Histological alterations in the Antarctic cod, Trematomus bernacchii from Davis Station, East Antarctica

During the summer season 2009/10, a comprehensive environmental impact assessment of the sewage discharge was conducted at Davis Station in the Vestfold Hills region of East Antarctica. As part of this project, a survey of the histology of liver, gill, gonad and muscle tissues in the Antarctic rock cod Trematomus bernacchii from nearshore sites in the receiving environment close to Davis Station in was completed. Fish from 4 sites were examined; 1 site adjacent to the Davis Station sewage outfall (within 500 m of the point of discharge), 2 sites approximately 2 km from the outfall (Anchorage Island and Antennae farm), and 1 site approximately 10 km away from the outfall and adjacent to an Adelie penguin population (Kazak Island). All fish sampled from the sewage outfall site exhibited significant histological alterations in all major tissues. Fish from the other 3 sites showed some alterations in either gill and/or liver tissues. Pathological abnormalities present in all fish collected near the sewage outfall included: extensive multifocal cysts of unknown etiology with necrotic liquification; multifocal granuloma with associated inflammation; coagulative necrosis in the liver; and lamellar hyperplasia with associated proliferation and lamella fusion of the gills. Results of this work form part of a weight of evidence approach alongside ecological monitoring, chemical analysis, ecotoxicological testing and dispersal modelling of the discharge plume which is being used to inform and direct upgrades to the Australian Antarctic Divisions operations and current sewage discharge practises at Davis Station.

Direct evidence of histopathological impacts of wastewater discharge on resident Antarctic fish (Trematomus bernacchii) at Davis Station, East Antarctica.

During the 2009/2010 summer, a comprehensive environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the wastewater discharge at Davis Station, East Antarctica was completed. As part of this, histological alteration of gill and liver tissue in Antarctic Rock-cod (Trematomus bernacchii) from four sites along a spatial gradient from the wastewater outfall were assessed. All fish within 800 m of the outfall exhibited significant histological changes in both tissues. Common pathologies observed in fish closest to the outfall include proliferation of epithelial cells with associated secondary lamellar fusion in the gills and multifocal granulomata with inflammation and necrosis as well as cysts in the liver. Fish from sites >800 m from the outfall also exhibited alterations but to a lesser degree, with prevalence and severity decreasing with increasing distance from the outfall. This study highlights the value of histopathological investigations as part of EIAs and provides the first evidence of sub-lethal alteration associated with wastewater discharge in East Antarctica.

Tracking spatial distribution of human-derived wastewater from Davis Station, East Antarctica, using δ15N and δ13C stable isotopes.

Stable isotope ratios, δ15N and δ13C were effectively used to determine the geographical dispersion of human derived sewage from Davis Station, East Antarctica, using Antarctic rock cod (Trematomus bernacchii). Fish within 0-4km downstream of the outfall exhibited higher δ15N and δ13C values relative to reference sites. Nitrogen in particular showed a stepped decrease in δ15N with increasing distance from the discharge point by 1-2‰. Stable isotopes were better able to detect the extent of wastewater contamination than other techniques including faecal coliform and sterol measures. Uptake and assimilation of δ15N and δ13C up to 4km from the outfall adds to growing evidence indicating the current level of wastewater treatment at Davis Station is not sufficient to avoid impact to the surrounding environment. Isotopic assimilation in T. bernacchii is a viable biomarker for investigation of initial sewage exposure and longer term monitoring in the future.

Benchmark 4 : wrinkling during cup drawing

Benchmark-4 is designed to predict wrinkling during cup drawing. Two different punch geometries have been selected in order to investigate the changes of wrinkling amplitude and wave. To study the effect of material on wrinkling, two distinct materials including AA 5042 and AKDQ steel are also considered in the benchmark. Problem description, material properties, and simulation reports with experimental data are summarized.

Application of a quantitative histological health index for Antarctic rock cod (Trematomus bernacchii) from Davis Station, East Antarctica

A quantitative Histological Health Index (HHI) was applied to Antarctic rock cod (Trematomus bernacchii) using gill, liver, spleen, kidney and gonad to assess the impact of wastewater effluent from Davis Station, East Antarctica. A total of 120 fish were collected from 6 sites in the Prydz Bay region of East Antarctica at varying distances from the wastewater outfall. The HHI revealed a greater severity of alteration in fish at the wastewater outfall, which decreased stepwise with distance. Gill and liver displayed the greatest severity of alteration in fish occurring in close proximity to the wastewater outfall, showing severe and pronounced alteration respectively. Findings of the HHI add to a growing weight of evidence indicating that the current level of wastewater treatment at Davis Station is insufficient to prevent impact to the surrounding environment. The HHI for T. bernacchii developed in this study is recommended as a useful risk assessment tool for assessing in situ, sub-lethal impacts from station-derived contamination in coastal regions throughout Antarctica.

