title: Investigating the lignocellulolytic gut microbiome of huhu grubs

authors: Payyakkal Viswam, Jayadev

subjects: Gut microbiome

abstract: New Zealand’s endemic longhorned beetle (Prionoplus reticularis) larvae, huhu grub, are xylophagous and feed on a broad range of dead trees. Since insects are not believed to have the ability to fully degrade lignocellulose, it is likely that microbes present in the gut assist in degrading lignocellulose to release energy rich sugars. This process is considered the rate limiting step in the utilisation of woody material in biofuel production. To better understand the gut consortium present while feeding on the lignocellulose and cellulose components, huhu grubs were initially collected and reared on non-degraded pine blocks (lignocellulose) or cotton (cellulose). The gut fungal and bacterial community of huhu grubs was investigated using high-throughput sequencing and analysis techniques. Furthermore, the effects of a dietary switch on both fungal and bacterial communities was explored by switching huhu grubs initially reared on pine to cotton, and vice versa. Cellulose- and lignocellulose-reared huhu grubs were expected to host a wide range of bacteria and fungi in their gut, some of which produce lignocellulose degrading enzymes. Assessment of the gut fungal community composition confirmed that cellulose-reared huhu grubs were significantly distinct from lignocellulose-reared grubs. The fungal community of lignocellulose-fed huhu grubs was more functionally diverse, with several yeasts, soft-rot fungi and potential hemicellulose and cellulose degraders present. Whereas, the fungal community of cellulose-reared grubs was mostly abundant in yeasts and potential cellulose degraders. When cotton-reared grubs where switched to pine (lignocellulose), lignocellulose was observed to have a ‘bottleneck effect’ or selective pressure on the fungal gut community. The gut bacterial community of huhu grubs reared on cellulose or lignocellulose diets seemed to be unaffected by the selective pressure of the diet, and no significant change in the bacterial community was observed following dietary switch. Therefore it was concluded that the bacterial community while still important is playing a secondary role to the fungi. Finally, bioprospecting studies conducted using the frass (excretia) of these huhu grubs resulted in the isolation of a bacterium, Acinetobacter H23, capable of producing an extracellular laccase. Overall, the increased understanding of structure and composition of the gut microbiome of huhu grubs reared on cellulose or lignocellulose diets, along with isolation of novel lignocellulolytic isolates could prove to be significant for the biofuel industry.

text: Investigating the lignocellulolytic gut microbiome of huhu grubs New Zealand’s endemic longhorned beetle (Prionoplus reticularis) larvae, huhu grub, are xylophagous and feed on a broad range of dead trees. Since insects are not believed to have the ability to fully degrade lignocellulose, it is likely that microbes present in the gut assist in degrading lignocellulose to release energy rich sugars. This process is considered the rate limiting step in the utilisation of woody material in biofuel production. To better understand the gut consortium present while feeding on the lignocellulose and cellulose components, huhu grubs were initially collected and reared on non-degraded pine blocks (lignocellulose) or cotton (cellulose). The gut fungal and bacterial community of huhu grubs was investigated using high-throughput sequencing and analysis techniques. Furthermore, the effects of a dietary switch on both fungal and bacterial communities was explored by switching huhu grubs initially reared on pine to cotton, and vice versa. Cellulose- and lignocellulose-reared huhu grubs were expected to host a wide range of bacteria and fungi in their gut, some of which produce lignocellulose degrading enzymes. Assessment of the gut fungal community composition confirmed that cellulose-reared huhu grubs were significantly distinct from lignocellulose-reared grubs. The fungal community of lignocellulose-fed huhu grubs was more functionally diverse, with several yeasts, soft-rot fungi and potential hemicellulose and cellulose degraders present. Whereas, the fungal community of cellulose-reared grubs was mostly abundant in yeasts and potential cellulose degraders. When cotton-reared grubs where switched to pine (lignocellulose), lignocellulose was observed to have a ‘bottleneck effect’ or selective pressure on the fungal gut community. The gut bacterial community of huhu grubs reared on cellulose or lignocellulose diets seemed to be unaffected by the selective pressure of the diet, and no significant change in the bacterial community was observed following dietary switch. Therefore it was concluded that the bacterial community while still important is playing a secondary role to the fungi. Finally, bioprospecting studies conducted using the frass (excretia) of these huhu grubs resulted in the isolation of a bacterium, Acinetobacter H23, capable of producing an extracellular laccase. Overall, the increased understanding of structure and composition of the gut microbiome of huhu grubs reared on cellulose or lignocellulose diets, along with isolation of novel lignocellulolytic isolates could prove to be significant for the biofuel industry.

