Athlemaphilia: (n) meaningful affective connections with sport

This thesis amalgamates self-determination and attachment theories with the three-factor theory of anthropomorphism to propose athletes can form meaningful nonhuman attachments to sport, which are experienced similarly to interpersonal attachments, and can predict wellbeing and motivation to engage in sport. This mixed methods thesis employed three studies to develop our understanding of ‘athlemaphilic’ relationships. The first study explored whether athletes experience athlematic interactions like interpersonal relationships, as well as how interactions with sport are associated with wellbeing. The second study utilised interpretative phenomenological analysis to examine why individuals might turn to sport for support. The final study tested how individuals primed with interpersonal insecurity might recuperate a sense of belongingness by thinking about their athlemaphilic relationships. This thesis offers preliminary support for the notions that athlemaphilic relationships: (a) exist; (b) impact wellbeing and motivation; (c) satisfy the secure base and safe haven functions of attachment figures; (d) are anthropomorphised, and; (e) can compensate for thwarted interpersonal need satisfaction. Throughout this thesis athlemaphilic attachments are compared to attachments to interpersonal others, deities, and objects (i.e., mobile-phones), although it remains unclear which type of attachment they resemble most, or if such direct comparison is even possible. Each relationship may make a unique contribution to wellbeing, and a model which can detect such variation is needed. Overall, this thesis challenges the interpersonal requirement of relatedness according to self-determination theory, broadens the scope of attachment theory, supports context-specific attachment styles, and demonstrates attachment to sport as a concept. Continuing to explore these relationships is necessary to better understand what motivates us to engage, or disengage, in sport, as well as how we generate a sense of health and wellbeing

The solid state fermentation of apple pomace using yeasts to produce an improved stock feed supplement : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Technology degree at Massey University

Apple pomace is a waste stream generated from the apple juice extraction process and constitutes about 25% of the original fruit (Walter and Sherman, 1976). It contains a large amount of water and sugars, has a low pH and a small amount of protein. The total production of apple pomace in New Zealand is 2.7 x 10⁴ tonnes/year. At present, it is mainly disposed of by transportation to landfill areas, with a minor portion being used locally as a pig feed supplement. However, this main disposal method is a major cost and is also of considerable environmental concern. As the quantity of pomace produced is forecasted to increase gradually over the next five years, alternative treatments and disposal options will become necessary. This project involved the solid state fermentation of apple pomace with the aim of producing an improved stock feed supplement. The fermentations were conducted using a variety of yeasts with the purpose of improving the nutritional value by increasing the crude protein content. The effects of unsterilised media, moisture content and nitrogen addition were also addressed. Sterilisation of the apple pomace medium prior to yeast inoculation was found to be necessary due to the superior growth characteristics of a yeast from the natural biota. This yeast was isolated and identified as Kloeckera apiculata. The growth of Kloeckera apiculata on sterilised apple pomace was superior to that exhibited by Candida utilis Y15, Saccharomyces cerevisiae Y10 and Yarrowia lipolytica IFO1659. Schizosaccharomyces pombe H115 grew poorly on the apple pomace medium. A reduction in the moisture content of the apple pomace medium from 80% to 65% was found to have little effect upon the growth characteristics of C. utilis, Kl. apiculata and Sacch. cerevisiae. Ammonium hydroxide was the most effective nitrogeous growth substrate at improving the growth of Kl. apiculata, when used as a medium supplement. The growth of C. utilis benefited most from the addition of ammonium sulphate. Kl. apiculata growth on apple pomace supplemented with 1% v/w 2 N ammonium hydroxide achieved a maximum crude protein content of 3.5%, measured on a dry weight basis, after 48 hours. Kl. apiculata growth on pomace supplemented with 1% v/w 7.8 N ammonium hydroxide achieved a maximum protein content of 7.2%, measured on a dry weight basis, after 72 hours. Comparison of the amino acid profile of the microbially modified apple pomace (7.2% protein) with amino acid profiles recommended for growing pigs and breeding pigs revealed a deficiency in nearly all amino acids. This research indicates that the increased protein content of the apple pomace, due to yeast propagation, is still insufficient to qualify it as a suitable stock feed supplement. However, research into the effects of other fermentation parameters may lead to further improvements in yeast growth. As the pig industry is potentially the greatest market in New Zealand for a microbial biomass product such as this, feeding trials with growing and breeding pigs are essential to determine its nutritional value. These trials would have a major bearing on determining the commercial prospects of this apple pomace feed product. However, before any further research is conducted, consideration must be given to a new process which has been proposed for the extraction of apple juice. This process would result in an altered apple pomace waste stream and, if it was adopted for future commercial use, may reduce the applicability in New Zealand of the research results described in this thesis

Radio source stacking and the infrared / radio correlation at microJy flux densities

We investigate the infrared / radio correlation using the technique of source stacking, in order to probe the average properties of radio sources that are too faint to be detected individually. We compare the two methods used in the literature to stack sources, and demonstrate that the creation of stacked images leads to a loss of information. We stack infrared sources in the Spitzer extragalactic First Look Survey (xFLS) field, and the three northern Spitzer Wide-area Infrared Extragalactic survey (SWIRE) fields, using radio surveys created at 610 MHz and 1.4 GHz, and find a variation in the absolute strength of the correlation between the xFLS and SWIRE regions, but no evidence for significant evolution in the correlation over the 24-um flux density range 150 uJy - 2 mJy. We carry out the first radio source stacking experiment using 70-um-selected galaxies, and find no evidence for significant evolution over the 70-um flux density range 10 mJy - 100 mJy.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Conductive interpenetrating networks of polypyrrole and polycaprolactone encourage electrophysiological development of cardiac cells

