Improved mass cultivation of the marine diatom Chaetoceros calcitrans for shellfish hatcheries : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Biotechnology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

A medium for the optimal growth of Chaetoceros calcitrans in batch and continuous culture systems was developed. A method was developed for continuous culture of C. calcitrans that was free from detrimental infection by bacteria. The concentration of tested nutrients in the developed medium were sodium nitrate, 160 mg/L; sodium dihydrogen orthophosphate, 40 mg/L; and the molar Si:N ratio was 0.25 (99.9 mg/L sodium metasilicate). Isolated bacterial strains were shown to be detrimental to the growth of C. calcitrans in batch and continuous culture. Electrolytically treated water was suitable for the growth of C. calcitrans, but a subsequent flourish of bacterial growth at the late exponential phase reduced the quality of the algal cells and made the culture unsuitable for feeding to shellfish larvae. Heat treated water (95°C for ten and a half minutes) gave stable growth for the continuous culture of C. calcitrans in 38 L plastic bioreactor bags for at least 38 days. The superficial gas velocity in the culture bags was 0.09 L/min. Higher superficial gas velocities (e.g. 0.40 L/min were detrimental to C. calcitrans

News Map Gaps: Regional News Coverage in the City

'Why isn't my town on the map?' (Keillor 1985, p.90) The lament of residents of the mythical Lake Wobegon, when fifty square miles of central Minnesota were mistakenly omitted by government surveyors. This content analysis of statewide television news reveals a number of Lake Wobegons missing from Queensland's television news map. Distance from a newsroom (not from the capital) appears to be a major factor contributing to the 'invisibility' of certain cities and towns. A local news service appears to enhance a region's chances of 'balanced' statewide coverage. Based on this study the hidden impact of local TV news closures could be a Lake Wobegon fate for regional Australia on the state and national news maps

The oil industry in our schools: from Petro Pete to science capital in the age of climate crisis

Fossil fuel corporations play a significant role in promoting their interests in schools and other educational institutions, a practice that has recently been labelled as ‘petro-pedagogy.’ But this role goes beyond the production of the pro-petroleum and anti-science corporate propaganda that tends to attract the most critical attention. In this article, I present a case study of the involvement of BP, one of the world’s largest fossil fuel corporations, in primary and secondary education in the United Kingdom. As practiced by BP, petro-pedagogy constitutes a core part of a corporate education reform network that, for the past decade, has focused on promoting a neoliberal model of STEM education in schools around the world. This model, based on corporate and capitalist interests, poses a significant threat to our collective efforts to tackle the global climate crisis

Culture workers against big oil: the importance of labor education in fighting the climate crisis

This article argues for the importance of labor education in fighting the climate crisis, a vital form of education too often overlooked in the climate movement. Drawing on a case study of unionized culture workers in the United Kingdom, the article seeks to show the distinctive embed- ded nature of labor education. Success of labor education on the climate crisis hinges not so much on a particular pedagogy or curriculum in any one classroom setting, but on the ways in which a range of formal and informal educational actors and spaces work together across the labor and environmental movements, as part of a mobilizing project that seeks to link worker interests directly to the climate crisis, and identify actions that workers can take to address the crisis effectively. Labor education has a central role to play in ensuring a just transition in the move away from a fossil fuel based economy

A Statistical Survey of Peculiar L and T Dwarfs in SDSS, 2MASS, and WISE

We present the final results from a targeted search for brown dwarfs with unusual near-infrared colors. From a positional cross-match of SDSS, 2MASS and WISE, we have identified 144 candidate peculiar L and T dwarfs. Spectroscopy confirms that 20 of the objects are peculiar or are candidate binaries. Nine of the 420 objects in our sample are young ($\lesssim$200 Myr; 2.1%) and another 8 (1.9%) are unusually red with no signatures of youth. With a spectroscopic $J-K_s$ color of 2.58 $\pm$ 0.11 mag, one of the new objects, the L6 dwarf 2MASS J03530419+0418193, is among the reddest field dwarfs currently known and is one of the reddest objects with no signatures of youth known to date. We have also discovered another potentially very low gravity object, the L1 dwarf 2MASS J00133470+1109403, and independently identified the young L7 dwarf 2MASS J00440332+0228112, first reported by Schneider and collaborators. Our results confirm that signatures of low gravity are no longer discernible in low to moderate resolution spectra of objects older than $\sim$200 Myr. The 1.9% of unusually red L dwarfs that do not show other signatures of youth could be slightly older, up to $\sim$400 Myr. In this case a red $J-K_s$ color may be more diagnostic of moderate youth than individual spectral features. However, its is also possible that these objects are relatively metal-rich, and so have an enhanced atmospheric dust content.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figures, 5 tables, accepted to A

In vivo interaction of anti-cancer drugs with misonidazole or metronidazole: cyclophosphamide and BCNU.

The addition of misonidazole (MISO) or metronidazole (METRO) to treatment with cyclophosphamide (CY) increased delay to regrowth of 2 experimental tumours. The effect was observed for large an small tumours, was present for doses of MISO that are ineffective for killing hypoxic cells, and required that it be given with, or shortly before CY. Mice receiving combined treatment had more weight loss and myelosuppression than those receiving CY alone, and the Therapeutic Index was lower. MISO caused a marked increase in growth delay when combined with BCNU to treat the KHT sarcoma. This effect was observed for small and large tumours, required simultaneous administration of drugs, and also led to increased host toxicity. There was no therapeutic advantage from combined treatment. Survival of aerobic or anoxic Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells was assessed after exposure in vitro to serum from mice that had received CY or BCNU alone. MISO alone, or combined treatment. Results of these experiments suggest that (1) MISO delays the excretion or breakdown of active metabolites of CY, and (2) at a dose that does not kill hypoxic cells, it may selectively "sensitize" hypoxic cells (but not aerobic cells) to the action of BCNU. The presence of other undetermined interactions of BCNU and MISO is inferred from the increased toxicity to (aerobic) normal tissue. Misonidazole or metronidazole should be used with caution in patients who are receiving BCNU or cyclophosphamide