year: 2016

title: Combining strengths, emotions and polarities for boosting Twitter sentiment analysis

authors: Bravo-Marquez, Felipe

abstract: Twitter sentiment analysis or the task of automatically retrieving opinions from tweets has received an increasing interest from the web mining community. This is due to its importance in a wide range of fields such as business and politics. People express sentiments about specific topics or entities with different strengths and intensities, where these sentiments are strongly related to their personal feelings and emotions. A number of methods and lexical resources have been proposed to analyze sentiment from natural language texts, addressing different opinion dimensions. In this article, we propose an approach for boosting Twitter sentiment classification using different sentiment dimensions as meta-level features. We combine aspects such as opinion strength, emotion and polarity indicators, generated by existing sentiment analysis methods and resources. Our research shows that the combination of sentiment dimensions provides significant improvement in Twitter sentiment classification tasks such as polarity and subjectivity.

text: Combining strengths, emotions and polarities for boosting Twitter sentiment analysis Twitter sentiment analysis or the task of automatically retrieving opinions from tweets has received an increasing interest from the web mining community. This is due to its importance in a wide range of fields such as business and politics. People express sentiments about specific topics or entities with different strengths and intensities, where these sentiments are strongly related to their personal feelings and emotions. A number of methods and lexical resources have been proposed to analyze sentiment from natural language texts, addressing different opinion dimensions. In this article, we propose an approach for boosting Twitter sentiment classification using different sentiment dimensions as meta-level features. We combine aspects such as opinion strength, emotion and polarity indicators, generated by existing sentiment analysis methods and resources. Our research shows that the combination of sentiment dimensions provides significant improvement in Twitter sentiment classification tasks such as polarity and subjectivity.

year: 2013-01-01

title: Hoea te waka reo e 'Āti Rangi ē! He Kohinga Kōrero

authors: Fairhall, Tīahomarama Te Haana

subjects: Māori

abstract: He taonga tuku iho Te Reo Māori nō tāukiuki, nō tuawhakarere, nō onamata rānō, he kākano i ruia mai i Rangiātea. He taonga Te Reo Māori i raro i ngā tikanga o Te Tiriti o Waitangi, ā, nō te tau 1987 ka whakamanahia hai reo tūturu o Aotearoa. Ahakoa he reo tuku iho ki tērā whakatupuranga, ki tērā whakatupuranga, kai te tāmate te reo. He huhua noa ngā rautaki e whakarauora ai i te reo i roto i ngā kura, i ngā whānau, i ngā hapū, i ngā iwi anō hoki. 

Ko te tino o te tuhinga roa nei he āta titiro ki ngā momo rautaki a ngā uri e whakarauora nei i tō tātou reo ki roto o Ngāti Rangiwewehi kia kore ai ā mātou tamariki, ā mātou mokopuna e haere reo kore. Nō roto mai i te tuhinga nei ka āta whakatewhatewha te iwi o Ngāti Rangiwewehi o mua, kia mārama ai ki ōna āhua, ki ōna whenua, ki āna kōrero, ki ōna tāngata, ki ōna pūkōrero, ki tōna ahurei. Ka mutu, ka āta titiro, ka āta tātari, ka āta wetewete i ngā raraunga kōrero i kapo mai i ngā uiuinga, i kapo mai i ngā pātaitai, i kapo mai i ngā pukapuka kōrero ngā momo rautaki e whakarauora ai te reo o ngā uri o Ngāti Rangiwewehi. Hai āpitihanga, ka āta whakatakoto hoki i ngā piki me ngā heke o te reo ā tatauranga nei, ka kitea te ahunga mai i te wā i a koroua mā, i a kuia mā, ā, moroki noa nei.

Kai roto i ngā upoko o te tuhingaroa nei te tino ia o ngā kōrero, ā, e ono ngā upoko e whakatinana ai tēnei rangahau. Kai te upoko tuatahi e tino kōrerohia ana te iwi o Ngāti Rangiwewehi. Kātahi rā ka uru atu ki ngā whakamahukitanga o ngā mātāpono rangahau kai te upoko tuarua. Ka whakaara mai te upoko tuarua i ngā kaponga ariā me ngā rautaki reo hai tuarā mō te tuhingaroa nei. Kai te upoko tuawhā me te tuarima ngā pitopito kōrero, ngā putanga o te pākiki me ngā uiuinga. Ka mutu mai ki te upoko tuaono, ki te kupu whakamutunga o te tuhingaroa.

