Book reviews

TOWARDS COSMOPOLIS: Planning for Multicultural Cities. Leonie Sandercock. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, UK, 1998. ISBN 0471971987 (paperback). 258 pp.; bibliography. RRP $41.15.

THE MYTH OF THE POWERLESS STATE: Governing the Economy in a Global Era. Linda Weiss. Polity/Blackwell, Cambridge, 1998. ISBN 0745615821 (paperback). 260 pp.; index and bibliography. RRP $37.95.

SOCIAL CHANGE, SUBURBAN LIVES: An Australian Newtown 1960s to 1990s. Lois Bryson and Ian Winter. Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1998. ISBN 1864486996 (paperback). 238 pp.; index and bibliography. RRP $29.95.

CONTESTING THE AUSTRALIAN WAY: States, Markets and Civil Society. Paul Smyth and Bettina Cass (eds). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998. ISBN 0521633060 (hardback). 280 pp.; bibliography and index. RRP $90.00.

THE ECOLOGICAL CITY AND THE CITY EFFECT: Essays on the Urban Planning Requirements for the Sustainable City. Franco Archibugi. Ashgate, Aldershot, UK, 1997. ISBN 1859726534 (hardback). 243 pp.; bibliography and index. RRP $96.50.

CITIES FOR TOMORROW: Integrating Land Use, Transport and the Environment. Hans L. Westerman. Austroads, Sydney, 1998. ISBN 0855885033 (paperback). Resource Document 202 pp.; Better Practice Guide. 394 pp.; index. RRP $180.00.

EAST WEST PERSPECTIVES ON 21ST CENTURY URBAN DEVELOPMENT: Sustainable Eastern and Western Cities in the New Millennium. John Brotchie, Peter Newton, Peter Hall and John Dickey (eds). Ashgate, Aldershot, UK, 1999. ISBN 1840143177 (hardback). 432 pp.; bibliography and index. RRP $122.00.

MADE IN LANCASHIRE: A History of Regional Industrialisation. Geoffrey Timmins. Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1998. ISBN 0719045398. 334 pp.; bibliography and index. RRP $145.00.     

Modeling Irrigation with Gypsiferous Mine Water: A Case Study in Botswana

The possible use of mine effluent for irrigation of agricultural crops was investigated for BCL Ltd. nickel mine (Selebi Phikwe, Botswana). The aims were to estimate the long-term water and salt balance under irrigation with gypsiferous mine water, as well as to make recommendations on cropping and management options. A simple but mechanistic edynamic soil water-salt balance generic crop growth model (SWB, Soil Water Balance) and a weather data generator (CLIMGEN) were used for long-term predictions. Eleven years of irrigation with BCL effluent were simulated for different cropping systems and irrigation management practices, followed by 39 years of irrigation with freshwater or dry land cropping. The long-term simulations indicated that between 661 and 2017 mm of mine effluent could be used annually through irrigation, depending on crop choice and irrigation management. Between 18% and 32% ot the total amount of salt added through irrigation was predicted to leach in 11 years, the remainder being precipitated in the 1.1 m deep soil profile in the form of gypsum. The rate of gypsum dissolution and leaching after 11 years of irrigation with mine water depended on management. Simulated root density-weighted electrical conductivities at saturation indicated favorable conditions for growth of summer crops, but a leaching fraction is recommended in winter. A lucerne perennial pasture was the most suitable cropping system from the point of view of mine water utilization and salt precipitation in the soil profile. Deficit irrigation (room for rain) followed by dry land cropping was the most suitable management strategy in order to limit salt leaching and possible ground water contamination. The acceptability of the proposed strategies will depend on Botswana's standards for environmental protection, as well as social and economic issues.     

Small-signal analysis and control design of isolated power supplies with optocoupler feedback

Optocouplers are widely used in isolated power supplies to transfer the feedback signal from the secondary to the primary side. In many power supplies, the feedback amplifier is supplied from the output voltage that creates additional feedback path which should be taken into account in the control design. The paper presents a detailed analysis and control design for each of the two possible feedback loops that can be identified. In addition, dynamic limitations of the TL431 shunt regulator and of the optocoupler are discussed. Practical guidelines for the error amplifier design and a design example are presented for both voltage-mode and current-mode controls.     

Large-signal transient analysis of forward converter withactive-clamp reset

The forward converter with the active-clamp reset offers many advantages over the forward converters with other transformer-reset methods. However, during the line and load transients, the maximum magnetizing current of the transformer and the peak voltage of the primary switch are strongly affected by the active-clamp circuit dynamics. As a result, the design of a forward converter with the active-clamp reset cannot be optimized based only on its DC characteristics. Due to the nonlinearity of the circuit, it is very difficult to derive the closed-form equations for the transient response of the active-clamp circuit. In this paper, an average-state-trajectory approach is proposed to analyze the transient behavior so that the trends of the maximum magnetizing current of the transformer and the peak voltage of the primary switch can be easily predicted under worst-case conditions and parameter variations     

Understanding, prediction, and control as moderators of the relationships between perceived stress, satisfaction, and psychological well-being.

