Dentistry simulation android is all smiles

"Aspiring Japanese dentists can now look forward to honing their skills with a robotic simulator, where mistakes won't have serious consequences.

"Developers at Showa University and robot maker Tmsuk say Hanako Showa, designed to look just like a 5-foot-tall Japanese woman, is the first of her kind in the world."

The robot moves, expresses pain, and will even retch if her uvula is touched, giving trainee dentists a taste of working with a real patient, "with a patient who doesn't dread appointments".

You can read the article on C/Net's blog, Crave.

In other dentistry news, the Dental Benefits Act 2008 was tabled in Parliament on 15 March 2010, and now the Report on the Review of the Dental Benefits Act 2008 has been released.

"The Review looks at the operation of the Act having regard to the attainment of the purposes of the Act; and the administration of the Act, particularly in relation to the Medicare Teen Dental Plan."

You can read the full report on the Department of Health and Ageing website.

Australian Social Trends

Growth in part-time work helped offset full-time job losses during the global financial crisis, but younger workers were more affected than the rest of Australia's workforce according to the latest Australian Social Trends.
Released quarterly, Australian Social Trends presents analysis and commentary on a wide range of social issues. (Text adapted from AustralianPolicyOnline). Read this report including new articles here

New database: BioOne

CSU Library now subscribes to BioOne - a global not-for-profit collaboration which brings together scientific societies, publishers, and libraries to provide access to critical, peer-reviewed research in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences.

This is an entirely full-text collection of more than 150 journals, including some of the most important academic society journals in Biological, Ecological, and Environmental Sciences.

When CSU users first log in, they will access the 'Advanced Search' screen, but the database can also be browsed by title, publisher, or “collection”. (There are 3 "collections" - BioOne.1, BioOne.2, and Open Access. The first two collections represent packages of journals as added to the database, while the third is a small collection of open access journals.)

You can set up your own profile, and make use of the My BioOne features, which include saved searches, search alerts, and lists of favourite journals.

Access to BioOne is available through the library's journal databases pages.

The first year experience in Australian universities: findings from 1994 to 2009

This report is the fourth national study undertaken on the student perspective into the first year experience.
The principal purpose of this research is to provide information and insights for the Australian higher education sector that can assist in enhancing the academic and social experience of first year students and improving educational outcomes in first year and beyond. The objectives are to build a picture of the overall character and quality of the first year experience across the nation and to explore possible trends in student experience that have implications for policy and practice.

This is not a comparative study of the participating universities. Institutions that participate are provided with their institutional data for internal purposes. (Text adapted from AustralianPolicyOnline)

Read the report here

Earth Hour 2010

8.30 pm, Saturday 27 March 2010 marks this year's 'Earth Hour,' a chance to show your commitment to the Earth and stand against climate change by joining the millions of people switching off their lights for one hour.

"Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned their lights off for one hour to make their stand against climate change. Only a year later and Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries participating. Global landmarks such as the, Sydney Harbour Bridge, The CN Tower in Toronto, The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Rome’s Colosseum, all stood in darkness, as symbols of hope for a cause that grows more urgent by the hour."
[Source: http://www.earthhour.org/About.aspx]

So how can you get involved in Earth Hour?

• Turn your lights off at 8.30pm, Saturday the 27th of March
• Work out your Carbon Footprint and discover ways you can reduce it
• Create a virtual lantern
• Find other ideas for how to join in
• Register to join Earth Hour and be in the chance to win a solar power system for your home
  

For more information Earth Hour, see the Earth Hour website.

Albury-Wodonga Campus Library Hours and the Albury Gold Cup

Due to the proclaimed public holiday on the afternoon of Friday March 26th, the Library on Albury-Wodonga campus will be closed from 3.00pm. Access to the 24 Hour Zone of the Learning Commons will not be affected.

World Internet Project report 2010

The World Internet Project Report includes some interesting new findings about how the Internet is used and how it affects a variety of beliefs, attitudes, and behavior around the world. (Text adapted from AustralianPolicyOnline) Read the press release summary of the report here

Building innovation : learning with technologies

The Australian Council for Educational Research has released a report looking at how information communication technologies (ICT) "including social networking and games, provide new opportunities for education, according to this review of research."

However, the report posits that "the 'off the shelf' mentality which currently underpins the provision of computers in Australian schools may be stifling rather than enhancing innovation."

"The review explores national and international policy priorities for building students’ innovation capabilities through information and communication technologies. When used well technologies such as Web 2.0 social networking sites can help to develop literacy skills, critical thinking, teamwork and problem-solving skills."
[Source: Australian Policy Online]

Read the full report on the Australian Council for Educational Research website.

New Journal Database - Dentistry & Oral Sciences Source

Dentistry & Oral Sciences Source is a new database from EBSCOhost, which has indexing and abstracts for nearly 200 dental journals, most with the full-text available.

Also includes the full-text of 30 books, and IADR (International Association for Dental Research) / AADR (American Association for Dental Research) Meeting Abstracts, as published in the Journal of Dental Research.

Subjects covered include:

• Cosmetic Dentistry
• Dental Anaesthesiology
• Dental Public Health
• Endodontics
• Forensic Odontology
• General Dentistry
• Geriatric Dentistry
• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
• Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology
• Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology
• Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopaedics
• Paediatric Dentistry
• Periodontics
• Prosthodontics

Dentistry and Oral Sciences Source can be accessed from the Library's Journal Database pages.

