a regional platform for a better understanding of the value of higher education,’ says Ms Andrews.

About 50 students from La Trobe’s Melbourne and regional campuses as well as from other universities took part in the course, which is now in its third year.

The first three days were spent on the Shepparton campus where students dealt with topics including native title, archaeology and anthropology to social justice and climate change.

These involved senior La Trobe staff including Dr Mary Jo Fortuna, Dr John Morton and Professor David Frankel and former Koori Court Magistrate Professor Kate Auty, now Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability.

Lessons via film – and ‘On Country’

Also included was a special screening of the film ‘The Sapphires’ about four local Koori women singers who toured Vietnam during the war in the late 1960s. Students discussed the film and the issues it raised with its writer, well-known actor Tony Briggs, via video link.

The last three days were spent ‘On Country’, which included lectures at archaeological sites with Parks Victoria Aboriginal Ranger Ray Ahmat as well as lessons about oral history, life stories, language and totems taught by Elders and other community members at the Cummeragunja Aboriginal Reserve .

Ms Andrews says the local Aboriginal community has one of the richest political histories in south-east Australia. Their connection with the Cummeragunja Aboriginal Reserve and subsequent history has been widely documented in literature, autobiographies and film.

‘Aboriginal knowledge,’ says Ms Andrews, ‘is different from academic knowledge. It’s a family group and community way of learning, and is directly related to one’s own country and to personal requirements of knowledge. Hence it is best taught in wider setting than just a class room.’

Ms Andrews, who has been recognised by the Australian Government for her teaching contribution to the ‘Closing the Gap’ campaign, has helped establish many of La Trobe University’s Aboriginal higher education initiatives. - Ernest Raetz

Children’s courts are often overcrowded, tense, chaotic and unsafe

At a time of community concern about knife crime and street violence, a ground-breaking study has concluded that failure to invest adequately in our children’s courts and youth justice and child protection systems will have major long-term detrimental consequences for Australia.

Led by La Trobe University Professor of Social Work and Social Policy, Allan Borowski, with Monash University’s Associate Professor Rosemary Sheehan, the authors say their three-year ‘national assessment’ of children’s courts is the first study of its type in Australia. In terms of its scope and issues examined, it is also without precedent anywhere in the world.

Professor Borowski says the study involved eight sub-studies – one for each state and territory.  It canvassed the views of judicial officers, youth justice and child protection workers, lawyers, prosecutors and other key stakeholders across Australia. It could not interview court clients due to the complex challenges in obtaining additional ethics committee approvals.

Since its publication there has been extensive media coverage of the study.  Professor Borowski has been flooded with emails and calls from courts, departments of attorney-general and justice, child and youth advocacy organisations and legal aid services from across Australia.

Effectively unworkable in some jurisdictions

Children’s courts, says Professor Borowski, decide extremely important legal and social issues relating to children and families. They deal with criminal and child protection matters but are under-resourced to cope with growing and increasingly complex workloads which often also include drugs and alcohol, domestic violence, cognitive and mental health issues.

The study found that the courts, which usually do their work away from public and media scrutiny, operate within a broader justice system and, in some jurisdictions, have become ‘effectively unworkable’.

Professor Borowski: in bureaucratic competition for resources, our children’s courts have not fared well

Australia’s children’s courts finalise almost 67,000 criminal and 21,000 child welfare matters annually. His study found that there are insufficient specialist magistrates to hear cases. Respondents described court facilities as often ‘overcrowded, tense, chaotic and unsafe without adequate security’.

Significantly, the study noted the large number of children and young people who appear on both criminal and child protection matters. ‘Many young people appearing on criminal matters are child protection “graduates” of the court,’ the report says.

The findings also highlight many discrepancies between the operation of courts in different states and between city and rural areas, and call for the greater use of Indigenous children’s sentencing courts and ‘sentencing circles’. For example, in Western Australia young Aboriginal people are disproportionately denied bail.

With long-standing research expertise in juvenile crime, justice and corrections, Professor Borowski has also carried out extensive research relating to Indigenous courts, including an evaluation of the Children’s Koori Court of Victoria.

Under-investment in our greatest asset

The study’s findings also highlight the need for more professional development for members of the courtroom workgroup, greater clarity about the role of lawyers, additional legal aid to ensure equitable representation, improved court facilities including holding areas, bail support programs, and consideration of increasing the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12 years.

Professor Borowski says ‘children’s courts are vital for holding young offenders accountable for their behaviour, for helping rehabilitate them and protecting the community as well as protecting children from harm and advancing their best interests.

‘In the bureaucratic competition for resources, our children’s courts and youth justice and child welfare systems have not fared well,’ he concludes.

