Will nano-technology save the world or spell the end of civilisation? Professor John Weckert of Charles Sturt University’s Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics says as well as those two groups of people with diametrically opposed view of this new technology, there is also a third viewpoint:  “These voices are trying to get the arguments into perspective so that the technology can be used in ways that are most beneficial.” Professor Weckert is the editor-in-chief of a new journal, NanoEthics. “It was thought that now is a good time to set up an academic journal that can be a forum for serious discussion of these issues,” said Professor Weckert. He says the journal is aimed at academics, philosophers, ethicists, policy makers and “people involved in regulation, many of whom are lawyers. It is very much a cross-disciplinary journal.”

An analysis of 14 existing studies on Echinacea, published last week in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, shows that the herbal remedy can cut the risk of catching a cold, and reduce the severity of a cold by up to a day-and-a-half. This comes as no surprise to Dr Philip Kerr, lecturer in Medicinal Chemistry at Charles Sturt University’s Wagga Wagga Campus. “I’m a tincture rather than tablet man myself,” says Dr Kerr. Echinacea supplements are available as tablets, extracts, tincture, tea and even in fresh juice. He adds it should be taken, “At the very first sign of feeling a bit off.” Dr Kerr says to watch for the “tingle on the tongue” as a sign of an effective Echinacea remedy. Echinacea effectiveness can be reduced by “the process by which the plant extract has been prepared, and which variety of the plant has been used,” Dr Kerr said.

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) affiliation with the Ajisai Nursing College (ANC) in Minokamo in Japan will be further enhanced when Sally Ellis, a Bachelor of Nursing student at CSU Dubbo, visits Kizawa Memorial Hospital and the ANC this month. For ten years now, Japanese students who have completed ANC’s three-year nursing diploma have been able to undertake a conversion degree to a full Bachelor of Health Science (Nursing) at CSU, which includes clinical placements at Dubbo Base and Lourdes Hospital. Ms Ellis says she wants to “develop an insight into transcultural nursing and Asian culture”, and will look at “health care delivery for the older person, and community care”. She has also been invited to observe at an open-heart operation. CSU has committed $2 000 to Ms Ellis’s trip. “It wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for the support of CSU,” she said. Heather Bell, Manager of Campus Services at CSU Dubbo, said, “This is a great example of the University providing support to students to internationalise their degree.”

What does religion have to do with farming – and vice versa? Quite a lot, according to Dr Judith Crockett, lecturer in social sustainability at the Orange Campus of Charles Sturt University. She identified three distinct groups of farming families: the non-religious, the religious – who make occasional trips to church, often for social reasons, and Christian, whose “whole lives are permeated by their Christian beliefs and values”. These families tend to exhibit quite distinct gender and family relationships, have fewer problems with “succession planning” - the transfer of the farm between generations – and, “many are very progressive sustainable managers of land, very involved in Landcare as well as broader community activities,” said Dr Crockett. “That is because they see themselves as caretakers of the land rather than the owners of it.”

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) National Wine and Grape Industry Centre (NWGIC) has been awarded much sought after international quality accreditation. The NWGIC, located at the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus, implemented a quality management system for its research activities in 2006.  Following an external review and audit in June 2007, the Centre was awarded accreditation for its implementation of the ISO 9000 Quality Management System. This achievement, driven by Mrs Helen Pan (NWGIC), Mr Chris O'Connell (NSW DPI), Professor Geoff Scollary (CSU), and Mrs Cathy Campbell (NSW DPI), reinforces the NWGIC’s place at the forefront of Australian research facilities. Director of the NWGIC Professor Thomas Henick-Kling says the quality accreditation is a wonderful achievement and shows a commitment to quality. The NWGIC is the home of leading wine industry research activities including the Winegrowing Futures Program.

The Tremendous, a band made up of students from Charles Sturt University (CSU), took out the Rock Up 2007 Battle of the Bands final in Dubbo earlier this month. Laurie Mahon, a first year Bachelor of Communication / Bachelor of Business Studies student, describes his band's music as "folk mixed with psychedelic, funk, jazz and roots". Other CSU students in The Tremendous are Lily Leahy, Liam Robertson and Julian Pavey. Mr Mahon says the two vocalists, Grace Turner and Zana Kobayashi, are hoping to enrol at CSU next year. Part of the prize includes two days recording time and after that, The Tremendous will tour the east coast of New South Wales. “It’s very much a dream – to be able to tour and record. If we work hard then hopefully it will become a reality. I’ve been in a lot of bands, and this is the first that people come up after the show and tell us how much they enjoy the music, and that is exhilarating,” said Mr Mahon.

Matt McNee is keeping his eyes on the ground as rain falls across NSW while he completes a PhD at Charles Sturt University (CSU) on cover cropping, where a crop is used primarily to cover and protect soil from water and wind erosion. With a background in farming sugar cane in Queensland, Matt is now at CSU’s Orange Campus observing the condition of soils on collaborating farms throughout NSW, including Orange and Wellington. “I’m looking at pure cropping and mixed farming properties with different soil types to discover whether the planting of crops intended for ground cover, as opposed to crops for grain yields, benefits the soil and increases efficiency of water conservation.” Matt hopes to discover how much cover is necessary to benefit soils in semiarid environments. “The objective is to adapt Australian farming systems in a semiarid environment to find the best cropping system and management options.”

Following the Federal Budget announcing $65.1 million for a School of Dentistry and Oral Health at Charles Sturt University (CSU), the architectural design concept for the Dental Education Clinic on CSU’s Dubbo Campus will be unveiled on Saturday 2 June 2007. The Dubbo Dental Education Clinic is designed to complement and supplement existing public and private dental services in Dubbo and will be developed in close consultation with existing dental practitioners. The University will offer opportunities for dental practitioners to work as adjunct academic appointments in the program. The University will immediately begin the process of establishing the multi-campus infrastructure of the School of Dentistry and negotiating staff appointments. The first CSU dentistry students are expected to enrol in 2009, with the University aiming for 240 places for dental students over five years.

Graduating with a PhD in early childhood education this Thursday 24 May, Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer Alison Lord has discovered there are many difficulties in operating children’s services in rural and remote Australia. Researching the Quality Improvement and Accreditation System (QIAS), the national quality assurance system for long day care children’s services, Alison examined how child care staff and parents living in rural and remote communities continue to engage with the system which is compulsory and tied to Commonwealth Funding. “There are many dedicated, educated early childhood practitioners that deal with geographical and professional isolation while working in low status, predominantly female occupations,” Alison explains. “I have also discovered the QIAS has not always improved the quality of outcomes for children and their families. Perhaps more access to funded professional development for early childhood professionals and direct funding of child care centres, rather than funding via parent subsidies, may lead to better quality services for young children and their families.