title: Milk Spectroscopy

authors: Russell, Andrew

subjects: Milk

abstract: This thesis examines the capability of two different MicroNIR spectrometers to measure the composition of raw milk for an online milk sensor.

On-farm milk testing is an important tool in a developed dairy market. It is used by farmers to determine milk quality, nutrition and individual animal performance. The price farmers receive for milk is based on the fat and protein content. Currently milk composition is monitored on average three times a season, which leads to late diagnosis of poor performance. Daily monitoring of milk composition allows farmers better farm management and optimisation of the processes and feed to achieve success. The International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR) sets standards for sensors which give farmers confidence in the data they receive. Two low cost spectrometers were assessed to see if they meet the ICAR fat and protein regulations for an online sensor.

The spectrometers covered two spectral regions in the NIR range and were both developed by JDS Uniphase Corporation (JDSU, California, USA). The MicroNIR1700 spectrometer analyses the 870 – 1660 nm region, and the MicroNIR2200 spectrometer covers the 1130 – 2150 nm region. An initial laboratory trial with the unmodified spectrometers did not meet ICAR precision limits for milk analysis. The high prediction errors were caused by insufficient signal, aged milk samples being reheated and excessive dark current.

To improve the signal to noise ratio of the spectrum the lamp voltage was increased. This increased the received signal to the spectrometers but also increased the temperature of the spectrometers. The increase in temperature caused the dark current to excessively increase. To reduce the operating temperature of the spectrometers a thermoelectric cooler was used to cool the spectrometers to 20°C.

The modified spectrometers with increased light and thermoelectric cooler were tested on three different farms to establish if the modifications done can meet ICAR fat and protein precision limits. A total of 590 milk samples were collected across three different farms. Calibration models were tested on each individual farm and across all three farms to assess the capability of calibration models to be transferred across the different farms.

Off-line and on-farm, the modified MicroNIR spectrometers achieved ICAR fat and protein precision limits for an online sensor. For the pooled data set the MicroNIR1700 spectrometer predicted fat and protein with a root mean square error of 0.061 and 0.151 respectively. The MicroNIR2200 predicted fat and protein with a RMSE of 0.061 and 0.138. The independent calibration models could be transferred across farms with only a slight increase in prediction error but still within the ICAR tolerances for an online milk sensor

It is concluded the original MicroNIR spectrometers could not predict fat and protein to ICAR precision limits for an online sensor. To achieve ICAR accuracy with the MicroNIR spectrometers the light output needed to be increased and cooling was required to reduce the operating temperature.

This work shows that there is definite potential for low cost spectrometers to be used for the determination of milk properties.

text: Milk Spectroscopy This thesis examines the capability of two different MicroNIR spectrometers to measure the composition of raw milk for an online milk sensor.

On-farm milk testing is an important tool in a developed dairy market. It is used by farmers to determine milk quality, nutrition and individual animal performance. The price farmers receive for milk is based on the fat and protein content. Currently milk composition is monitored on average three times a season, which leads to late diagnosis of poor performance. Daily monitoring of milk composition allows farmers better farm management and optimisation of the processes and feed to achieve success. The International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR) sets standards for sensors which give farmers confidence in the data they receive. Two low cost spectrometers were assessed to see if they meet the ICAR fat and protein regulations for an online sensor.

The spectrometers covered two spectral regions in the NIR range and were both developed by JDS Uniphase Corporation (JDSU, California, USA). The MicroNIR1700 spectrometer analyses the 870 – 1660 nm region, and the MicroNIR2200 spectrometer covers the 1130 – 2150 nm region. An initial laboratory trial with the unmodified spectrometers did not meet ICAR precision limits for milk analysis. The high prediction errors were caused by insufficient signal, aged milk samples being reheated and excessive dark current.

To improve the signal to noise ratio of the spectrum the lamp voltage was increased. This increased the received signal to the spectrometers but also increased the temperature of the spectrometers. The increase in temperature caused the dark current to excessively increase. To reduce the operating temperature of the spectrometers a thermoelectric cooler was used to cool the spectrometers to 20°C.

The modified spectrometers with increased light and thermoelectric cooler were tested on three different farms to establish if the modifications done can meet ICAR fat and protein precision limits. A total of 590 milk samples were collected across three different farms. Calibration models were tested on each individual farm and across all three farms to assess the capability of calibration models to be transferred across the different farms.