New Journal Database: PhilPapers

PhilPapers is a free comprehensive directory of online philosophy articles and books compiled by academic philosophers. It monitors journals in many areas of philosophy. It also monitors online archives and personal pages.

Its stated mission is “to facilitate the exchange and development of philosophical research through the internet”, and to “gather and organize philosophical research on the Internet, and provide tools for philosophers to access, organize, and discuss this research”.

It contains a wealth of full-text material, including journal articles from hundreds of journals. PhilPapers also features a forum, where users can discuss the contents of PhilPapers articles, as well as all philosophical issues.

Information about the structure, content, history, and sponsors of PhilPapers can be found on the About PhilPapers webpage.

To enable features such as personal reading lists, journal filters, and content alerts, users need to create a (free) user account. While it is possible to use PhilPapers without an account, it is suggested that frequent users create an account.

You can access PhilPapers from the Library's Journal Database pages.

New Journal Database: Scopus

Scopus is an abstract and citation database of research literature and web sources, that is particularly useful to CSU researchers and academics.

While it doesn’t include full-text of articles, it uses SFX functionality to link to CSU full-text holdings. This means that Scopus is a quick and easy way to find peer-reviewed literature and quality web sources; and features smart tools to track, analyze and visualize research.

Scopus covers subjects like:

• Life Sciences (agricultural and biological sciences; biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology; immunology and microbiology; neuroscience; pharmacology, toxicology and pharmaceutics; multidisciplinary).
• Health Sciences (medicine; dentistry; nursing; veterinary; health professions).
• Physical Sciences (chemical engineering; chemistry; computer science; earth and planetary science; energy; engineering; environmental science; materials science; mathematics; physics and astronomy).
• Social Sciences & Humanities (arts and humanities; business, management and accounting; decision sciences; economics, econometrics, and finance; psychology; social sciences).
  

Features include:

• Scopus Citation Tracker - to find, check and track citation data year by year and in real-time.
• Scopus Author Identifier - to distinguish between results from authors with the same name and to capture all results for an author whose name is recorded in different ways.
• The h-index - a means to evaluate research.
• Scopus Affiliation Identifier - to automatically identify and match an organization with all its research output.
• E-mail Alerts, RSS and HTML feeds.
• Document Download Manager - to easily download and organise multiple full-text articles simultaneously.
  

Interested in learning more about the great features Scopus has to offer? Try the Scopus Interactive Tutorials.

You can access Scopus from the Library’s Journal Databases pages.

Macquarie Dictionary & Thesaurus Online

CSU Library now has access to the Macquarie Dictionary & Thesaurus Online. Offering comprehensive searching of the dictionary, thesaurus (or both), the Macquarie should be your first point of reference.

Ever wanted to know the origin of the phrase 'save someone's bacon'? How about the meaning of the term 'bromance'? Now you can learn both, as Macquarie Dictionary & Thesaurus Online features:

• annual updates of words
• regionalisms from around Australia
• etymologies for some of the more interesting phrases
• a simple search interface, and comprehensive results

Macquaire Dictionary & Thesaurus Online can be accessed from the Dictionaries & Thesaurus page in the Online Reference section of the CSU Library Website.

International Women's Day 2010

Monday the 8th of March is International Women's Day, "a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women in the past, present and future. It is a day when women are recognised for their achievements, without regards for divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political." (Source: UNIFEM)

The Institute for Social Science Research recently released "What women want: 2009-10 survey report" which examined the experiences of women in the workforce:

"Drawing on reponses from 9504 women, this report looks at the experiences of women in the workplace, including hours worked, flexible arrangements and superannuation.

"The results of this survey, carried out for the Community and Public Sector Union, provide evidence that many women caring for children are also caring for others such as parents, adult children and partners. Despite these caring responsibilities, nearly a quarter (23.5%) of women reported that taking time away from work for personal matters was frowned upon. The majority (83.6 %) of full time women reported working additional hours and one in ten said they received no additional compensation for this. Compared with the 2008 survey results, the survey shows that more women are being contacted more frequently out of hours."

Source: Australia Policy Online

The full report is available from the CPSU website.

New Journal Database: Food Science Source

Food Science Source is a database containing full-text material which is designed to support the informational needs of the food industry at all levels. It offers cover-to-cover content from hundreds of publications, including journals, books, magazines, and trade publications, dealing with food industry-related issues.

Food Science Source covers sectors such as:

• Agribusiness
• Food & Beverage Science
• Food Packaging
• Food Processing
• Food Safety
• Food Service
• Food Shipping
• Food/Culinary Innovation
• Food-Related Product Development

There are more than 1300 full-text titles, including more than 1000 food industry and market reports. Other material includes benchmarks and best practices in the food industry.

You can access Food Science Source from the Journal Databases pages, or by following the "Food Science Source" links in this post.

More than bums on seats: Australian participation in the arts

The Australian Council for the Arts has released a new research report into how Australians participate in the Arts. The report found that:

"In the year leading up to the research nine in ten Australians aged 15 and older had creatively participated in the arts (by making something themselves), or receptively participated (by attending a live event, an exhibition or reading literature). Australians are more likely to take in someone else’s art than to create it themselves: nine in ten claimed to have receptively

• participated in at least one art form
• four in ten had creatively participated in the arts
• only a small group (7%) were not engaged with the arts in the past 12 months."
  

Text from Australian Policy Online

You can access the full report from the Australian Council for the Arts website, or find out more in this video "about what art participation means in real terms, and paints a picture of Australians and the arts in 21st century":


You might also be interested in checking out the Australian Council for the Arts’ YouTube channel, ozcoarts.