Massey Documents by Type

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/294

Browse

Has files: YesSubject: search.filters.subject.Bees

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Characterisation of New Zealand Propolis from Different Regions Based on Its Volatile Organic Compounds
    (MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2024-07-02) Mountford-McAuley R; Robertson A; Taylor M; Clavijo McCormick A; Falcão SI
    Propolis is a bee product mainly consisting of plant resins and is used by bees to maintain the structural integrity of the colony. Propolis is known to contribute to bee health via its antimicrobial activity and is a valued product for human use owing to its nutritional and medicinal properties. Propolis is often characterised into seven categories depending on the resin source. New Zealand propolis is typically assumed as being poplar-type propolis, but few studies have chemically characterised New Zealand propolis to confirm or reject this assumption. Here, for the first time, we characterise propolis originating from different regions in New Zealand based on its volatile organic compounds, using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). To support this characterisation, we also collected and analysed resin samples from a variety of resin-producing plants (both native to New Zealand and introduced). Our findings suggest that bees mainly use poplar as a resin source, but also utilize native plant species to produce propolis. While regional variation did not allow for clear separation between samples, some patterns emerged, with samples from some regions having more chemical complexity and a higher contribution from native species (as suggested by a higher number of compounds unique to native species resin). Further studies are needed to accurately identify the botanical sources contributing to these samples. It may be also of interest to explore the biological activity of regional propolis samples and their potential nutritional or medicinal benefits.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Investigation, design and fabrication of miniaturized CMOS novel active RFID tags : Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering-Electronics, Information and Communication Systems at Massey University, Albany campus
    (Massey University, 2021) Kumari, Meera
    The drastic decline in the bee population in the past few years is alarming given the quantity and quality of global food reliance on these insect pollinators. To ensure sustainable crop production and maintain biodiversity, it has become an important area of research for entomologists to study the factors involved in the dramatic population decline of these tiny insects. Understanding the insect’s biology and their foraging behavior tracking in the agricultural landscape is crucial. However, due to the large size of the available PCB-based tracking tags knowing their true behaviours in the presence of various chemical fertilizers and pesticides is still a challenge. In this research, a very new VHF radio telemeter architecture has been developed which could facilitate tracking of a large number of small insects and bees wirelessly in real-time at a distance of around 1km. The architecture is based on a novel circuit topology to generate an extremely low duty cycle signal digitally which for the first time does not require any passive elements. This digital generation technique of the low duty cycle has made it possible to realize the complete telemeter design on 1mmX 1mm ASIC chip, except for the antenna and the battery, and eliminated the need for discreet components which are mounted on PCB. Due to inconsistent fabrication facilities, the telemeter circuit parts were implemented in CMOS8RF-130nm and 8HPP-28nm, but the final ASIC telemeter prototype is realized in TSMC 65nm process technology and the fabricated chip is experimentally tested in the lab to verify its performance in the manufacturing environment. The design consists of a digital core circuit to generate 8-bit binary-coded 0.0078 duty-cycled burst mode signaling and a full on-chip analog power management circuit to locally generate the required voltage supplies with predefined dependence on temperature for the digital circuitry with the compensation for the temperature variation on the telemeter performance. A white paper calculation has been presented to package the insect telemeter ASIC, along with 10cm antenna directly over 80mg, 5mmX5mmX1mm silver oxide battery to yield a 95mg complete telemeter package, making it to be the world’s smallest and the lightest VHF radio telemeter.