This study provides a preliminary test of a model proposed by Sutton and Kahn (1986). In the model, the ability to understand, predict, and control events in the work environment can reduce the potential adverse effects generally associated with certain work conditions. Using a sample of physicians, dentists, and nurses (N?=?206) from a large naval medical hospital, the present study examined the moderating effects of understandable, predictable, and controllable work situations on the relationship between perceived role stress, satisfaction, and psychological well-being. Understanding and control were found to have moderating effects on the relationship between perceived stress and satisfaction. Understanding, prediction, and control were found to have direct relationships with perceived stress, but only control had a significant direct relationship with satisfaction. None of these variables were found to have significant direct relationships with psychological well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

University-industry connections and academic values

Examination of the effects of university-industry interactions on academic structure and attitudes over the last decade reveals a variety of subtle impacts. These changes are discussed in terms of issues concerning multiple faculty roles, intellectual property rights, and research goals, and with respect to Centers, Industrial Liaison Offices, and University Associated Venture Firms. An unusual case of a professor's participation in a Center and in his own firm emphasizes complexities in the current academic climate. Taken in total, changes in academic attitudes and structure related to economic development could set the stage for as great a transformation as was precipitated by the assumption of a research function by universities at the beginning of this century. The dynamics involved, as universities actively try to integrate into the industrial technical system, nevertheless reveals limits to the university's current capability to directly contribute to this system.     

Multi-Path Reasoning in a Database

Rules have been used in a database context for several purposes:deductive database queries, active database triggers, and productionsystem programs. Exploring the search space for non-deterministicrule programs, however, has generally been available only in largemonolithic systems intended for artificial intelligence applications.The goal of this research is to provide multi-path reasoning fornon-deterministic rule programs in a database environment. Themotivation for this work includes the increasing use ofdatabase-style triggers to assist data-intensive applications, e.g.,the human genome project and the Intelligent Integration ofInformation (I ³) Program.A non-deterministic rule program is one where there is more than oneterminal state. Such programs are generally not consideredappropriate for database queries where the focus is on rules programsor techniques that guarantee a unique fixed point. Butnon-deterministic programs are commonly used for various heuristicsearch problems such as the traveling salesperson problem. With anon-deterministic program, it is particularly important to beflexible about the order in which the search space is exploredbecause exhaustive search is generally not feasible. Thecontributions of this research are: the representation of themulti-path search tree within a database and the ability for theproblem solver to control the search process for a non-deterministicrule program.     

Changes of hydrogen peroxide and radical-scavenging activity of raspberry during osmotic, convective, and freeze-drying

This study was conducted to investigate the influence of different drying treatments on antioxidant (AO) activity and phenolic content of raspberry (Rubus idaeus), cultivar Willamette. Whole raspberry fruits were dried convectively (air-drying), osmotically, and freeze-dried. Acetone-water extracts of fresh and dried raspberries were assessed for total phenolic content by standard Folin-Ciocalteau method. Two AO assays were applied, a recently developed direct current (DC) polarographic assay based on decrease of anodic oxidation current of hydrogen peroxide and widely used radical scavenge against the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). Strong correlation has been obtained between both AO assays and total phenolic content. In addition, some individual phenolic compounds present in raspberry have been assessed using DPPH and DC polarographic assay. Comparison and evaluation of drying methods has been based on preservation of AO activity and total phenolic content. Obtained results confirmed superiority of freeze-drying; convective drying caused slight changes while osmotic dehydration showed a significant decrease of phenolic compounds and AO activity.     

Scanning gate microscopy on graphene: charge inhomogeneity and extrinsic doping

We have performed scanning gate microscopy (SGM) on graphene field effect transistors (GFET) using a biased metallic nanowire coated with a dielectric layer as a contact mode tip and local top gate. Electrical transport through graphene at various back gate voltages is monitored as a function of tip voltage and tip position. Near the Dirac point, the response of graphene resistance to the tip voltage shows significant variation with tip position, and SGM imaging displays mesoscopic domains of electron-doped and hole-doped regions. Our measurements reveal substantial spatial fluctuation in the carrier density in graphene due to extrinsic local doping from sources such as metal contacts, graphene edges, structural defects and resist residues. Our scanning gate measurements also demonstrate graphene's excellent capability to sense the local electric field and charges.