Off-line and on-farm, the modified MicroNIR spectrometers achieved ICAR fat and protein precision limits for an online sensor. For the pooled data set the MicroNIR1700 spectrometer predicted fat and protein with a root mean square error of 0.061 and 0.151 respectively. The MicroNIR2200 predicted fat and protein with a RMSE of 0.061 and 0.138. The independent calibration models could be transferred across farms with only a slight increase in prediction error but still within the ICAR tolerances for an online milk sensor

It is concluded the original MicroNIR spectrometers could not predict fat and protein to ICAR precision limits for an online sensor. To achieve ICAR accuracy with the MicroNIR spectrometers the light output needed to be increased and cooling was required to reduce the operating temperature.

This work shows that there is definite potential for low cost spectrometers to be used for the determination of milk properties.

year: 2013

title: ‘Framing the project’ of international human rights law: Reflections on the dysfunctional ‘family’ of the Universal Declaration

authors: Grear, Anna

subjects: law

abstract: The task of ‘framing the project’ of international human rights law is daunting to say the least. First, there is the sheer enormity and complexity of the international human rights law ‘project’: adequately mapping the subject and its key related issues is impossible in a whole book, let alone a short chapter. Secondly, it is daunting because of the sense of epistemic responsibility involved. Every framing inevitably involves selection – if not pre-selection – through the conscious (and/or unconscious) placing of focus upon features or factors considered to be significant and/or valuable. As Gitlin puts it, framing is a way of choosing, underlining and presenting ‘what exists, what happens and what matters’. In this sense, the founding document (or as Entman might put it, the inaugural ‘communicating text’) of international human rights law (the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UDHR) functions as a particularly potent form of framing, for it selects aspects of perceived reality, making them not just salient but symbolically central to the entire philosophical, moral, juridical order designated by the term ‘international human rights law’.

text: ‘Framing the project’ of international human rights law: Reflections on the dysfunctional ‘family’ of the Universal Declaration The task of ‘framing the project’ of international human rights law is daunting to say the least. First, there is the sheer enormity and complexity of the international human rights law ‘project’: adequately mapping the subject and its key related issues is impossible in a whole book, let alone a short chapter. Secondly, it is daunting because of the sense of epistemic responsibility involved. Every framing inevitably involves selection – if not pre-selection – through the conscious (and/or unconscious) placing of focus upon features or factors considered to be significant and/or valuable. As Gitlin puts it, framing is a way of choosing, underlining and presenting ‘what exists, what happens and what matters’. In this sense, the founding document (or as Entman might put it, the inaugural ‘communicating text’) of international human rights law (the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UDHR) functions as a particularly potent form of framing, for it selects aspects of perceived reality, making them not just salient but symbolically central to the entire philosophical, moral, juridical order designated by the term ‘international human rights law’.

year: 2012

title: Working at the interface: Indigenous students’ experience of undertaking doctoral studies in Aotearoa New Zealand

authors: McKinley, Elizabeth

subjects: Māori

abstract: Māori (indigenous)¹ doctoral students in Aotearoa New Zealand face challenges not usually experienced by other doctoral candidates. We draw on data from in-depth interviews with 38 Māori doctoral candidates and argue that because of the tensions between academic disciplinary knowledge frameworks and knowledge drawn from te ao Māori (the Māori world) indigenous students have additional cultural, academic, and personal demands placed on them while aiming to produce research theses that meet conventional standards of academic scholarship. Complex methodological and ethical issues also emerge in undertaking doctoral research projects situated at the interface of academy and indigenous communities. Moreover, Māori students experience various degrees of tension between their sometimes strong cultural identities and their emerging and, therefore, less certain identities as researchers and scholars.

text: Working at the interface: Indigenous students’ experience of undertaking doctoral studies in Aotearoa New Zealand Māori (indigenous)¹ doctoral students in Aotearoa New Zealand face challenges not usually experienced by other doctoral candidates. We draw on data from in-depth interviews with 38 Māori doctoral candidates and argue that because of the tensions between academic disciplinary knowledge frameworks and knowledge drawn from te ao Māori (the Māori world) indigenous students have additional cultural, academic, and personal demands placed on them while aiming to produce research theses that meet conventional standards of academic scholarship. Complex methodological and ethical issues also emerge in undertaking doctoral research projects situated at the interface of academy and indigenous communities. Moreover, Māori students experience various degrees of tension between their sometimes strong cultural identities and their emerging and, therefore, less certain identities as researchers and scholars.

year: 2011