Bioremediation of contaminated soil : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Technology in Environmental Engineering at Massey University

The release of contaminants into the environment is inevitable. Contaminants are released through manufacture and use of products and as a result of treatment and disposal of wastes. Upon release to the environment, contaminants move and respond to a number of interrelated natural and man made factors. Penta-chloro-phenol (PCP) is one such contaminant that has been released into the environment and is known to have serious long term environmental effects. The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of biological processes to remediate soil contaminated with Penta-chloro-phenol (PCP). This thesis reviews mechanisms by which soil is contaminated, processes available to remediate soils, and in particular, process requirements for successful bioremediation. The abilities of bacteria to degrade PCP from soil contaminated with PCP was evaluated. Solid phase and slurry phase experiments were examined for their effect on PCP concentration over a four month period at the Department of Technology. Massey University. The objectives of this study were (1) To determine if aeration and inoculation of soil in-situ could produce significant removal of PCP. (2) Determine the effect of concentration on bioremediation rates. (3) Compare in-situ treatment with bio-slurry treatments. The experiments showed that it is possible to remove up to 95% of PCP from contaminated soil by inoculation with bacteria. Inoculum size and aeration were shown to be critical factors in affecting the rate of degradation. The larger the initial inoculum the greater the rate of degradation. Without aeration the inoculum was unable to significantly degrade PCP. The bio-slurry confirmed that PCP could be removed readily from soil to an aqueous state. In an aqueous state PCP is degraded at a faster rate than when it is incorporated into the soil matrix. The results of this work is to show that soil rehabilitation by way of biodegradation is a feasible and attractive process

Sydney's Transport

Over its history, Sydney transport has moved from purely human-powered, through water-based transport, horse-powered transport, railways, trams, buses and cars. The compromises that created Sydney’s transport network had to take into account the restrictions of physical geography, the changing economic and social needs of the population, the limitations of technology, ideas about funding and ownership, and political feasibility or expediency

Gay men in Sydney

Early in February 2005, the Governor of New South Wales, Professor Marie Bashir, launching the annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival, noted that this event had been 'absolutely priceless' in helping change social attitudes to sexual variation. This had helped create a more tolerant society: Most Australians are increasingly taking pride in that sense of freedom which springs from the considerable diversity within our society – diversity of race, religion, culture and also sexual orientation. Increasingly we have seen this diversity engender a greater environment of inclusiveness, respect and tolerance. Indeed, more than 'tolerance' – rather 'acceptance' – an acceptance and respect. Such public approbation from the head of state is in stark contrast to the views, expressed over 200 years previously, by the first governor, Arthur Phillip: There are two crimes that would merit death – murder and sodomy. For either of these crimes I would wish to confine the criminal till an opportunity offered of delivering him as a prisoner to the natives of New Zealand, and let them eat him. In the intervening centuries, attitudes to same-sex sexual activity, affection and relationships underwent dramatic changes, to the point where Sydney has acquired the reputation of being one of the iconic gay cities of the contemporary world. Yet the process has not been easy, and the major changes are only relatively recent. Indeed, over most of Australia's history since the white invasion of 1788, governments have actively persecuted those men who have been caught expressing their homoerotic desires, even though lesbian identity and behaviour were never criminalised in the same way. Further adding to the complexities of social change, men with same-sex desires have seen themselves transformed from persons who might commit an act – sodomy – to persons with an identity inextricably bound up with their sexuality – homosexual or gay. Two centuries have seen attitudes and conceptualisations change dramatically. A problem for writing a history of groups or communities designated criminal, demonised and persecuted over so much of our white history is both the relative paucity of records, and the bias in those that exist. Three institutions of society – the law, the Christian churches, and the medical profession – have played particularly important roles in setting the parameters for controlling homosexuality, both directly and by conditioning the wider society's attitudes to homosexuality and thus how gay people can live. This can be seen when we look back over the emergence of gay, lesbian, and what some now refer to as 'queer', life and subcultures in Sydney, from criminal secrecy within a disapproving society to such open activity, and at the more general changing attitudes to homosexuality in Australia

