title: Fish powder as a low-cost component in media for producing bacterial cellulose

authors: Adnan, Azila Binti

subjects: bacterial cellulose

abstract: Some bacteria can produce extracellular bacterial cellulose (BC). This polysaccharide is chemically identical to cellulose produced by plants but has no associated lignin and hemicelluloses. The unique mechanical properties, chemical stability and purity allow BC to be exploited for a range of biomedical applications. However, medium costs limit commercial BC production. The suitability of using fish powder as a low-cost media component for producing BC by submerged culture of Gluconacetobacter xylinus in shake flasks was investigated. Fish powder was made by drying and grinding Koi carp (Cyprinus carpio), a pest fish in New Zealand waterways. Fermentations were done at 30oC in a growth medium containing 50 g/L glucose, the required minerals, and either 5 g/L yeast extract or 15 g/L fish powder, The BC yield on both yeast extract and fish powder was 0.04 g/g glucose, demonstrating fish powder was a suitable low cost ingredient for supplying nitrogen and amino acids in the media.

text: Fish powder as a low-cost component in media for producing bacterial cellulose Some bacteria can produce extracellular bacterial cellulose (BC). This polysaccharide is chemically identical to cellulose produced by plants but has no associated lignin and hemicelluloses. The unique mechanical properties, chemical stability and purity allow BC to be exploited for a range of biomedical applications. However, medium costs limit commercial BC production. The suitability of using fish powder as a low-cost media component for producing BC by submerged culture of Gluconacetobacter xylinus in shake flasks was investigated. Fish powder was made by drying and grinding Koi carp (Cyprinus carpio), a pest fish in New Zealand waterways. Fermentations were done at 30oC in a growth medium containing 50 g/L glucose, the required minerals, and either 5 g/L yeast extract or 15 g/L fish powder, The BC yield on both yeast extract and fish powder was 0.04 g/g glucose, demonstrating fish powder was a suitable low cost ingredient for supplying nitrogen and amino acids in the media.

year: 2012

title: Procreate and cherish: A note on Australia’s abrupt shift to Pro-Natalism

authors: Jackson, Natalie

subjects: Australia

abstract: After a long history of arguing that Australian governments do not intervene in the bedrooms of the nation, in 2004 the Howard Government did exactly that. Under the enthusiastic choreographing of then Treasurer Peter Costello, it implemented an explicit and indirect fertility policy in the form of a maternity payment, commonly known as the ‘Baby Bonus’. Rising fertility in Australia since that time has been widely claimed as evidence of the policy’s success. Hailed as a mini ‘baby boom’, Costello was moved to describe the policy as a shift from ‘population or perish’ to ‘procreate and cherish’. Despite arguing against it while in Opposition, the policy has been continued with only a few changes by the incumbent Rudd Government, seemingly on the grounds that it may indeed be responsible for the recent ‘nudging up’ of birth rates.
This paper traces the policy shift and concludes with a brief analysis of Australian trends across the period of the Baby Bonus (2004-2008), showing that one quarter of the increase in numbers is due to cohort size, but noting that fertility has also risen in many developed countries across the same period and thus trends in Australia may just be part of a broader trend – and/or in part an artifact of the index used to measure fertility. It also draws attention to the collateral effect of an increased dependency ratio, with the mini ‘boom’ reaching school age at the very moment the post war baby boomers reach retirement age – as forewarned by Costello in 2002 when initially rejecting the idea of a Baby Bonus.

text: Procreate and cherish: A note on Australia’s abrupt shift to Pro-Natalism After a long history of arguing that Australian governments do not intervene in the bedrooms of the nation, in 2004 the Howard Government did exactly that. Under the enthusiastic choreographing of then Treasurer Peter Costello, it implemented an explicit and indirect fertility policy in the form of a maternity payment, commonly known as the ‘Baby Bonus’. Rising fertility in Australia since that time has been widely claimed as evidence of the policy’s success. Hailed as a mini ‘baby boom’, Costello was moved to describe the policy as a shift from ‘population or perish’ to ‘procreate and cherish’. Despite arguing against it while in Opposition, the policy has been continued with only a few changes by the incumbent Rudd Government, seemingly on the grounds that it may indeed be responsible for the recent ‘nudging up’ of birth rates.
This paper traces the policy shift and concludes with a brief analysis of Australian trends across the period of the Baby Bonus (2004-2008), showing that one quarter of the increase in numbers is due to cohort size, but noting that fertility has also risen in many developed countries across the same period and thus trends in Australia may just be part of a broader trend – and/or in part an artifact of the index used to measure fertility. It also draws attention to the collateral effect of an increased dependency ratio, with the mini ‘boom’ reaching school age at the very moment the post war baby boomers reach retirement age – as forewarned by Costello in 2002 when initially rejecting the idea of a Baby Bonus.

year: 2009

title: Te Whariki revisited: How approaches to assessment can make valued learning visible

authors: McLachlan, Claire

abstract: In 2016, Te Whariki: He Whariki Matauranga mō ngā Mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early Childhood Curriculum (Te Whariki) (Ministry of Education [MoE], 2017), New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum was updated for the first time in 20 years. Although the gazetted principles, strands and goals of the curriculum were not part of the update, the remainder of the curriculum was revised to meet the changing social and linguistic context, the revised national curriculum and associated documents, reviews of early childhood practice and relevant theory and research. The updated curriculum has reduced learning outcomes (from 118 to 20) and stronger guidance on the need for both informal and formal approaches to assessment to ensure children’s learning in each strand are assessed. This article reflects on the changes between the 1996 and 2017 version of the curriculum in relation to assessment and the rationale for the changes. Approaches to both ‘in the moment’ and planned assessment are explored and the usefulness of approaches which enable teachers to reflect on ‘discrepant data’ and support children’s learning in each strand are examined.

text: Te Whariki revisited: How approaches to assessment can make valued learning visible In 2016, Te Whariki: He Whariki Matauranga mō ngā Mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early Childhood Curriculum (Te Whariki) (Ministry of Education [MoE], 2017), New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum was updated for the first time in 20 years. Although the gazetted principles, strands and goals of the curriculum were not part of the update, the remainder of the curriculum was revised to meet the changing social and linguistic context, the revised national curriculum and associated documents, reviews of early childhood practice and relevant theory and research. The updated curriculum has reduced learning outcomes (from 118 to 20) and stronger guidance on the need for both informal and formal approaches to assessment to ensure children’s learning in each strand are assessed. This article reflects on the changes between the 1996 and 2017 version of the curriculum in relation to assessment and the rationale for the changes. Approaches to both ‘in the moment’ and planned assessment are explored and the usefulness of approaches which enable teachers to reflect on ‘discrepant data’ and support children’s learning in each strand are examined.

year: 2018