Book reviews

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Rotational Invariance and the Theory of Directed Polymer Nematics

The consequences of rotational invariance in a recent theory of fluctuations in dilute polymer nematics are explored. A correct rotationally invariant free energy insures that anomalous couplings are not generated in a one-loop renormalization group calculation.Comment: 4 Pages, latex file (requires REVTEX 3.0), two postscript figures (attached), IASSNS-HEP-93/2

Analytical approach to bit-string models of language evolution

A formulation of bit-string models of language evolution, based on differential equations for the population speaking each language, is introduced and preliminarily studied. Connections with replicator dynamics and diffusion processes are pointed out. The stability of the dominance state, where most of the population speaks a single language, is analyzed within a mean-field-like approximation, while the homogeneous state, where the population is evenly distributed among languages, can be exactly studied. This analysis discloses the existence of a bistability region, where dominance coexists with homogeneity as possible asymptotic states. Numerical resolution of the differential system validates these findings.Comment: To appear in Int. J. Mod. Phys.

Strings of Connectedness. Essays in honour of Ian Keen

For nearly four decades, Ian Keen has been an important, challenging, and engaging presence in Australian anthropology. Beginning with his PhD research in the mid-1970s and through to the present, he has been a leading scholar of Yolngu society and culture, and has made lasting contributions to a range of debates. His scholarly productivity, however, has never been limited to the Yolngu, and he has conducted research and published widely on many other facets of Australian Aboriginal society: on Aboriginal culture in ‘settled’ Australia; comparative historical work on Aboriginal societies at the threshold of colonisation; a continuing interest in kinship; ongoing writing on language and society; and a set of significant land claims across the continent. In this volume of essays in his honour, a group of Keen’s former students and current colleagues celebrate the diversity of his scholarly interests and his inspiring influence as a mentor and a friend, with contributions ranging across language structure, meaning, and use; the post-colonial engagement of Aboriginal Australians with the ideas and structures of ‘mainstream’ society; ambiguity and indeterminacy in Aboriginal symbolic systems and ritual practices; and many other interconnected themes, each of which represents a string that he has woven into the rich tapestry of his scholarly work

Strings of Connectedness. Essays in honour of Ian Keen

For nearly four decades, Ian Keen has been an important, challenging, and engaging presence in Australian anthropology. Beginning with his PhD research in the mid-1970s and through to the present, he has been a leading scholar of Yolngu society and culture, and has made lasting contributions to a range of debates. His scholarly productivity, however, has never been limited to the Yolngu, and he has conducted research and published widely on many other facets of Australian Aboriginal society: on Aboriginal culture in ‘settled’ Australia; comparative historical work on Aboriginal societies at the threshold of colonisation; a continuing interest in kinship; ongoing writing on language and society; and a set of significant land claims across the continent. In this volume of essays in his honour, a group of Keen’s former students and current colleagues celebrate the diversity of his scholarly interests and his inspiring influence as a mentor and a friend, with contributions ranging across language structure, meaning, and use; the post-colonial engagement of Aboriginal Australians with the ideas and structures of ‘mainstream’ society; ambiguity and indeterminacy in Aboriginal symbolic systems and ritual practices; and many other interconnected themes, each of which represents a string that he has woven into the rich tapestry of his scholarly work

Two strategies for improving animal farm wastewater treatment in reed beds

In this study, dewatered alum sludge cakes were used as substrate in a laboratory scale tidal vertical flow reed bed system treating animal farm wastewater. The “tidal flow” operation was employed to enhance oxygen transfer into the reed bed system, while dewatered alum sludge cake was used to enhance phosphorus (P) removal in the system through ligand exchange. Except for the removal of P which was consistently high throughout the experiment, the removal of organics (BOD5, COD) exhibited a trend of gradual and increasing removal. This highlights the obvious advantage of the use of the dewatered alum sludge cake in the reed bed. For the removal of organics, a mean removal percentage of 82.3 ± 3.5 % was obtained for BOD5 at an average loading of 84.6 g/m2.d. In addition, the first-order kinetics constant for BOD5 removal (KBOD, m/d) obtained in the system was about 9 times the rate constant commonly obtained in conventional horizontal flow systems. The mean level of dissolved aluminium (Al) monitored in the effluent was 0.04 ± 0.01 mg/l and this is well below the discharge limit of 0.2 mg/l for Al discharge into all waters.Other funderEnvironmental Protection Agency12M embargo: release on 23/09/2011 - AV 25/8/201