Doctor of Philosophy / Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) catalyses undesirable darkening in wheat products such as Asian noodles. Genetic variation for PPO activity is characterized in bread wheat. Australian wheat breeding programmes recognize that reduced PPO activity is an important quality target. Despite this interest from breeders, no varieties possessing extremely low and null PPO activity exist. The development of null PPO wheat varieties is dependant on an understanding of the genetic control of the null phenotype. Knowledge of these factors will accelerate efforts to develop them. The inheritance of PPO activity was investigated in two populations that were derived from hybrids between a null PPO genotype and Australian wheat varieties Lang and QAlBis. Observed genetic ratios were consistent with two and three gene control, respectively in these populations. QTL mapping was performed in the QALBis x VAW08-A17 population. The Diversity Array Technology (DArT) approach was employed to genotype the QALBis x VAW08-A17 population. Three highly significant QTLs that control PPO activity were identified on chromosomes 2AL, 2BS and 2DL. Close associations between PPO activity and DArT marker loci wPt-7024, wPt-0094 and wPt-2544 were observed, respectively. Collectively, these loci explained 74% of the observed variation in PPO activity across seasons. Significant QTLs on chromosomes 1B and 3B were also identified that together explained an additional 17% of variation in PPO activity. The relationship between PPO activity and yellow alkaline noodles (YAN) colour stability parameters was investigated in a DM5637*B8 x H45 doubled haploid population. PPO activity and changes in YAN brightness (ΔL* 0-24h) and yellowness (Δb* 0-24h) in both seasons were analysed. Quantitative trait analyses of PPO activity, flour yellowness (b*) and YAN colour stability was also conducted in this population. QTL mapping of variation in PPO activity in the DM5637*B8 x H45 DH population identified a highly significant QTL on chromosome 2AL, which explained 52% of the observed variation across seasons. Regression analysis identified that wPt-7024 was highly significantly associated with PPO activity in this population. A highly significant association between this marker and PPO was also identified in the QALBis x VAW08-A17 population. Collectively, the three identified QTLs (on chromosomes 2AL, 7A and 7B) explained 71% of variation in PPO activity across seasons. A highly significant (P<0.001) QTL on chromosome 2B along with significant (P<0.01) QTLs on the chromosomes 1A, 3B, 4B and 5B were found to control flour yellowness. The QTLs on 2B, 4B and 5B were detected in both seasons analysed and accounted for 90% of variation in flour b* across seasons. The study on YAN colour stability located two highly significant (P<0.001) QTLs and two significant (P<0.01) QTLs that controlled the change in brightness of yellow alkaline noodle. The 2A QTL accounted for 64% of observed variation across seasons. It was in the same location as the PPO QTL and shared a common closest marker wPt-7024. Only one significant QTL for YAN a* (0-24h) was identified. It accounted for 12% of variation across seasons and was only detected in one season. One highly significant (P<0.001) QTL and two significant (P<0.01) QTLs were identified that controlled the change in yellowness of yellow alkaline noodle. The 2A QTL accounted for 68% of observed variation across seasons. The location of this QTL corresponded with that of 2A QTLs for PPO activity and L* of YAN in this study. Furthermore, wPt-7024 was also identified as the marker with the most significant association with L*. The identification of a correlation between the characters and a common location of a highly significant QTL for each of these characters indicates that it is likely that PPO activity is directly responsible for a large proportion of the changes in brightness and yellowness of YAN. QTLs for L* and b* of YAN were detected in a common location on chromosome 1A. However, no corresponding QTL was identified that controls PPO activity, highlighting the complexity of the relationship between these traits. Resistance to three rust pathogens (Puccinia graminis, Puccinia striiformis, and Puccinia triticina) was also investigated in the DM5637*B8 x H45 DH population because they are major yield limiting diseases in wheat. Disease response data at the seedling stage were converted to genotypic scores for rust genes Sr24/Lr24, Sr36, Lr13 and Yr7 to construct a genetic linkage map. No recombination was observed between rust resistance genes Sr36, Lr13 and Yr7 in this DH population. Therefore, these genes mapped in the same position on chromosome 2B. The Lr24/Sr24 locus was incorporated into the chromosome 3D map. Interval mapping analysis identified QTLs on chromosomes 2B, 3B, 4B and 5B that control adult plant resistance (APR) to stripe rust. Two QTLs on chromosomes 2B and 3D were identified that controlled APR to leaf rust in this DH population.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Hous. M.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-109).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Thesis (M.Hous.M.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-109). Also available in print.

