Investigation of relationships through which biodynamic growing practices affect plant growth and nutrient composition : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science in Soil Science at Massey University

Author also known as Gillian Leslie ColeMore research attention has been paid to development of indicators of soil quality in relation to environmental sustainability than to food quality. Challenges in measuring and showing relationships between soil quality, food quality and human health are discussed. Comparative and long-term studies have shown that organic and biodynamic farming methods and use of composts and manures favourably affect soil quality, enhancing organic matter content and soil organism activity. However, measured effects on food quality have been lacking or inconsistent. Antioxidants, nitrates, trace elements, protein quality and ratios between element concentrations can be measured in assessing food quality. Many of these factors vary considerably with growing conditions and soil management techniques. Effects of factors such as water, light, soil type, variety and nutrient supply on lettuce growth, lettuce nutrient requirements, and recent research into effects of light on plant signalling and nitrogen metabolism arc reviewed and discussed. Recent research into factors influencing food quality has focussed on integration of growth and differentiation forces into "Vital quality" food. The biodynamic field-spray preparations 500 and 501 are used to balance effects of growth or "shade" forces from humus and fertilisers with the differentiating or "light' forces on plants. Literature indicates that the preparation 501 (silica-spray) appears to increase plant nutrient assimilation and production of more complex organic acids. Similar effects have been found for silica compounds applied to soil or nutrient solution. The main objective of the experimental work conducted for this thesis was to investigate whether relationships exist between soil management techniques and application of biodynamic sprays and plant product quality. Transplanted lettuces (cv. Canasta) were grown in a factorial designed field trial on Te Puke Series sandy loam with six treatments: control, soluble fertilisers (DAPCAN) and compost, each with, or without, biodynamic field-sprays 500 (twice) and 501 (3 times). High variability between plants within treatments and small differences between treatment means for most parameters measured prevented many statistically significant differences or relationships being found. Compost amendments appeared to enhance water and nutrient uptake during a dry season. However compost application at a rate to provide equivalent nitrogen to the soluble fertilisers resulted in high leaf concentrations of nitrates and potassium and low DM% and concentrations of sugars, antioxidants, calcium and magnesium. Plants in treatments given compost had highest yields; highest N, P and K concentrations at 28 days from transplanting (DAT); and highest K at 48 DAT. Plants in treatments given soluble fertilisers had highest Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn. and Cu concentrations and greater Ca: P and K: Ca + Mg ratios at 48 DAT. Application of biodynamic field-sprays appeared to have different effects on the plants in plots, depending upon whether they received compost or not. Plants in treatments given field-sprays but no compost had generally small head weight, greater dry matter % and root: shoot ratios at 28 DAT, and highest crude protein and Ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) antioxidant concentration at 48 DAT. Plants in the biodynamic treatment, given compost and field-sprays, had highest P uptake between 28 and 48 DAT and highest fresh-weight at 48 DAT. Measurements of nitrate and sugar contents of leaf cell sap and amino acid concentrations in leaves yielded few, or no, significant differences between treatment means. Microbial activity measured by soil respiration ex situ at 28 DAT was highest in composted plots and lowest in sprayed plots. Measurement of AM fungi colonisation of roots gave inconclusive results. In a sensory evaluation, no significant differences in taste, bitterness, sweetness and preference ranking were found between lettuces from the different treatments. A greenhouse pot trial was undertaken to study the effects of the biodynamic silica spray in more detail. Lettuce transplants (cv. Cos Little Gem) were grown in the same soil and biodynamic compost as were used in the first trial and preparation 500 applied. Half the plants were sprayed 3 times with preparation 501. Measurements before and after the last spray time yielded insignificant differences in light absorption at most wavelengths, net photosynthesis and nitrate, sugar and amino acid concentration in leaves. Silica sprayed plants had higher rates of transpiration and stomatal conductance and higher estimated light absorption of blue and near infrared wavelengths 21/2 hours after spraying. Mainly inconclusive effects of treatments were due partly to the large natural plant to plant (within replication) variation. It was concluded that organic and biodynamic management of lettuces may result in some favourable quality attributes compared to soluble fertilisers but not necessarily all. Results are likely to be specific to particular climatic and soil conditions. It is recommended that further trials be carried out to evaluate influences of biodynamic practices on vegetable food quality in controlled, well-replicated conditions, to improve likelihood of showing statistical differences between treatments. Such trials are needed in a variety of soil, climatic and management conditions, to better understand how different conditions and their interactions affect food quality parameters. Relationships between biodynamic preparation application, soil biota populations and activity, plant metabolism and food product quality, particularly nitrogen assimilation into complex molecules such as essential amino acids, should be explored

Preparing women for dead-end jobs? Vocational education and training (VET) for information and communication technology (ICT) jobs