The Māori language is a taonga protected under the terms of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. An official language of New Zealand, since 1987. However, although a language passed down from generation to generation, the future of the language is not secure. Efforts are endless in providing many strategies of revitalization and ensuring that Te Reo Māori survives within kura, whare wānanga, whānau, hapū and iwi. The purpose of this research is to gather information pertaining to the tribe of Ngāti Rangiwewehi. This study will explore Ngāti Rangiwewehi in a traditional context, their traditional qualities and will also examine the contributions of the descendants in preserving Te Reo Māori. Furthermore, this study will also examine the ups and downs of the language and how Ngāti Rangiwewehi rates statisticaly in the national census under Te Reo Māori. This information will be gathered to examine strategy examples of Te reo that could benefit both present and future generations. As part of my research I will be interviewing key informants and conducting a survey. There are six chapters to this thesis. Chapter one is based on Ngāti Rangiwewehi as a iwi, past and present. Chapter two is based on the research methodology. Chapter three is the literature review, while Chapter four is the questionnaire. Chapter five are the interviews and lastly Chapter 6, the conclusion.

text: Hoea te waka reo e 'Āti Rangi ē! He Kohinga Kōrero He taonga tuku iho Te Reo Māori nō tāukiuki, nō tuawhakarere, nō onamata rānō, he kākano i ruia mai i Rangiātea. He taonga Te Reo Māori i raro i ngā tikanga o Te Tiriti o Waitangi, ā, nō te tau 1987 ka whakamanahia hai reo tūturu o Aotearoa. Ahakoa he reo tuku iho ki tērā whakatupuranga, ki tērā whakatupuranga, kai te tāmate te reo. He huhua noa ngā rautaki e whakarauora ai i te reo i roto i ngā kura, i ngā whānau, i ngā hapū, i ngā iwi anō hoki. 

Ko te tino o te tuhinga roa nei he āta titiro ki ngā momo rautaki a ngā uri e whakarauora nei i tō tātou reo ki roto o Ngāti Rangiwewehi kia kore ai ā mātou tamariki, ā mātou mokopuna e haere reo kore. Nō roto mai i te tuhinga nei ka āta whakatewhatewha te iwi o Ngāti Rangiwewehi o mua, kia mārama ai ki ōna āhua, ki ōna whenua, ki āna kōrero, ki ōna tāngata, ki ōna pūkōrero, ki tōna ahurei. Ka mutu, ka āta titiro, ka āta tātari, ka āta wetewete i ngā raraunga kōrero i kapo mai i ngā uiuinga, i kapo mai i ngā pātaitai, i kapo mai i ngā pukapuka kōrero ngā momo rautaki e whakarauora ai te reo o ngā uri o Ngāti Rangiwewehi. Hai āpitihanga, ka āta whakatakoto hoki i ngā piki me ngā heke o te reo ā tatauranga nei, ka kitea te ahunga mai i te wā i a koroua mā, i a kuia mā, ā, moroki noa nei.

Kai roto i ngā upoko o te tuhingaroa nei te tino ia o ngā kōrero, ā, e ono ngā upoko e whakatinana ai tēnei rangahau. Kai te upoko tuatahi e tino kōrerohia ana te iwi o Ngāti Rangiwewehi. Kātahi rā ka uru atu ki ngā whakamahukitanga o ngā mātāpono rangahau kai te upoko tuarua. Ka whakaara mai te upoko tuarua i ngā kaponga ariā me ngā rautaki reo hai tuarā mō te tuhingaroa nei. Kai te upoko tuawhā me te tuarima ngā pitopito kōrero, ngā putanga o te pākiki me ngā uiuinga. Ka mutu mai ki te upoko tuaono, ki te kupu whakamutunga o te tuhingaroa.

The Māori language is a taonga protected under the terms of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. An official language of New Zealand, since 1987. However, although a language passed down from generation to generation, the future of the language is not secure. Efforts are endless in providing many strategies of revitalization and ensuring that Te Reo Māori survives within kura, whare wānanga, whānau, hapū and iwi. The purpose of this research is to gather information pertaining to the tribe of Ngāti Rangiwewehi. This study will explore Ngāti Rangiwewehi in a traditional context, their traditional qualities and will also examine the contributions of the descendants in preserving Te Reo Māori. Furthermore, this study will also examine the ups and downs of the language and how Ngāti Rangiwewehi rates statisticaly in the national census under Te Reo Māori. This information will be gathered to examine strategy examples of Te reo that could benefit both present and future generations. As part of my research I will be interviewing key informants and conducting a survey. There are six chapters to this thesis. Chapter one is based on Ngāti Rangiwewehi as a iwi, past and present. Chapter two is based on the research methodology. Chapter three is the literature review, while Chapter four is the questionnaire. Chapter five are the interviews and lastly Chapter 6, the conclusion.

year: 2015