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  • Book cover of The clan Donald, by Angus and Archibald Macdonald
  • Book cover of REDUCE for Physicists
    N MacDonald

     · 2020

    The use of computer algebra systems in science and engineering has grown rapidly as more people realize their potential to solve tedious and extensive mathematical problems. REDUCE for Physicists provides a comprehensive introduction to one of the most widely available and simple to use computer algebra systems, focusing primarily on the needs of physicists. As a means of performing symbolic computation, REDUCE reduces tedious manual algebraic calculations and the dangers of casual errors. Each chapter introduces some aspects of REDUCE and illustrates them with applications from various branches of physics including mechanics, dynamics, dimensional analysis, quantum mechanics, and plasma physics. Emphasizing hands-on work with REDUCE to tackle real physical problems, the book includes exercises to test understanding throughout. Students and researchers in the physical sciences and engineering using REDUCE for the first time will find this book an invaluable aid to learning.

  • Book cover of Biological Delay Systems

    In studying the dynamics of populations, whether of animals, plants or cells, it is crucial to allow for delays such as those due to gestation, maturation or transport. This book deals with a fundamental question in the analysis of the effects of delays, namely whether they affect the stability of steady states.

  • Book cover of The Graffiti Subculture
    N. Macdonald

     · 2001

    This book is the most extensive contribution to our understanding of the graffiti subculture to date. Using insights from ethnographic research conducted in London and New York, the author explores the varying ways young men use graffiti to construct masculinity, claim power and establish independence from the institutions which define and often limit them as young people. Forging a link between subcultural practice and identity construction, this book will be essential reading for anyone interested in new understandings of youth and their subcultures.

  • Book cover of The Discourse of Security

    This book explores how language constructs the meaning and praxis of security in the 21st century. Combining the latest critical theories in poststructuralist and political philosophy with discourse analysis techniques, it uses corpus tools to investigate four collections of documents harvested from national and international security organisations. This interdisciplinary approach provides insights into the ways in which discourse has been mobilised to construct a strategic response to major terrorist attacks and geo-political events. The authors identify the way in which it is used to realize tactics of governmentality and form security as a discipline. This at once constructs a state of exception while also adhering to the principles of liberalism. This insightful study will be of particular interest to students and scholars of subjects such as applied linguistics, political science, security studies and international relations, with additional relevance to other areasincluding law, criminology, sociology and economics.

  • Book cover of Time Lags in Biological Models
    N. MacDonald

     · 2013

    In many biological models it is necessary to allow the rates of change of the variables to depend on the past history, rather than only the current values, of the variables. The models may require discrete lags, with the use of delay-differential equations, or distributed lags, with the use of integro-differential equations. In these lecture notes I discuss the reasons for including lags, especially distributed lags, in biological models. These reasons may be inherent in the system studied, or may be the result of simplifying assumptions made in the model used. I examine some of the techniques available for studying the solution of the equations. A large proportion of the material presented relates to a special method that can be applied to a particular class of distributed lags. This method uses an extended set of ordinary differential equations. I examine the local stability of equilibrium points, and the existence and frequency of periodic solutions. I discuss the qualitative effects of lags, and how these differ according to the choice of discrete or distributed lag. The models studied are drawn from the population dynamiCS of single species (logistic growth, the chemostat) and of interacting pairs of species (predation, mutualism), from cell population dynamiCS (haemopoiesis) and from biochemical kinetics (the Goodwin oscillator). The last chapter is devoted to a population model employing difference equations. All these models include non-linear terms.

  • Book cover of Trees and Networks in Biological Models
  • Book cover of Programming Principles Using Pascal

    Teaches the basic concepts and principles of computer programming and emphasizes the nature of data and control structures and the design of algorithms.

  • Book cover of Mararoko

    Mararoko describes the traditional and changing life of the South Kewa people of Papua New Guinea. Through discussion of story-telling, ritual performance and the power of pigs, the author suggests that an idiom of exchange integrates the various domains of Kewa cultural experience and provides a means of change. The work is accompanied by a collection of stories, historical accounts and songs.

  • Book cover of The Social Realities of Policing