Dynasties of Demons: Cannibalism from Lu Xun to Yu Hua focuses on the issue of representations of the body in modern Chinese fiction. My interest concerns the relationship, or correspondence between "textual" bodies and the physical "realities" they are meant to represent, particularly where those representations involve the body as a discursive site for the intersection of state ideology and the individual. The relationship between the body and the state has been a question of profound significance for modern Chinese literati dating back to the late Qing, but it was Lu Xun who, with the publication of his short story "Kuangren riji" (Diary of a Madman), in 1918, initiated the literaty discourse on China's "apparent penchant for cannibalizing its own people. In the first chapter of my dissertation I discuss L u Xun's fiction by exploring two distinct, though not mutually exclusive issues: (1) his diagnosis of China's debilitating "spiritual illness," which he characterized as being cannibalistic; (2) his highly inventive, counter-intuitive narrative strategy for critiquing traditional Chinese culture without contributing to or stimulating his reader's prurient interests in violent spectacle. To my knowledge I am the first critic of modern Chinese literature to write about Lu Xun's erasure of the spectacle body. In Chapters II, III and IV, I discuss the writers Han Shaogong, Mo Yan, and Yu Hua, respectively, to illustrate that sixty years after Lu Xun's madman first "wrote" the prophetic words, chi ren A (eat people), a number of post-Mao writers took up their pens to announce that the human feast did not end with Confucianism; on the contrary, with the advent of Maoism the feasting began in earnest. Each of these post-Mao writers approaches the issue of China's "spiritual dysfunction" from quite different perspectives, which I have characterized in the following way: Han Shaogong (Atavism); Mo Yan (Ambivalent-Nostalgia); and Yu Hua (Deconstruction). As becomes evident through my analysis of selected texts, despite their very significant differences (personal, geographic, stylistic) all three writers come to oddly similar conclusions that are, in and of themselves, not dissimilar to the conclusion arrived at by Lu Xun's madman. / Arts, Faculty of / Asian Studies, Department of / Graduate

This thesis studies fictional narratives of the countryside by writers of rural origin in English and Chinese literature in relation to the "countryside ideal." The term, borrowed from Michael Bunce, describes an ancient as well as modern theme in literature, which sees the countryside as a desirable "home." The conventional construction of the countryside by urban writers sustains this ideal with simplistic and static images. My thesis extends the discussion beyond the idyllic countryside in the mainstream of Anglo-American culture and the genteel culture in China to concentrate on Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), Shen Congwen (1902-1988), and Mo Yan (b. 1956), who all have personal relations with the countryside and who enrich its image with accounts of actual life, reconnecting it to authentic home place. I discuss fictional narratives of the rural homelands of the three writers not as unmediated transcriptions but as cultural constructs, which are shaped by different literary traditions and responsive to specific historical contexts. My approach is mainly text-based, but supplemented by references to each writer's cultural and historical contexts. The Introduction situates these writers and their rural homelands in relation to the specific interest in the countryside in each writer's cultural milieu. Chapter One reads Hardy's reconstruction of the countryside in light of the struggle for existence in a Darwinian natural world. Hardy's sombre-looking rural landscapes highlight the complex difficulties of rural life and the moral and intellectual qualities required to survive in such a world. Chapter Two studies Shen Congwen's justification of rural culture in the midst of nationalist aspirations for globalization. His multi-layered fictionalization of the rural