title: David Mclean Wallace: a Waiorongomai blacksmith who founded an engineering firm

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: Born in Scotland and trained as a blacksmith, Wallace arrived in New Zealand in 1873, working at Ngaruawahia, Auckland, and Huntly before settling in Waiorongomai in 1885. Soon obtaining most of the available work, he acquired other blacksmiths’ businesses. Shifting to Te Aroha in 1892, his business grew steadily, and in 1912 a private company comprising Wallace and his sons was formed. With the arrival of the motor car, the firm adapted to repair these, an adaptability assisted by his inventive skills. After patenting a popular miners’ pick, he turned to inventions to benefit farmers.
Wallace was involved in many aspects of community life, serving on several committees, and for a while was on the borough council where, occasionally, when opposed by other councillors, he was a belligerent member. But in general he was popular and highly respected.

text: David Mclean Wallace: a Waiorongomai blacksmith who founded an engineering firm Born in Scotland and trained as a blacksmith, Wallace arrived in New Zealand in 1873, working at Ngaruawahia, Auckland, and Huntly before settling in Waiorongomai in 1885. Soon obtaining most of the available work, he acquired other blacksmiths’ businesses. Shifting to Te Aroha in 1892, his business grew steadily, and in 1912 a private company comprising Wallace and his sons was formed. With the arrival of the motor car, the firm adapted to repair these, an adaptability assisted by his inventive skills. After patenting a popular miners’ pick, he turned to inventions to benefit farmers.
Wallace was involved in many aspects of community life, serving on several committees, and for a while was on the borough council where, occasionally, when opposed by other councillors, he was a belligerent member. But in general he was popular and highly respected.

year: 2016

title: How to express your feelings (with a little help from Google)

authors: Wu, Shaoqun

abstract: This paper describes an attempt to capitalize on the vast amount of human-generated text readily available on the Web to help language learners express their own feelings. We avoid errors, idiosyncrasies, and other dross by employing various language and grammar filters. We sort words and phrases by frequency of use to ensure that only very common usage is included. The work is based on a huge collection of n-grams published by Google, along with their frequency on the web. We describe a comprehensive query tool that allows language learners and teachers alike to locate a particular word, its associated phrases, clause patterns, synonyms and antonyms. In addition, we have enabled sample sentences containing these patterns to be retrieved from the Web and presented to the user. Finally, five language activities have been designed to help learners master important vocabulary and expressions. The work is at a preliminary stage and no user tests have yet been performed.

text: How to express your feelings (with a little help from Google) This paper describes an attempt to capitalize on the vast amount of human-generated text readily available on the Web to help language learners express their own feelings. We avoid errors, idiosyncrasies, and other dross by employing various language and grammar filters. We sort words and phrases by frequency of use to ensure that only very common usage is included. The work is based on a huge collection of n-grams published by Google, along with their frequency on the web. We describe a comprehensive query tool that allows language learners and teachers alike to locate a particular word, its associated phrases, clause patterns, synonyms and antonyms. In addition, we have enabled sample sentences containing these patterns to be retrieved from the Web and presented to the user. Finally, five language activities have been designed to help learners master important vocabulary and expressions. The work is at a preliminary stage and no user tests have yet been performed.

year: 2008

title: Quantification of Nitro-toxins in Karaka (Corynocarpus laevigatus) Drupes

authors: MacAskill, Jessica Jane

abstract: The karaka (Corynocarpus laevigatus) is a tree native to New Zealand (NZ), found throughout the North and South Islands. Traditionally, many parts of the karaka were used by Māori, however the parts of the karaka of most interest are the berry and nut as they were valuable food sources, in particular the nut. Karaka was known to be a toxin-bearing food, however implementation of a traditional baking and soaking process meant that the nuts were left in states fit for consumption, more often than not. The nuts also had the benefit of being able to be stored for future use when other food sources were short in supply. Karaka was readily consumed up until the 1950s, after this consumption rates decreased rapidly, after the toxic effects were associated with the incorrect preparation of the nuts.

Studies on karaka have revealed that the toxicity of the nuts primarily arises from various nitropropanoyl glucopyranoses (NPGs), twelve of which have been detected in karaka. The quantity of these NPGs has been infrequently studied and it is often only one of the NPGs-karakin which is quantified, although it is believed the toxicity in nuts arises collectively from all of the NPGs. As a result, there is the need to be able to quantify the NPGs in karaka and look at potential toxin removal techniques. If toxin removal can be accomplished, there is the potential for karaka to be a marketable ‘traditional’ or ‘Kiwi’ food item. Additionally, the toxins removed as a by-product may prove to have their own potential commercial applications, for example as insecticides or repellents. 

Since all the NPGs are assumed to be toxic, a method was developed to quantify the total toxicity in the nuts. The method involves the release of NPA via acid hydrolysis of the nitropropanoyl ester groups of the NPGs. The NPA is then able to be measured and subsequently quantified using HPLC. The method incorporates a correction factor (CF) that was determined to give the original NPA content at a time of zero (NPA0), accounting for the unavoidable loss of NPA that arises from the hydrolysis method.

