Skyrme Interaction and Nuclear Matter Constraints

This paper presents a detailed assessment of the ability of the 240 Skyrme interaction parameter sets in the literature to satisfy a series of criteria derived from macroscopic properties of nuclear matter in the vicinity of nuclear saturation density at zero temperature and their density dependence, derived by the liquid drop model, experiments with giant resonances and heavy-ion collisions. The objective is to identify those parameterizations which best satisfy the current understanding of the physics of nuclear matter over a wide range of applications. Out of the 240 models, only 16 are shown to satisfy all these constraints. Additional, more microscopic, constraints on density dependence of the neutron and proton effective mass beta-equilibrium matter, Landau parameters of symmetric and pure neutron nuclear matter, and observational data on high- and low-mass cold neutron stars further reduce this number to 5, a very small group of recommended Skyrme parameterizations to be used in future applications of the Skyrme interaction of nuclear matter related observables. Full information on partial fulfillment of individual constraints by all Skyrme models considered is given. The results are discussed in terms of the physical interpretation of the Skyrme interaction and the validity of its use in mean-field models. Future work on application of the Skyrme forces, selected on the basis of variables of nuclear matter, in Hartree-Fock calculation of properties of finite nuclei, is outlined.Comment: 86 pages, 14 figure

Application of statistical and decision-analytic models for evidence synthesis for decision-making in public health and the healthcare sector

With the awareness that healthcare is a limited resource, decision-makers are challenged to allocate it rationally and efficiently. Health economic methods of evidence synthesis for decision-making are useful to quantify healthcare resource utilisation, critically evaluate different interventions and ensure the implementation of the most effective or cost-effective strategy. The nine studies included in the present cumulative doctoral thesis aim to demonstrate the capability of statistical and decision-analytic modelling techniques to inform and support rational healthcare decision-making in Germany. Five studies apply statistical modelling in analyses of public health and health economic data. They show that the developed models are valuable instruments for examining patterns in the data and generating knowledge from observable data which can further be used in devising disease management and care programs as well as economic evaluations. Further, two health economic evaluations, which adopt the decision-analytic-modelling approach, show that decision-analytic modelling is a powerful tool to represent the epidemiology of infectious and non-infectious diseases on a population level, quantify the burden of the diseases, generalise the outcomes of clinical trials, and predict how the interventions can change the impact of the diseases on the health of the population. Additionally, two literature reviews examine the application of decision-analytic modelling in health economic evaluations. The first study reviews and empirically analyses health technology assessments by the German Institute for Medical Documentation and Information and demonstrates that the application of decision-analytic models improves the evidence produced for policy-making in the healthcare sector in Germany. The second systematic review focuses on methodological choices made in constructing decision-analytic models and explains how critically the structural and parametrical assumptions can influence the final message of the economic evaluations and shows that building a validated, reliable model as well as the transparent reporting is of high priority in facilitating the communication and implementation of the most cost-effective course of action. Overall, the present thesis shows the relevance and advantage of the application of models in synthesising evidence for decision-making. The included studies contribute to the current and future development of the methods used to address the problems of health economic efficiency. Further advances in the computational modelling techniques and data collection, from one side, will ease the decision-making process, but, from another side, will require increasing competence and understanding within the decision-making bodies

Assessment of seed production potential of Teosinte (Euchlaena mexicana) under varying agronomic management practices in the central region of Nepal : A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Lincoln University