Conductive and electroactive polymers have the potential to enhance engineered cardiac tissue function. In this study, an interpenetrating network of the electrically-conductive polymer polypyrrole (PPy) was grown within a matrix of flexible polycaprolactone (PCL) and evaluated as a platform for directing the formation of functional cardiac cell sheets. PCL films were either treated with sodium hydroxide to render them more hydrophilic and enhance cell adhesion or rendered electroactive with PPy grown via chemical polymerization yielding PPy–PCL that had a resistivity of 1.0 ± 0.4 kΩ cm, which is similar to native cardiac tissue. Both PCL and PPy–PCL films supported cardiomyocyte attachment; increasing the duration of PCL pre-treatment with NaOH resulted in higher numbers of adherent cardiomyocytes per unit area, generating cell densities which were more similar to those on PPy–PCL films (1568 ± 126 cells mm−2, 2880 ± 439 cells mm−2, 3623 ± 456 cells mm−2 for PCL with 0, 24, 48 h of NaOH pretreatment, respectively; 2434 ± 166 cells mm−2 for PPy–PCL). When cardiomyocytes were cultured on the electrically-conductive PPy–PCL, more cells were observed to have peripheral localization of the gap junction protein connexin-43 (Cx43) as compared to cells on NaOH-treated PCL (60.3 ± 4.3% vs. 46.6 ± 5.7%). Cx43 gene expression remained unchanged between materials. Importantly, the velocity of calcium wave propagation was faster and calcium transient duration was shorter for cardiomyocyte monolayers on PPy–PCL (1612 ± 143 μm/s, 910 ± 63 ms) relative to cells on PCL (1129 ± 247 μm/s, 1130 ± 20 ms). In summary, PPy–PCL has demonstrated suitability as an electrically-conductive substrate for culture of cardiomyocytes, yielding enhanced functional properties; results encourage further development of conductive substrates for use in differentiation of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes and cardiac tissue engineering applications. Statement of Significance Current conductive materials for use in cardiac regeneration are limited by cytotoxicity or cost in implementation. In this manuscript, we demonstrate for the first time the application of a biocompatible, conductive polypyrrole–polycaprolactone film as a platform for culturing cardiomyocytes for cardiac regeneration. This study shows that the novel conductive film is capable of enhancing cell–cell communication through the formation of connexin-43, leading to higher velocities for calcium wave propagation and reduced calcium transient durations among cultured cardiomyocyte monolayers. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that chemical modification of polycaprolactone through alkaline-mediated hydrolysis increased overall cardiomyocyte adhesion. The results of this study provide insight into how cardiomyocytes interact with conductive substrates and will inform future research efforts to enhance the functional properties of cardiomyocytes, which is critical for their use in pharmaceutical testing and cell therapy

An ALMA Survey of Submillimeter Galaxies in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South : The Redshift Distribution and Evolution of Submillimeter Galaxies

Accepted by ApJ. 45 pages, 16 figuresWe present the first photometric redshift distribution for a large unbiased sample of 870um selected submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) with robust identifications based on observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA). In our analysis we consider 96 SMGs in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South, 77 of which have 4-19 band, optical-near-infrared, photometry. We model the Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs) for these 77 SMGs, deriving a median photometric redshift of z=2.3+/-0.1. The remaining 19 SMGs have insufficient optical or near-infrared photometry to derive photometric redshifts, but a stacking analysis of IRAC and Herschel observations confirms they are not spurious. Assuming these sources have an absolute H-band magnitude distribution comparable to that of a complete sample of z~1-2 SMGs, we demonstrate that the undetected SMGs lie at higher redshifts, raising the median redshift for SMGs to z=2.5+/-0.2. More critically we show that the proportion of galaxies undergoing an SMG phase at z>3 is 35+/-5% of the total population. We derive a median stellar mass for SMGs of Mstar=(8+/-1)x10^10Mo, but caution that there are significant systematic uncertainties in our stellar mass estimate, up to x5 for individual sources. We compare our sample of SMGs to a volume-limited, morphologically classified sample of ellipticals in the local Universe. Assuming the star formation activity in SMGs has a timescale of ~100Myr we show that their descendants at z~0 would have a space density and M_H distribution which are in good agreement with those of local ellipticals. In addition the inferred mass-weighted ages of the local ellipticals broadly agree with the look-back times of the SMG events. Taken together, these results are consistent with a simple model that identifies SMGs as events that form most of the stars seen in the majority of luminous elliptical galaxies at the present day.Peer reviewe

New Limit on Axion-Dark-Matter using Cold Neutrons

We report on a search for axion-like dark matter using a Ramsey-type apparatus for cold neutrons. A hypothetical axion-gluon-coupling would manifest in a neutron electric dipole moment signal oscillating in time. Twenty-four hours of data have been analyzed in a frequency range from 23 $\mu$Hz to 1 kHz, and no significant oscillating signal has been found. The usage of present axion and dark-matter models allowed excluding the coupling of axions to gluons in the mass range from $1.5 \times 10^{-20}$ to $6.6 \times 10^{-13}$ eV with a best sensitivity of $C_G / f_a m_a = (3.1 \pm 0.2) \times 10^{12}$ GeV$^{-2}$ (95% C.L.)