title: In a World of its Own:  How Operative Closure Limits the Law's Ability to Protect Children from Maltreatment.

authors: Peploe, Matthew

subjects: Law

abstract: New Zealand's figures for child maltreatment are consistently amongst the highest in the OECD. The purpose of this thesis is to understand what the legal system can do to protect children in New Zealand from maltreatment and why legal responses to child maltreatment often appear to be ineffectual or of limited effect.  

This thesis uses the theories of Luhman and Teubner to argue that the law's ability to protect children from maltreatment is limited because the legal system creates and responds to its own abstract world.  This process arises from the functional requirements of the law and its operation as an autopoietic system of power that produces its own abstract knowledge about the world.  The legal system's function within New Zealand society is to stabilise behavioural expectations and maintain society's coherence and it does so by reducing the complexity of subjective human existence into binary alternatives.  However, this process of reducing complexity limits the way in which the law produces its knowledge about the world and controls how power is distributed within the law's abstract world to such an extent that the legal system is closed from the world of subjective experience.  This closure from the world outside the legal system limits the law's ability to regulate and reform that outside world and protect the children who live within it.  By identifying these limits, this thesis will contribute to an understanding of the limits of the law's ability to protect children from maltreatment and thereby improve the effectiveness of New Zealand society's attempts to protect its children.

text: In a World of its Own:  How Operative Closure Limits the Law's Ability to Protect Children from Maltreatment. New Zealand's figures for child maltreatment are consistently amongst the highest in the OECD. The purpose of this thesis is to understand what the legal system can do to protect children in New Zealand from maltreatment and why legal responses to child maltreatment often appear to be ineffectual or of limited effect.  

This thesis uses the theories of Luhman and Teubner to argue that the law's ability to protect children from maltreatment is limited because the legal system creates and responds to its own abstract world.  This process arises from the functional requirements of the law and its operation as an autopoietic system of power that produces its own abstract knowledge about the world.  The legal system's function within New Zealand society is to stabilise behavioural expectations and maintain society's coherence and it does so by reducing the complexity of subjective human existence into binary alternatives.  However, this process of reducing complexity limits the way in which the law produces its knowledge about the world and controls how power is distributed within the law's abstract world to such an extent that the legal system is closed from the world of subjective experience.  This closure from the world outside the legal system limits the law's ability to regulate and reform that outside world and protect the children who live within it.  By identifying these limits, this thesis will contribute to an understanding of the limits of the law's ability to protect children from maltreatment and thereby improve the effectiveness of New Zealand society's attempts to protect its children.

year: 2008

title: Manufacture of Casein from Milk Retentates

authors: Hills, Michael

subjects: Casein

abstract: Casein is the major protein component of cow’s milk and is extracted commercially for a wide range of applications. Before casein is precipitated from milk by acid, milk is commonly concentrated by ultrafiltration to increase throughput and partly recover lactose. The degree to which the milk can be concentrated is limited due to higher concentrations producing a tough rubbery curd that causes downstream processing difficulties, particularly when casein is washed to remove calcium, lactose, whey and other impurities. This thesis examines using milk protein concentrates, MPC70 and MPC85 retentates from ultrafiltration, to manufacture casein. MPC85 was used on a large scale process, and MPC70 was used on lab scale process. Lab scale casein production techniques were developed to produce a similar casein to process scale. Effects of dilution and pH were examined on casein properties and calcium and lactose removal. Diluting the retentates prior to acidification was effective at reducing the residual levels of calcium and lactose in the casein, and no increase in residual whey protein was found compared to conventional casein production. The optimal precipitation pH remained at 4.60, and the resulting casein was not found to have any reduction in its functional performance. Lowering precipitation pH increased casein losses due to fines being formed and difficulty in separating wash water from the curd. Use of milk retentate for casein manufacture allows greater recovery of lactose and may have positive implications for the economics of the process in reducing washing required to produce high quality casein.

text: Manufacture of Casein from Milk Retentates Casein is the major protein component of cow’s milk and is extracted commercially for a wide range of applications. Before casein is precipitated from milk by acid, milk is commonly concentrated by ultrafiltration to increase throughput and partly recover lactose. The degree to which the milk can be concentrated is limited due to higher concentrations producing a tough rubbery curd that causes downstream processing difficulties, particularly when casein is washed to remove calcium, lactose, whey and other impurities. This thesis examines using milk protein concentrates, MPC70 and MPC85 retentates from ultrafiltration, to manufacture casein. MPC85 was used on a large scale process, and MPC70 was used on lab scale process. Lab scale casein production techniques were developed to produce a similar casein to process scale. Effects of dilution and pH were examined on casein properties and calcium and lactose removal. Diluting the retentates prior to acidification was effective at reducing the residual levels of calcium and lactose in the casein, and no increase in residual whey protein was found compared to conventional casein production. The optimal precipitation pH remained at 4.60, and the resulting casein was not found to have any reduction in its functional performance. Lowering precipitation pH increased casein losses due to fines being formed and difficulty in separating wash water from the curd. Use of milk retentate for casein manufacture allows greater recovery of lactose and may have positive implications for the economics of the process in reducing washing required to produce high quality casein.

year: 2011

title: Improving prediction of potential for treatment completion at Tai Aroha

authors: Astridge Clarke,  Abigail Darcy

subjects: Treatment

abstract: Participant non-completion can be a major problem for treatment programmes. Staff may try to minimise non-completion by deciding who to select for treatment using professional intuition and referral information. It can be difficult for treatment staff to make these decisions regarding the potential for programme completion due to a lack of clear guidelines about what information to consider. This lack of clear guidelines can increase susceptibility to biases, and lead to unreliable and potentially inaccurate decisions. Research has identified ‘simple rules’ that are tools to aid decision-making quickly, effectively, and consistently. Therefore, using past treatment data, we1 aimed to identify predictors of programme completion vs. non-completion at Tai Aroha—a residential treatment programme based in Hamilton—to explore whether a “simple rule” can be developed from information readily available at the time of referral, to support staff decision-making when selecting offenders to attend treatment, with the potential to increase programme completion. We were successful in the development of a simple rule to aid Tai Aroha staff selection decisions. The implications, and limitations of our rule and our study are discussed, and future research relating to simple rules are identified.

text: Improving prediction of potential for treatment completion at Tai Aroha Participant non-completion can be a major problem for treatment programmes. Staff may try to minimise non-completion by deciding who to select for treatment using professional intuition and referral information. It can be difficult for treatment staff to make these decisions regarding the potential for programme completion due to a lack of clear guidelines about what information to consider. This lack of clear guidelines can increase susceptibility to biases, and lead to unreliable and potentially inaccurate decisions. Research has identified ‘simple rules’ that are tools to aid decision-making quickly, effectively, and consistently. Therefore, using past treatment data, we1 aimed to identify predictors of programme completion vs. non-completion at Tai Aroha—a residential treatment programme based in Hamilton—to explore whether a “simple rule” can be developed from information readily available at the time of referral, to support staff decision-making when selecting offenders to attend treatment, with the potential to increase programme completion. We were successful in the development of a simple rule to aid Tai Aroha staff selection decisions. The implications, and limitations of our rule and our study are discussed, and future research relating to simple rules are identified.

year: 2023