homeland centres on the image of water, a root symbol of Chinese culture, merging traditional Chinese culture with modernist vitalism. Chapter three examines Mo Yan's reconstruction of the rural homeland after the severe disruption of Chinese culture during the Mao era. Mo Yan's magic realist reconstruction testifies to the repression of the genius loci of his rural homeland by politics and expresses a desire to be reconnected with the original homeland through sensual bonds rather than detached observations. These writers' narratives redefine the countryside in relation to "home" as a centre for meaningful activities. The fact that they reappropriate and situate rural life and work in specific cultural traditions and diverse forms of modernity is manifested in their unique and irreplaceable literary constructions. I will offset Hardy's writing against that of the two Chinese writers, in order to clarify their rich and diverse cultural implications. Whereas Hardy subjects his fictional rural landscape to a scientific approach, Shen Congwen reconfirms traditional Chinese culture, linking it with the ideals of the May Fourth movement for renewal and revitalization. Mo Yan, for his part, combines the rural perspective and faith in the land with a modernist use of magic realism. Fictionalizations of the rural homeland thus reveal complex interactions with modernity. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

《鼎峙春秋》是奉乾隆皇帝的命所創造的作品.本劇本,以元明以來流傳的三國演義故事為題材,僅在清代宮廷裡所演出的劇本。 清代極為崇拜關公,而關公到了《鼎峙春秋》呈顯出最完美的形象. 本論文將關公的一生分為七個時段來探討鼎峙春秋中的關公如何被描述, 其中發現本劇作家透過關公的一生突顯出忠義精神和善惡報應思想,以此教導民眾. 本論文雖然不足的地方很多,希望研究關公的學人有所幫助. / 《Ding Zhi Chun Qiu》 was made by the order of Qian Long the Emperor of the Ch'ing dynasty. It’s a play only performed at Court. And it’s about the story in the period of the Three Kingdoms which has been one of the people’s favorite subjects since Yuan-Ming Dynasty.The people of the Ch'ing dynasty were more devoted to worship Gwangong than any other times. Therefore, the Gwangong who is a main character of 《Ding Zhi Chun Qiu》 is described as the most perfect person whose image is handed down from generation after generation.This paper divided the life of GwanGong into 7 periods based on the important historical trace, and watched how GwanGong’s story was described in《Ding Zhi Chun Qiu》. I was able to find out that the writer had intention to enlighten the people by highlighting a loyalty spirit and right and wrong retribution thoughts through Gwangong in the process. Although this paper has some insufficient points, but I hope this paper would be helpful to those who study Gwangong.

鄉土文學作為一種文學類別，源出於作家們對前現代、傳統文化與土地關係的關懷。隨著時代變遷，鄉土文學被賦予更多的功能。不再只是再現吾人現代性精神危機的烏托邦救贖，也不單純只是對逝去的純美人情的哀悼，更不僅被當作現代性的對立面。從五四時期以來的鄉土文學至今，已然發展出全然不同的面貌，唯一不變的是，鄉土文學的核心價值依舊是以「人與土地」為主軸，從人與土地的關係出發，思考不同階段的社會轉型與文化衝擊。在持續的現代化與全球化的當下，鄉土文學必然受到衝擊，在現代化與高度資本主義的社會環境中，都市文學與大眾娛樂文化的雙重夾擊下，鄉土文學成為一種艱難的文類，在世代差異之下，鄉土文學必然喪失其影響力與活力。 此外，中國特殊的政治體制與其制度，使得鄉土文學產生不同的變化，轉型成為一種彈性的文類，將鄉土視為全球化的在地資本，再者，因中國快速的全面轉型，使得新舊文化被雜揉於同一時期。新與舊、現代與傳統、都市與鄉村就這樣被濃縮在同一時期裡。因此鄉土文學在中國，除了因疆域廣大，現代化程度的普及性仍有一定限度外，最重要的是，當今中國的中堅世代，都是歷經高度文化衝擊下的一員，在他們身上仍舊保留傳統文化的親歷性，也同樣對現代化的利弊具有深刻理解，作家們依循自己的生命經驗試圖理解當代中國與世界。 本研究先以中國當代文化語境與鄉土文學之發展脈絡為背景，再以三位50後作家韓少功、莫言、阿來之專章，討論其鄉土小說中的身分認同。此三位作家皆完整經歷中國當代劇烈的社會變遷，並循著自身的「鄉土經驗」，重新審視中國現代性如何擺盪在現代性與民族性之間，並展現其中的文化能動性，以多元的鄉土文體形式來界定主流政治。 自新時期以來，中國作家與主流政治共同自「鄉土」汲取文化動能，建構屬於自身獨特的話語形式（discourse）回應中國新時期的後革命論述。 / As a literary category, the native-soil literature was originated from the care that the writers had on the relationship between pre-modern, traditional culture and the land. With the changing times, the native-soil literature has been given more functions. It is no longer just to re represent the utopian salvation of our modern spiritual crisis, or just the mourning for the passed-by beautiful interpersonal affection, or only be viewed as the opposite of modernity. Since the May Fourth period, the native-soil literature has now developed a completely different appearance. The only constant is that the core value of the native-soil literature remains to be centered around the “people and the land”, rooting from the relationship between people and