On Oxford Street: A Professional and Personal Story

It has often been noted that a person’s professional interests can spring from a personal partiality, and in so many ways that is my story. The sort of history I now write is more often motivated by the personal. And urban history led me down that road. But I would like to start by considering what might be called the ‘historiography’ of urban history and look at some significant mileposts

Alien Registration- Wotherspoon, James (Sangerville, Piscataquis County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/8615/thumbnail.jp

British Empire and International Students at the University of Edinburgh, 1880-1914

This thesis is concerned with the response of the University of Edinburgh to the educational challenges and opportunities which arose outside its domestic environment between 1880 and 1914. Focusing mainly on the formal and informal British Empire, it seeks to determine the manner in which the University contributed to wider political, social and economic developments of the period. It examines how the University met the demands posed by the growth in overseas student numbers and by the new opportunities arising from the expansion of British interests abroad. An attempt is made to assess the University's role in the transmission overseas of its educational knowledge and cultural values as well as of its ideas of Empire. Chapter One outlines the background to and context of the study. Quantitative statistics are provided in Chapter Two to show how many individuals born outside the British Isles came to study at Edinburgh University between 1880 and 1914, to establish where they came from and what courses of study they undertook. Chapters Three and Four then discuss some of the wider international dimensions of the University to estimate how far the University engaged with bodies and institutions outside the British Isles, and the extent to which its growing involvement in matters of imperial interest influenced the life of the academic and student community. Through a quantitative and qualitative analysis, Chapters Five to Ten consider on a regional basis the employment patterns of those Edinburgh graduates who went abroad during the period. They review the role graduates played in the communities in which they lived and how far the culture and values nurtured by Edinburgh University were promoted abroad, particularly within the British Empire. Through an examination of their involvement with institutions and individuals overseas, the ideas of Empire espoused by Edinburgh graduates of this period, and how these were articulated, are explored. Chapter Eleven summarises the principal conclusions of the thesis and indicates where further research might be undertaken on the impact within the British Empire of ideas, practices and values fostered by Scottish Universities

Thomas McCrie: churchman and historian

To have deserved the title, the "Discoverer of John Knox," would seem to he certain assurance of undying fame and regard, at least in Scotland, if not among all Protestants; and yet, the man who earned that title is little known in his native land and practically unknown in his native town of Duns. Not that his name has disappeared entirely, for "Thomas McCrie" may still be discovered in the footnotes of even recent historical works concerned with the Scottish Church, and his "Life of Knox," which was responsible for restoring the great Reformer to his rightful place among the greatly honoured and highly regarded of Scotia's sons, will, probably, always be recognised as a standard which later historians have only embellished. However, McCrie accomplished much more in life than the composition of his biography of Knox, and this thesis is an attempt to recover Dr. McCrie's works from the oblivion for which they seemed to be destined and to assess his Importance and determine his place among the Scottish Historians. At the same time, an effort has been made to sketch enough of his life so that his character and background may be understood, and also to make a study of his main contribution to Scottish Churchmanship, which was in the field of Church and State relations, an area which, more than any other, has been the field of conflict in the Scottish Church.Although a detailed review of any single work has not been presented, a study of all McCrie's works has been made in the course of the preparation of this thesis. It should be mentioned , too, that not one of them proved to be dull or uninteresting and their style was found to be unexpectedly modern. In fact, his historical works are as easily read as a good novel which one scarcely wishes to lay aside until one has finished reading it all. His support of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, the Reformers, and the Covenanters, and his intense pride in and love of his native land, gratifying to anyone of Scottish descent and of Presbyterian conviction but his outspoken criticism of prelacy and his undisguised preference for Scotland and Scottish life above any other, may be aggravating to the Episcopalians, particularly to those "south of the Border," as it evidently was when his works were first penned.Besides McCrie's own works and other general works on Scottish Church History and on the development of the science of Historiography, a study has been made of the periodicals and reviews contemporary with McCrle, and the conclusion seems to be Justified that, though McCrie was, in some respects, a late historian of the "Enlightenment," he was much more, for Scotland at least, a precursor of the age of scientific Historiography which has always been recognised to have commenced with Ranke