‘This is an under-investment in society’s greatest asset – namely its children and young people. Their well-being is certainly of vital interest to them.  But it is also of great importance to the welfare of society as a whole.’ – Ernest Raetz

Whither Australia’s Children’s Courts? Findings of the National Assessment of Australia’s Children’ Courts will soon be published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology.  Further inquiries to: A.Borowski@latrobe.edu.au

Ready for the trial: two of the robots, Charles and Sophie, compare notes

Four rosy-cheeked ‘social robots’– Charles, Sophie, Matilda and Jack – are being used in a world-first trial to increase the quality of life for patients with mild dementia. 

The social robot project is a joint research venture between La Trobe University and the global electronics giant, NEC Corporation.

‘These assistive robots,’ says Professor Rajiv Khosla, ‘are expected to improve the emotional well-being of mild dementia sufferers through engagement and sensory enrichment.’

Professor Khosla is lead researcher of the project and Director of La Trobe’s Research Centre for Computers, Communication and Social Innovation. Provided by NEC, Japan, the robots, have been designed by Professor Khosla’s team for service and social innovation in health care.

‘They can talk, sing, dance, play games, tell the weather and read the newspaper.  They are unique, the first of their kind to be used therapeutically for mild dementia sufferers,’ says Professor Khosla.

The trial will also study the robots’ impact on the quality of life of care-givers

Innovative carers

‘They provide innovative services like reminiscing with dementia suffers, sending “mood based emails” and supporting care-givers to remotely manage activities of dementia sufferers.

‘The social robots can also make phone calls and remind patients to take their medicine. Senior citizens with mild dementia can communicate with the social robots using their voice or a touch panel with large buttons. The touch panel allows remote communication with the robot at home.

‘Robots will interact with participants and measure their social response by detecting changes in emotional state of participants,’ says Professor Khosla. ‘We believe these robots will help the dementia sufferers to gain confidence in daily life and reduce feelings of uselessness.’

Trial in Melbourne homes

The trial is being held in Melbourne.  Each robot will be placed in the home of one dementia sufferer for two weeks. The emotional well-being of each participant will be measured by their responses to the robot, as well as surveys before and near the end of the trial.

Professor Khosla: emotionally engaging services

The trial will also study the impact on the quality of life of care-givers involved in supporting dementia suffers. It  is funded by a $40,000 Alzheimer’s Australia Dementia Research Foundation grant.

Co-investigators in the project include aged-care researcher Professor Yvonne Wells and specialist in management information systems, Dr Mei-Tai Chu.

Professor Khosla says the trial has attracted national and international interest.  Last year the robots starred in a French documentary film entitled ‘A World Beyond Humans?’ and featured on the ABC’s ‘New Inventors‘ program.

‘Social robots could revolutionise the way we look after older people with dementia.  The robots are already breaking technology barriers and are set to provide more sophisticated and emotionally engaging services to help senior citizens become more independent and resilient,’ says Professor Khosla.  - Dian Lipiarski

See also: New siblings for health care robots

Ok, Mr Runner, you have got plantar fasciitis. Plantar fasciitis occurs when the load in the plantar fascia exceeds what the tissue can take, so we have only two things we can do. One is reduce the load and the other is increase the ability of the tissues to take the load. Reducing the load is easy and is something we can do today. Increasing the ability of the tissue to take the load is more difficult, takes time and is not something we can do in the short term.

Low Dye Strapping -  photo from http://conejofeet.com/patients-guide-heel-pain/

I know you have a marathon to run in 4 weeks. Is the plantar fasciitis interfering with your preparation for that? If it is, then we will use low dye strapping today to get a more acute effect of reducing the load. At least that will help the symptoms and start the healing process while we keep an eye on that marathon preparation. We are also going to use foot orthotics to reduce the load. I know you have read on a blog post that orthotics are evil (and minimalism is the second coming of the messiah), but the reality is that every single outcome study on foot orthotics says they work (except for one when used to treat bunions in kids, but that obviously does not apply to you). It is irresponsible to not do what the evidence says. Not all foot orthotics are created equal and there are specific design features that they need to ensure that they do lower the load in the plantar fascia (if they do not achieve that, then the chance of a failure is increased). I know you read on a blog post that orthotics weakened muscles, but the all the published research (3 studies now) have shown that this is not the case, in fact, two of the studies actually shows foot orthotics strengthen the muscles, so would you rather believe the scientific evidence or an anonymous blog post from someone who has no clinical experience?

Stretching photo from: http://conejofeet.com/patients-guide-heel-pain/

We also going to get you to do a lot of stretching for the calf muscles and plantar fascia. You are going to do it 4-5 times a day, without fail! It is extremely important! I am also going to mobilize your fibula to make sure there is no inhibition there and if your calf muscles are tight, probably use a heel raise in the very short term. As soon as possible we want to get rid of the heel raises, but they important now to overcome the tightness until the stretching kicks in. The evidence also tells us how effective stretching is and we want to give you the best chance to get through that marathon.