Teosinte (Euchlaena mexicana) is a popular summer herbage crop in Nepal. While it has good seed production potential, the management for seed production is unknown. A two year study was undertaken in order to investigate teosinte seed yield and seed quality for different sowing dates, seed sowing rates and cutting management in the Terai region of Nepal. A seed development, a genotypic diversity and an economic study were also conducted. There were four different sowing dates (30 March, 30 April, 30 May and 30 June), four seed rates (20, 40, 60 and 80 kgha-1) and three cutting management treatments (uncut, once cut and twice cut) arranged in a spilt split plot design. The only certified variety of teosinte in Nepal, Sirsa was used for the study. Herbage yield of teosinte was affected by sowing date, seed rate and cutting management. Maximum herbage yield (HY) and dry matter yield (DMY) from a teosinte crop grown for seed production was obtained from the 30 April sowing together with the 60 kgha-1 seed rate and two cuts. There was a positive correlation of plant height, tiller number, leaf number and leaf area index (LAI) with DMY. The effect of the environment on both teosinte herbage and seed yield was studied. Higher herbage and seed yield were produced from early sown teosinte because the longer growing season allowed the accumulation of higher growing degree days (GDD). Five critical growth stages of teosinte were identified. The temperature and GDD requirements for each growth stage were 26.1○C (135○C days), 26.0○C (2189○C days), 24.1○C (2442○C days), 20.4○C (3049○C days) and 17.2○C (3150○C days) for emergence stage (GS1), vegetative stage (GS2), flowering stage (GS3), seed development stage (GS4) and seed maturity stage (GS5) respectively. Maximum seed yield (kgha-1) was obtained from the two earlier sowings (30 March and 30 April) in both years because early sown plants were taller, and had higher LAI and more tillers and cobs per plant, ears per cob and seeds per ear than later sown plants. In 2017, there was a non-insignificant effect of seed rate on seed yield because of natural thinning of plants due to heavy rainfall and wind which caused lodging in the early vegetative stage, but in 2018 the two lower seed rates (20 and 40 kgha-1) produced the highest seed yield. For cutting management, seed yield was higher for uncut plants in both years. Seed quality was tested for seeds harvested from different sowing dates, seed rates, cutting management and cob position on the plant. Over the two seasons of trials, seed harvested from the 30 March sowing at the two lower seed rates (20 and 40 kgha-1) and uncut plants resulted in higher germination percentage and thousand seed weight (TSW) in both years. There was a significant negative correlation between the sowing dates and germination percentage and a negative correlation between sowing dates and TSW because germination percentage and TSW were reduced with each delay in sowing. There was a positive correlation between TSW and germination percentage for different sowing dates for all cobs in 2017 (R2 = 0.77) (P>0.05) and 2018 (R2 = 0.80) (P>0.05). Seed quality was also affected by the cob position on the plant. When seeds were hand harvested separately from top, middle and bottom positioned cobs, higher quality seeds (germination percentage and TSW) were obtained from seed harvested from the top positioned cobs. Teosinte seeds physiological maturity (PM) was attained at 59 days after anthesis. Harvesting teosinte seeds from the top and middle positioned cobs on the plant recovered 78% of the total seed yield, while that from the middle and the bottom positioned cobs recovered 57% of the total seed yield. Therefore harvesting mature seeds from the top and middle positioned cobs is recommended to minimize loss of quality seed from shattering which would occur if harvesting was delayed until seeds from the bottom cobs were mature. A diversity study of teosinte was conducted for 18 teosinte accessions, 17 from CYMMIT Mexico and Sirsa, to identify if any of the introduced accessions could perform better than Sirsa in terms of herbage yield, seed yield and time to seed maturation. Out of 17 accessions, accessions 5, 7 and 12 out yielded Sirsa in terms of herbage yield, seed yield and were earlier to maturity. This preliminary result suggest a possible source of material for developing new teosinte varieties in Nepal better suited for farmer’s needs, particularly to reduce the length of time required to grow a seed crop. A separate study was conducted on seven seed lots of teosinte collected from different regions of Nepal. Hier¬archical cluster analysis based using morphological charecteristics gave two distinct clusters; cluster I (Makwanpur) from the midhills and cluster II (Sarlahi, Mohattari, Bara, Chitwan, Gaughat and Tikapur) from across the southern Terai. These two clusters suggest an agro ecological differentiation for teosinte genotypes grown in Nepal. An economic analysis conducted based on the total costs and income from the different management in this research study showed that the highest gross margin was obtained from the March and the April sowings at the 20-60 kgha-1 seed rates and none or one cuts. Taking one herbage cut was not detrimental to a farmer’s gross margin for seed production

MAPPING QUANTITATIVE TRAIT LOCI FOR GRAIN YIELD AND YIELD RELATED TRAITS IN A HEXAPLOID WINTER WHEAT DOUBLED HAPLOID POPULATION

Improving wheat grain yield potential is imperative to match the increasing food demand associated with a fast growing population. Genetic and modeling approaches were employed to investigate the genetic basis and phenotype network regarding grain yield and yield related traits in a soft red winter wheat doubled haploid population. The population and two parents were evaluated in five year-location trials in the USA and genotyped by high throughput DNA markers including simple sequence repeat (SSR) and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). Bi-parental linkage mapping identified a number of QTLs for grain yield and yield related traits among which sixty were for grain yield components (GYLD, grain yield; SPSM, spikes per square meter; TGW, thousand grain weight; GPS, grains per spike; GWPS, grain weight per spike), seventy four were for plant architecture (PHT, plant height; FLL, flag leaf length; FLW, flag leaf width; FLA, flag leaf area; FLS, flag leaf shape or length/width ratio), and one hundred and nine were for spike morphology (SL, spike length; TSN, total spikelet number per spike; FSN, fertile spikelet number per spike; SSN, sterile spikelet number per spike; SC, spike compactness; GSP, grains per spikelet). In addition, structural equation modeling is described to construct a phenotype network. It revealed that GSP and FSN may mediate yield component compensation. Furthermore, doubled haploid lines DH96 and DH84 may have potential as new high-yielding cultivars for the Mid-Atlantic region