This paper discusses the role that vocational education and training (VET) in ICT subject areas plays in contributing to the gender and social class structuring of ICT occupations, focusing in particular on education and employment data from the UK. The paper also makes reference to similar data about ICT VET in Germany and Japan to argue that the new areas of ‘soft’ ICT skills – in education and in occupations - have become feminised, and channel women into low skilled and low paid work. Unlike university level ICT education, which has opened opportunities for women and students coming from families with no experience of higher education, sub-degree level ICT VET seems to be continuing to reproduce gender and socio- economic class within and through ICT occupations. I argue that those concerned with gender equity research and interventions in ICT need to work with an analysis that disaggregates what are now appearing to be quite different skills sets, and different career opportunities often misleadingly conflated under the umbrella term ‘ICT’. I also argue for better analytical models for the gendering of ICT than those offered by the ‘leaky pipeline’ or ‘critical mass’ models, and for new analyses that would incorporate both a structural analysis and new ways of looking at women’s choices, such as Hakim’s ‘orientation to work’

Nilpotent Singer groups

Let $N$ be a nilpotent group normal in a group $G$. Suppose that $G$ acts transitively upon the points of a finite non-Desarguesian projective plane $\mathcal{P}$. We prove that, if $\mathcal{P}$ has square order, then $N$ must act semi-regularly on $\mathcal{P}$. In addition we prove that if a finite non-Desarguesian projective plane $\mathcal{P}$ admits more than one nilpotent group which is regular on the points of $\mathcal{P}$ then $\mathcal{P}$ has non-square order and the automorphism group of $\mathcal{P}$ has odd order

Computer Corpora and the law: a new approach to the translation of legal terms

The use of computer corpora for the analysis of legal language is not common practice; still less the use of parallel corpora for the comparison of legal terminology. The Bononia Legal Corpus project (BoLC) began two years ago, and now as the first stage reaches completion, some important issues must be addressed. This paper will present findings from the first stage of the project, in which European Community directives and judgements have been analysed to identify actual translation equivalents in Italian and English. The main points to be discussed are the clarification of concept boundaries when dealing with terminology in different languages, and the help or hindrance of dictionaries in identifying translation equivalents

From Shorty Blake to Tubby Binns : Dunkirk and the Representation of Working-Class Masculinity in Postwar British Cinema

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Community Economic Development Initiative (CEDI) Programme Evaluation

Shotton Colliery Community Economic Development Initiative (CEDI) began in 2007. It is one of three CEDI areas funded through the Single Programme. CEDI builds on a previous County Durham-wide programme, Settlement Renewal Initiatives (SRIs), which ended in 2006. Shotton Colliery CEDI receives funding from One North East, the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund and the Shotton Investment Pot. The aim of CEDI is to improve the local economy in Shotton Colliery by designing projects to support local people and businesses. The emphasis is on removing barriers to employment, supporting skills and training, and stimulating business growth. CEDI’s outcomes are: 1. New economic activity contributing to diversification in the local economy; 2. Enhance the contribution made by the settlement to the local economy; 3. Reduced unemployment and worklessness; 4. Increased skill levels and educational attainment; 5. Improved access to employment through addressing multiple barriers such as poor health, childcare responsibilities and transport; 6. Increased economic opportunities through enhancing the built and natural environment. CEDI outcomes are organised into four themes: community enterprise; reducing worklessness; education, training and skills, and business support and stimulating entrepreneurship. Projects to achieve the outcomes include the development of community enterprises such as a community café, increasing the range of leisure, welfare and learning opportunities offered by the community centre, improved broadband access for the area, and initiatives to support unemployed people and encourage business growth. Shotton Partnership 2000 Ltd oversees the CEDI along with partner agencies including Shotton Parish Council and Easington District Council. It commissioned this independent evaluation in November 2007. The evaluation had the following objectives: to consider the effectiveness of the delivery of Shotton CEDI against the outputs and outcomes included in the project’s approval; to examine the particular circumstances that exist in Shotton and which may have impacted on the delivery of CEDI; and to recommend potential activities and outcomes that would be of benefit to the community of Shotton and match the aspirations of those supporting the initiative in its continuation

The Cultural Interface: The Role of Self

With the increasing use of communications technology across cultural boundaries, and within cultural boundaries, we see shifts taking place both within a culture about itself, and across cultures about each other. Yet in what way are the shifts distinct, if so, from those which occur in face-to-face interaction? Consider the following simple example of a change in addressing: A Japanese person who would normally when referring to a colleague address him/her with surname to the addressee, changes to first name referral when communicating via email in the c.c. section of the mail header, and in the message itself. Neither would normally address the other by first name. Yet in a meeting at another company, Japanese persons addressed themselves by first name and surname, and the non-Japanese person with the Japanese form of name and ‘san’. They were adapting a traditional form of respecting the non-company person to a non-Japanese person in this manner of elevating my address in relation to their own. The addressing was a mixture of English and Japanese. This is in contrast to the consistency of addressing in the email situation, which is also an act of politeness to the English speaker’s cultural norm.\ud Consider another example of a British subject being asked if they ever communicate differently with a non-British person in email. The reply is that it depends on the person’s competence in English. Yet in a face-to-face situation,\ud we would not necessarily judge someone’s competence in understanding our utterance by the level of their English, but by their ability to make sense of what we are saying in relation to the situation. A Japanese person in a face-to-face setting may be highly competent in communicating, yet in a video conference, finds that due to poor quality of communication channels, he misunderstands and that the emphasis is placed on ‘competence’ in language as being equivalent to competence in communication