Keep up with the ice applications after running.

I expect this to get you through the marathon in 4 weeks. If after a couple of weeks it is not improving as fast as we would like, then we may add some night splints to further stretch and even consider a cortisone shot (if you did not have the marathon coming up, maybe would not do this). At that stage we may also consider some other things to help the tissues heal (eg Graston, trigger point therapy; deep friction; or even shockwave). However, most of those types of treatment do not reduce the load in the plantar fascia or improve the ability of the tissues to take the load; all they do is facilitate the healing of the damaged tissues. We still need to get load down and/or increase the ability of the tissues to take that load.

Say what? You read on a blog post that minimal running is the best treatment for plantar fasciitis as weak muscles is the cause of plantar fasciitis!! What would you rather believe, a blog post or the evidence. There is no evidence that weak muscles are related to plantar fasciitis (I have never seen it). There is even evidence that minimalistic running does not strengthen the muscles. One randomised control trial reported that there was no statistical difference between minimalist shoes and regular shoes for plantar fasciitis, but there was a trend to the minimalism group doing better. But, if you read the actual paper rather than the abstract you will see that they left out of the analysis several in the minimalist group who got so bad they had to withdraw from the study. Having said that, if you want to go down that pathway, it is your choice and we will assist you with the transition etc.

You asked about running form and plantar fasciitis? Running form or technique is extremely important, not only for injury prevention and performance. There is no data linking plantar fasciitis to any particular running form or foot strike pattern. It appears to me to occur in all different running forms and foot strikes, so changing your running form is probably not going to help or hinder your plantar fasciitis. There are other injuries that do benefit from changing the running technique one way or another. Having said that, when I watched you run, there were a couple of issues you might want to consider addressing over the longer term. If you are interested I can refer you to some people who know a lot more about running technique than me. They are sensible in their approach and do not promote a nonsensical agenda.

image from: https://www.healthtap.com/#topics/orthotics

You asked about stengthening exercises? Strength is important for running, but there is not one shred of evidence linking muscle weakness to plantar fasciitis (apart from blog posts by people who have no clinical experience actually treating people with plantar fasciitis). What those bloggers seem to miss is that a weakness of the intrinisic muscles of the foot actually lead to a higher arched foot and not a flat foot that they claim. I can give you some exercises if you inclined to do them. Even if plantar fasciitis is due to weaker muscles, we need to fix your plantar fasciitis now; strengthening exercises will take many many months to have an effect, even if they have any effect on this! And besides, we know from the evidence that foot orthotics can strengthen the muscles, so why not use those?

Now we got you through the marathon, what are we going to do in the long term? It is really up to you. There is nothing wrong with continuing to wear the foot orthotics if you want to and they make you more comfortable. There is no evidence that they do any harm. The evidence is that they do not weaken the muscles and they actually make the muscles stronger. Plenty of people wear them long term and never have problems, but also plenty of people rant about them in forums and on blogs, but they ignore what the evidence says which does their credibility no good. If you look at all the outcome studies on foot orthotics and there success rates, they are no different than any other medical intervention for almost any other medical condition. Of course there will be failures. There are failures in knee replacement surgery; in using antibiotics for strep throat; etc. Should we not use knee replacement surgery or antibiotics because sometimes there is a failure? Sometimes foot orthotics fail. This could be due to the wrong design being used or the runner not following the proper advice. The overwhelming evidence from all the outcome studies is that they work. The problem is that when a foot orthotic fails, the runner goes on to a forum to rant about it. No one rants about a knee replacement surgery failure or antibiotic failure … don’t figure!

We do need to put in place a strategy to increase the tolerance of the plantar fascia to the loads that are placed on it, so we will give you a plan for that. It is really up to you how much effort you want to put into this. Hopefully as the orthotics bottom out, your plantar fascia is adapted to the load and does not become a problem again and you do not need the orthotics. However, sometimes the magnitude of the forces on the tissue are so high that the tissues cannot adapt and you may need foot orthotics over the longer term to keep the load on the plantar fascia down to a level that the tissues can tolerate. That is not a problem and it won’t make you infertile, blind, or go bald or anything like that.

It is up to you. If you want to transition to minimalism running, that is fine, it will probably not impact on your plantar fasciitis. There is nothing wrong with minimalism; there is nothing wrong with maximalism. It all depends on your choices and what tissues you need to offload over the longer term. Different running forms load different tissues. It also depends on what feel you want under your feet. If you want to feel something soft, then that is fine. If you want to feel the ground more, then that is fine. Just do not fall for all the rhetoric and propaganda and the misuse of science.

the full forum posting can be seen at: http://www.podiatry-arena.com/podiatry-forum/showthread.php?t=83788

How green is your campus?

