Secondary discourse in first-year university texts: the role and function of scientific definitions and their implications for teaching English for academic purposes

IN RECENT YEARS a number of studies devoted to introductory textbooks used in universities have appeared. Swales (1995: 2-3) provides a convenient list of these: Studies of textbook discourse have so far been largely restricted to introductory texts in standard undergraduate fields such as physics (Kuhn 1970), genetics (Myers 1992), geology (Love 1991, 1992), and economics (Henderson & Hewings 1990; McCloskey 1985; Tadros 1985). The present study seeks to add introductory biology textbooks (hereafter IBTs) used in Australian universities to this list. It does so for a number of reasons. Firstly, as Swales' list suggests, no major study of first year biology textbooks has yet been undertaken. Secondly, such a study would be particularly relevant to Australia where the number of students studying biology - particularly non-native speakers of English - has increased steadily in the past decade causing a corresponding need for English for Specific Purposes (ESP) assistance based on studies of textbooks. And thirdly, recent trends in genre analysis make a study of textbooks a prime site for theory building and development. The first two of these justifications are perhaps self-explanatory. To better understand the last, however, it is necessary to locate the studies mentioned by Swales above within the existing literature. 1.2 Th

Thinning of superfluid films below the critical point

Experiments on $^4$He films reveal an attractive Casimir-like force at the bulk $\lambda$-point, and in the superfluid regime. Previous work has explained the magnitude of this force at the $\lambda$ transition and deep in the superfluid region but not the substantial attractive force immediately below the $\lambda$-point. Utilizing a simple mean-field calculation renormalized by critical fluctuations we obtain an effective Casimir force that is qualitatively consistent with the scaling function $\vartheta$ obtained by collapse of experimental data.Comment: 4 page

Asymptotic expansions of functional inverses

We study the automatic computation of asymptotic expansions of functional inverses. Based on previous work on asymptotic expansions, we give an algorithm which computes Hardy-field solutions of equations f(y) = x, with f belonging to a large class of functions

Asymptotic Expansions of exp-log Functions

We give an algorithm to compute asymptotic expansions of exp-log functions. This algorithm automatically computes the necessary asymptotic scale and does not suffer from problems of indefinite cancellation. In particular, an asymptotic equivalent can always be computed for a given exp-log function

Functional endemism: population connectivity, shifting baselines, and the scale of human experience

Quantifying population connectivity is important for visualizing the spatial and temporal scales that conservation measures act upon. Traditionally, migration based on genetic data has been reported in migrants per generation. However, the temporal scales over which this migration may occur do not necessarily accommodate the scales over which human perturbations occur, leaving the potential for a disconnect between population genetic data and conservation action based on those data. Here, we present a new metric called the “Rule of Memory”, which helps conservation practitioners to interpret “migrants per generation” in the context both of human modified ecosystems and the cultural memory of those doing the modification. Our rule states that clades should be considered functionally endemic regardless of their actual taxonomic designation if the migration between locations is insufficient to maintain a viable population over the timescales of one human generation (20 years). Since larger animals are more likely to be remembered, we quantify the relationship between migrants per human (N) and body mass of the organism in question (M) with the formula N = 10M−1. We then use the coral reef fish Pomacentrus moluccensis to demonstrate the taxonomic and spatial scales over which this rule can be applied. Going beyond minimum viable population literature, this metric assesses the probability that a clade's existence will be forgotten by people throughout its range during a period of extirpation. Because conservation plans are predicated on having well-established baselines, a loss of a species over the range of one human generation evokes the likelihood of that species no longer being recognized as a member of an ecosystem, and thus being excluded in restoration or conservation prioritization

Critical Casimir forces and adsorption profiles in the presence of a chemically structured substrate

Motivated by recent experiments with confined binary liquid mixtures near demixing, we study the universal critical properties of a system, which belongs to the Ising universality class, in the film geometry. We employ periodic boundary conditions in the two lateral directions and fixed boundary conditions on the two confining surfaces, such that one of them has a spatially homogeneous adsorption preference while the other one exhibits a laterally alternating adsorption preference, resembling locally a single chemical step. By means of Monte Carlo simulations of an improved Hamiltonian, so that the leading scaling corrections are suppressed, numerical integration, and finite-size scaling analysis we determine the critical Casimir force and its universal scaling function for various values of the aspect ratio of the film. In the limit of a vanishing aspect ratio the critical Casimir force of this system reduces to the mean value of the critical Casimir force for laterally homogeneous ++ and +- boundary conditions, corresponding to the surface spins on the two surfaces being fixed to equal and opposite values, respectively. We show that the universal scaling function of the critical Casimir force for small but finite aspect ratios displays a linear dependence on the aspect ratio which is solely due to the presence of the lateral inhomogeneity. We also analyze the order-parameter profiles at criticality and their universal scaling function which allows us to probe theoretical predictions and to compare with experimental data.Comment: revised version, section 5.2 expanded; 53 pages, 12 figures, iopart clas