A tale of two events? Media analysis of the Melbourne 2008 Homeless World Cup

In 2008, Melbourne became the first Australian city to host the Homeless World Cup (HWC), an annual international sporting event that aims to raise the profile of homelessness and social marginalisation. This article first examines relevant print media articles relating to the HWC by identifying key themes through thematic and content analysis. It then examines the polarised reporting of the HWC by two print media outlets, The Age and the Herald Sun, and argues that each outlet's coverage served to reinforce its own established position on the key political and social issues, in this instance homelessness, asylum seeking and immigration. The divergence in the discourses constructed in each paper provides a demonstrative example of the capacity of the media to use events of all sorts to consolidate their political and commercial positions.

Advertising the 2015 Cricket World Cup: representing multicultural female sports fans

Intersectional accounts of how women sports fans from diverse cultural backgrounds are represented remain largely unconsidered in fandom literature. This article examines an Australian advertisement for the 2015 Cricket World Cup, which features as its main protagonists female cricket fans supporting a variety of countries. It makes use of a transnational feminist cultural studies paradigm to frame a discussion of how commercial sports media narratives situate these fans as ‘‘ordinary.’’ In considering how the multicultural female sports fan is configured as ordinary in the Australian sporting context, I demonstrate the ways In which narratives of gender and nation are mobilized to situate multicultural women as marginal to both the Australian nation and cricket, despite the prominence given to ethnically diverse women in the advertisement. This manoeuvre, I argue, responds to the cultural and economic transformations of cricket globally, simultaneously denying and universalizing difference as a mechanism to assuage the anxieties generated by the decentering of Western power in international cricket.

Study on yield function and plastic potential under non-associated flow for accurate earing prediction in cup drawing

Prediction of more than four ears in a cup drawing process can be successfully achieved by considering r-value and stress directionalities. Yld2004-18p based on associated flow rule and Yld2000-2D based on non-associated flow rule are the examples. The former, however, is more costly in terms of computational efficiency than the latter. In this work, an anisotropic constitutive model based on non-associated flow rule which combines two different functions, Hill (1948) and Yld2000-2d, is implemented to a user defined material model. The accuracy of the anisotropic directionalities (yield stresses and plastic strain ratios) is evaluated. Simulation of a mini-die cup drawing with a body stock alloy predicted eight ears, in good agreement with the experimental results. The use of Hill (1948) model for the yield function and Yld2000-2d for plastic potential under the framework of non-associated flow rule led to accurate prediction of up to eight ears at the lower computational cost.

Wrinkling during cup drawing with NUMISHEET2014 benchmark test

Wrinkling occurs when a blank is subjected to compressive stresses during the forming process as in the flange of a cup during drawing. Although the failure limit due to plastic flow localization can be simply defined by the FLC at each point of a continuum, the wrinkling limit cannot be defined with simple variables such as strain, stress, and thickness. Wrinkling is strongly affected by the mechanical properties of the sheet material, the geometry of the tools and blank, and contact conditions. The analysis of wrinkling initiation and growth is, therefore, difficult to perform due to the complex synergistic effects of the controlling parameters. Because of these difficulties, the study of wrinkling has generally been conducted case by case. A unique wrinkling criterion, which could be used effectively for various sheet forming processes, has not yet been proposed. There were many investigations on the effect of process parameters (BHF and friction) and geometry on wrinkling. However, there are few reported results on the influence of the material model on wrinkling. This paper shows how strain hardening and r-values affect wrinkle formation in its magnitude, initiation, and direction through the NUMISHEET2014 benchmark test for wrinkling during cup drawing.

Size effects in micro cup drawing

Experimental studies into the effect of blank thickness on the deep drawing response of the coarse-grained and ultrafine-grained copper demonstrated the occurrence of a size effect: the dependence of the maximum load and the limit drawing ratio on the blank thickness in sub-millimetre range. A dislocation based constitutive model taking into account the thickness effects was used for numerical simulations of the process. It was demonstrated that the occurrence of the blank thickness effect is governed by the ratio of the blank thickness t to the grain size D of the material. Critical values of the t/. D ratio below which the size effect comes to bearing were determined. The obtained results can be seen as a demonstration of more general suitability of the model developed for predicting microforming operations with full account of the specimen or work-piece dimensions.