On the concept of religion in Walter Benjamin's critical theory

"In this dissertation I explore the concept of religion in the philosophy that underlies Walter Benjamin's critical theory. This analysis leads me to suggest two related conclusions: 1) contrary to secularist discourses, Benjamin regards the modern social as being religiously constituted and, 2) Benjamin develops a philosophy of experience, a ""phenomenology,"" in which the religious is an inalienable aspect of experience itself. In developing these two arguments, I challenge the assumption of much of the secondary literature on Benjamin, which maintains that while the religious characterizes aspects of his early works, it is replaced by a Marxian-materialist paradigm in his later writings. Contrary to this gloss, I suggest that Benjamin's writings represent an attempt to synthesize a religious and a Marxian-materialist paradigm.

Optimal Tourism Development

The early days of tourism development had a naïve vision of tourism’s impacts on society in terms of economic, social, and environmental benefits. Time has passed, and we have learnt lessons regarding the success and failure of tourism development. Mass tourism development has pros and cons and is not necessarily the optimal development model. Alternative development strategies should be contemplated. This Special Issue deals with different topics concerning optimal tourism development. Destination management requires further understanding of different issues, such as carrying capacity, income-based optimal supply size, identification and development of optimal market niches, and adaptation or environmental protection strategies. Tourism planning is concerned with the role of economies of agglomeration, i.e., the advantages of spatial clusters vs scattered development. Additionally, support for and investment in innovation, accessibility, and mobility are relevant nowadays. From the stakeholders’ perspective, it is relevant to discuss ways of cooperating and sources of conflicts among different sectors and actors, governance and incentives for sustainable tourism practices, and equity and economic distribution of benefits. Finally, the development of methodological tools for the assessment of optimal tourism development is necessary for policy making, in particular the development of methods that are capable of integrating economic, environmental, and social criteria

Adaptations in allopatric populations of Triakis megalopterus isolated by the Benguela Current: steps towards understanding evolutionary processes affecting regional biodiversity

This study was initiated to gain a better understanding of evolution and adaptation of elasmobranchs by investigating how a putative biogeographic barrier, the Benguela Current, had influenced populations of a demersal shark species, Triakis megalopterus. It was hypothesized that the Benguela Current formed a biogeographic barrier in the distribution of T. megalopterus and was responsible for the divergence between South African (SA) and Angolan (AN) populations. Since elasmobranchs are generally characterized by a slow rate of evolutionary change and conservative morphology and life history traits, it was hypothesized that there would be limited genetic, morphological and life history divergence between the populations. Both mtDNA Control Region (mtCR) and microsatellites (nDNA) were used to assess population connectivity and structure of T. megalopterus. The mtCR predominantly showed a northern (Angola, AN, and Namibia, NA) versus southern (Western Cape, WC, and Eastern Cape, EC) Benguela subsystem arrangement. This suggested that the formation of the Benguela Current had an influence on the genetic structure of T. megalopterus during the early Pleistocene. The nDNA, however, showed a distinct transoceanic, Atlantic (AN, NA, WC) versus Indian Ocean (EC) arrangement, and this was attributed to the more recent exposure of the Agulhas Bank and reduced rocky shore habitat during the glaciations of the late Pleistocene. Traditional morphological analyses on full body and tooth morphology were used to assess phenotypic plasticity and/or adaptability of T. megalopterus. A novel method of geometric morphology, with potential for non-lethal application, was developed and tested to examine interpopulation divergence in shape. Traditional morphometrics showed significant divergence between populations and this variation was congruous with the mtCR haplotypes. However, the divergence in the truss variables was not concomitant to the haplotypes and suggested that differences in shape may be attributed to phenotypic plasticity. There was limited divergence in the tooth morphology between populations. The divergence in several morphological characters associated with swimming speed and manoeuvrability may be attributed to both habitat structure and dominant prey in the different biogeographic zones. The diet of T. megalopterus consisted primarily of crustaceans, teleosts and molluscs. The significant variation in the diet between populations suggested a generalist tooth configuration and broad trophic adaptability. There was significant divergence in the interpopulation life history parameters. The AN population had the fastest growth, smallest size at maturity, and shortest longevity. Individuals in the EC population had the youngest age at maturity, while the WC population had the earliest parturition. This divergence may be attributed to the contrasting thermal regimes in the three biogeographic regions and the dissimilar exploitation rates of the three populations. The results of this thesis demonstrated that a combination of the formation of the Benguela Current and sea level change most likely contributed to vicariance of three populations of T. megalopterus. The significant interpopulation morphological and life history divergence appeared to be both phenotypic and genetic, and suggested that contrasting environmental drivers can result in relatively rapid change in elasmobranchs