the land to think about the different stages of social transformation and cultural impact. Under the ongoing modernization and globalization, the native-soil literature is bound to be impacted. In the modern and highly capitalist social environment and under the double attacks of urban literature and mass entertainment culture, the native-soil literature has become a difficult genre. Due to the generation differences, the native-soil literature will inevitably lose its influence and vitality. In addition, the special political framework and system of China cause the native-soil literature to have different changes, transforming into a flexible genre and viewing the “native soil” as the globalized local capital. Moreover, due to rapid and comprehensive transformation of China, the old and new cultures were rubbed into the same period. The concepts of new and old, modern and traditional, and urban and rural were all condensed into the same period as well. Therefore, while the native-soil literature of China has been somewhat limited in terms of degree of modernization and popularity due to the vast territory, the most important thing is that the backbone generation in China today all went through high cultural impact, and they still retain the traditional cultural experiences while having deep understandings about the pros and cons of modernization. The writers try to understand the contemporary China and the world through their own life experiences. This study uses the development processes of Chinese contemporary cultural context and native-soil literature as background, and then discuss the identity identification within the native-soil novels through dedicated chapters of three writers who were born after 1950 – Han Shao-gong, Mo Yan and Alai. All three writers went through dramatic social changes of contemporary China, and with their “native-soil experiences”, they re-examined how China's modernity swung between the modernity and nationality, displayed the cultural motility therein, and defined the mainstream politics in the form of multivariate native-soil literature. Ever since the new era, writers and mainstream politics in China have all been drawing cultural energies from the “native-soil” to construct their own unique discourse forms, so as to respond to the post-Revolution discourse of China’s new era.

Les collisions d'ions lourds ultra-relativistes permettent l'étude de la matière nucléaire dans des conditions extrêmes de température et de pression et, en particulier, d'une nouvelle phase de la matière nucléaire : le plasma de quarks et de gluons (QGP). Le collisionneur RHIC, situé au Laboratoire National de Brookhaven (USA), réalise de telles collisions. PHENIX, l'un des quatre détecteurs en fonctionnement sur ce collisionneur, est le seul capable de mesurer des muons. Dans ce mémoire, nous présentons une analyse des données dimuons récoltées en collisions p + p par PHENIX lors de deux campagnes de prises de données (runs 3 et 4). Les collisions p + p fournissent une référence indispensable à l'interprétation des collisions d'ions lourds. L'objectif de l'analyse décrite dans ce mémoire est l'extraction des sections efficaces de production des composantes physiques du spectre dimuon observé à RHIC en collisions p + p : $J/\psi$ , charme ouvert et Drell-Yan. Cette analyse s'appuie sur un ajustement global du spectre de masse invariante dimuon. Cet ajustement a été possible grâce à l'étude préalable par simulation des formes des distributions en masse des différentes contributions physiques. Les taux de production des différentes contributions ont ainsi pu être déduits. Enfin, l'étude de la réponse du détecteur à chaque contribution et l'introduction des diverses efficacités ont permis l'obtention des sections efficaces de production. Les résultats obtenus sont comparés à des résultats déjà existants et montrent un bon accord général. Le travail présenté dans ce mémoire constitue la première estimation de la section efficace de production du charme dans le canal dimuon ainsi que la première estimation de la section efficace de production du Drell-Yan à RHIC.