The average quantity of NPA in karaka nuts was found to range from 50.25 to 138.62 g kg-1 (dry weight) which is equivalent to 5.0 to 13.9%. These are much higher percentages than any previously reported because the method used in this study measured total NPA. Earlier methods measured a limited range of NPGs (often a single NPG) unhydrolysed and could have missed NPA arising from other compounds that contribute to total toxicity. Additionally, the concentrations of NPA in karaka nuts were influenced by a number of factors including intra and inter tree variation, storage conditions and ripeness. Although quantification was focused on determining NPA content in nuts, a test conducted also showed NPA to be present in increasingly lower levels in the berry flesh, shell and pellicle respectively. 

Nuts were subjected to various potential industrial processing techniques, treatment times and conditions, in order to determine their efficacy for toxin removal. Treatments included boiling, microwave cooking, soxhlet extraction, oven roasting, autoclaving and cold-water treatments. The efficiency of each treatment varied considerably, with both heat and water proving to be beneficial in toxin removal. However, treatments involving water were found to be more effective than heat treatments alone. Out of all treatment types, times and conditions tested, none were found to leave nuts with a NPA concentration lower than the estimated safe level of daily consumption for a 70 kg adult (< 1.75 mg). Additionally, only some of the treatments resulted in nuts being left in visually appealing states. At present, toxin removal by a single process in order to render karaka nuts safe to consume appears to be an impractical activity. However, if treatment protocols were combined and modified, there is the potential for the development of an effective detoxification process. Furthermore, tests on the treatment solutions revealed that NPA can be obtained in solution as a by-product of nut treatment; with cold-water proving to be more effective than treatments that also used heat. Obtaining NPA as a by-product of toxin removal in nuts appears to be a feasible option for a natural source of NPA.

text: Quantification of Nitro-toxins in Karaka (Corynocarpus laevigatus) Drupes The karaka (Corynocarpus laevigatus) is a tree native to New Zealand (NZ), found throughout the North and South Islands. Traditionally, many parts of the karaka were used by Māori, however the parts of the karaka of most interest are the berry and nut as they were valuable food sources, in particular the nut. Karaka was known to be a toxin-bearing food, however implementation of a traditional baking and soaking process meant that the nuts were left in states fit for consumption, more often than not. The nuts also had the benefit of being able to be stored for future use when other food sources were short in supply. Karaka was readily consumed up until the 1950s, after this consumption rates decreased rapidly, after the toxic effects were associated with the incorrect preparation of the nuts.

Studies on karaka have revealed that the toxicity of the nuts primarily arises from various nitropropanoyl glucopyranoses (NPGs), twelve of which have been detected in karaka. The quantity of these NPGs has been infrequently studied and it is often only one of the NPGs-karakin which is quantified, although it is believed the toxicity in nuts arises collectively from all of the NPGs. As a result, there is the need to be able to quantify the NPGs in karaka and look at potential toxin removal techniques. If toxin removal can be accomplished, there is the potential for karaka to be a marketable ‘traditional’ or ‘Kiwi’ food item. Additionally, the toxins removed as a by-product may prove to have their own potential commercial applications, for example as insecticides or repellents. 

Since all the NPGs are assumed to be toxic, a method was developed to quantify the total toxicity in the nuts. The method involves the release of NPA via acid hydrolysis of the nitropropanoyl ester groups of the NPGs. The NPA is then able to be measured and subsequently quantified using HPLC. The method incorporates a correction factor (CF) that was determined to give the original NPA content at a time of zero (NPA0), accounting for the unavoidable loss of NPA that arises from the hydrolysis method.

The average quantity of NPA in karaka nuts was found to range from 50.25 to 138.62 g kg-1 (dry weight) which is equivalent to 5.0 to 13.9%. These are much higher percentages than any previously reported because the method used in this study measured total NPA. Earlier methods measured a limited range of NPGs (often a single NPG) unhydrolysed and could have missed NPA arising from other compounds that contribute to total toxicity. Additionally, the concentrations of NPA in karaka nuts were influenced by a number of factors including intra and inter tree variation, storage conditions and ripeness. Although quantification was focused on determining NPA content in nuts, a test conducted also showed NPA to be present in increasingly lower levels in the berry flesh, shell and pellicle respectively. 

Nuts were subjected to various potential industrial processing techniques, treatment times and conditions, in order to determine their efficacy for toxin removal. Treatments included boiling, microwave cooking, soxhlet extraction, oven roasting, autoclaving and cold-water treatments. The efficiency of each treatment varied considerably, with both heat and water proving to be beneficial in toxin removal. However, treatments involving water were found to be more effective than heat treatments alone. Out of all treatment types, times and conditions tested, none were found to leave nuts with a NPA concentration lower than the estimated safe level of daily consumption for a 70 kg adult (< 1.75 mg). Additionally, only some of the treatments resulted in nuts being left in visually appealing states. At present, toxin removal by a single process in order to render karaka nuts safe to consume appears to be an impractical activity. However, if treatment protocols were combined and modified, there is the potential for the development of an effective detoxification process. Furthermore, tests on the treatment solutions revealed that NPA can be obtained in solution as a by-product of nut treatment; with cold-water proving to be more effective than treatments that also used heat. Obtaining NPA as a by-product of toxin removal in nuts appears to be a feasible option for a natural source of NPA.

year: 2013