La Trobe University has been ranked first in Australia – and 63rd internationally – in the latest Universitas Indonesia Greenmetric Ranking of World Universities.

More than 215 universities from 49 countries took part in the survey, which is now in its third year.  The rankings compare the efforts made by universities towards campus sustainability and environment friendly university management.

Flinders University ranked second in Australia and 66 internationally, followed by Bond University at 68 and Charles Darwin at 172.

La Trobe Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor John Rosenberg said this was a pleasing outcome for the University.

He said the survey results were based on information provided by universities about their performance across a range of measures including green statistics, energy and water use, waste management, transportation, and education.

Professor Rosenberg near the moat: recycling for grey water and gardens

Early adopter 

La Trobe scored well on waste recycling and treatment, water conservation, reduction in the use of plastics and paper cups, open space and vegetation, and moderately well for energy conservation and green house gas emission.

Professor Rosenberg said La Trobe was an early adopter of environmental initiatives. These include a gas-fired co-generation plant, operating since 1993, which provides most of the main Melbourne campus’ electricity while also feeding power back into the grid.

There is a moat system recycling water to newer buildings as grey water, and for watering gardens, as well La Trobe’s Wildlife Sanctuary which provides campus and community access to the natural environment of north-eastern Melbourne.

Nine University undergraduate and four graduate programs  are linked to sustainability. They range from the Bachelor of Science in Environmental Management and Ecology to a Master of Outdoor and Environmental Education.

Further improvement

‘Although the metrics are not yet fully comprehensive and clearly involve some elements of subjectivity, they nevertheless provide a reasonable assessment of some core aspects of campus sustainability. They help us identify where we do well and where we can work on further improving our performance.’

La Trobe’s co-gen plant: twice as carbon efficient as brown coal power generation

Professor Rosenberg said La Trobe expects that the survey’s methodology will develop further in coming years and that the number of submitting institutions – which has increased from an inaugural 95 to 178 last year and 215 this year – will also continue to grow.

He added that the Greenmetric Rankings survey is only one indicator. ‘La Trobe is serious about its sustainability performance and also takes into consideration metrics from international and industry specific benchmarks.’ – Ernest Raetz

Full details of the Greenmetric Ranking of World Universities

2011 Green Gown Australia awards

 La  Trobe Sustainability Reports win awards: in 2011 and 2010

AASCF Geelong Winterfest 2012

Pay-off through reproductive success

 A new study by a La Trobe University scientist has found that Tammar Wallabies are displaying sexual bias in milk composition and ‘invest’ more in their sons than daughters.

‘We have found that sons are allocated more protein than daughters early in lactation and this has lasting effects on growth and body size into adulthood,’ says zoology lecturer Dr Kylie Robert, head researcher of the study.

Dr Robert says ‘body size is a major predictor of mating success among male wallabies so an increase of protein in the milk could improve reproductive success for both sons and their mothers.’

Previously studies have shown that healthy wallaby mothers are more likely to produce males. In contrast mothers in poorer health produce more daughters.

‘This sexual bias phenomena, that has puzzled academics for decades, can be explained by a hypothesis which suggests a mother will invest in the sex that will maximise her reproductive success, depending on her body condition and energy reserves being passed onto her offspring.

‘Wallabies in good condition will benefit by producing high conditioned, competitive sons, because these sons will out-reproduce even the best daughters.

Dr Robert: greater understanding of marsupial sex ratios helps manage and conserve our unique fauna

‘This explains why there is a higher occurrence of sons among healthy mothers as sons require more energy reserves to become the alpha male, but the pay-off through reproductive success is greater than if the mother produced a daughter.

Bias also found in humans

‘It also offers a reason as to why mothers in poor health produce more daughters.  It is more beneficial to produce a daughter than a non-competitive son as females are less reproductively competitive and are likely to have more offspring than a male in poor health,’ says Dr Robert.

‘This bias is not only seen in marsupials but has been shown in other mammals, even humans.

‘For example women in poorer health, say with higher parasite stress, produce more daughters while those eating higher fat diets or of high economic wealth produce more sons, and the list goes on.’

Dr Robert says ‘this research is very important in gaining a greater understanding of marsupial reproductive physiology and maternal control of offspring sex ratios to help better manage and conserve our unique fauna.’

The next step of Dr Robert’s research is to determine mechanisms behind sex ratio adjustment at conception and why some conditions favour fertilisation of the ovum by an X or Y sperm. – Dian Lipiarski

Wallabies at La Trobe’s Wildlife Sanctuary: more energy required to produce alpha males

Read the full article in the on-line journal, PLOS ONE: Milk Composition during Lactation Suggests a Mechanism for Male Biased Allocation of Maternal Resources in the Tammar Wallaby (Macropus eugenii)