A New Macroeconomic Time Series: Business Profitability in Twentieth-Century Australia

Macroeconomic time series, business profitability, Australia

Institution building and variation in the formation of the Australian wool market

The relocation of the wool market from London to the major Australian port cities from the late nineteenth century required the formation of an institution to govern the auction business, namely the wool brokers\u27 association. Regional variations, among Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, occurred in the structure and effectiveness of the institution despite each regional association having been formed around the same time, for the same purpose, and with an overlap of participating firms. We draw on institution theory to guide our account and find that the impact of legacy factors and differences in market conditions explain the regional variations

Australia: Settler capitalism sans doctrines

Capitalism, or the system of business, varies between countries since it is the product of both local conditions and the transmission of ideas and practices from abroad. Attempts to generalise about capitalism are therefore, fraught with difficulties. The isomorphic notion that business systems in all countries would gradually converge to a single preferred best practice overlooks the uniqueness of locality. The varieties of capitalism (VoC) literature distinguished two different business systems, liberal market economies and coordinated market economies. While this provided pluralism with no convergence, many countries do not fit easily or solely into either camp. There are further complications both with dynamics-over time aspects of a nation\u27s business system can change, and geographic unit there may be heterogeneity at the sub- or supra- national level such as one country two capitalisms

Graded junction termination extensions for electronic devices

A graded junction termination extension in a silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductor device and method of its fabrication using ion implementation techniques is provided for high power devices. The properties of silicon carbide (SiC) make this wide band gap semiconductor a promising material for high power devices. This potential is demonstrated in various devices such as p-n diodes, Schottky diodes, bipolar junction transistors, thyristors, etc. These devices require adequate and affordable termination techniques to reduce leakage current and increase breakdown voltage in order to maximize power handling capabilities. The graded junction termination extension disclosed is effective, self-aligned, and simplifies the implementation process

Improved state integrity of flip-flops for voltage scaled retention under PVT variation

Through measurements from 82 test chips, each with a state retention block of 8192 flip-flops, implemented using 65-nm design library, we demonstrate that state integrity of a flip-flop is sensitive to process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) variation. It has been found at 25?C that First Failure Voltage (FFV) of flip-flops varies from die to die, ranging from 245-mV to 315-mV, with 79% of total dies exhibiting single bit failure at FFV, while the rest show multi-bit failure. In terms of temperature variation, it has been found that FFV increases by up to 30-mV with increase in temperature from 25?C to 79?C, demonstrating its sensitivity to temperature variation. This work proposes a PVT-aware state-protection technique to ensure state integrity of flip-flops, while achieving maximum leakage savings. The proposed technique consists of characterization algorithm to determine minimum state retention voltage (MRV) of each die, and employs horizontal and vertical parity for error detection and single bit error correction. In case of error detection, it dynamically adjusts MRV per die to avoid subsequent errors. Silicon results show that at characterized MRV, flip-flop state integrity is preserved, while achieving up to 17.6% reduction in retention voltage across 82-dies

A taste of the deep-sea: The roles of gustatory and tactile searching behaviour in the grenadier fish <i>Coryphaenoides armatus</i>

The deep-sea grenadier fishes (Coryphaenoides spp.) are among the dominant predators and scavengers in the ocean basins that cover much of Earth's surface. Baited camera experiments were used to study the behaviour of these fishes. Despite the apparent advantages of rapidly consuming food, grenadiers attracted to bait spend a large proportion of their time in prolonged periods of non-feeding activity. Video analysis revealed that fish often adopted a head-down swimming attitude (mean of 21.3 degrees between the fish and seafloor), with swimming velocity negatively related to attitude. The fish also swam around and along vertical and horizontal structures of the lander with their head immediately adjacent to the structure. We initially hypothesised that this behaviour was associated with the use of the short chin barbel in foraging. Barbel histology showed numerous taste buds in the skin, and a barbel nerve with about 20,000 axons in adult fish. A tracing experiment in one undamaged animal revealed the termination fields of the barbel neurons in the trigeminal and rhombencephalic regions, indicating both a mechanoreceptory and a gustatory role for the barbel. Our conclusion was that olfactory foraging becomes ineffective at close ranges and is followed by a search phase using tactile and gustatory sensing by the barbel. The development of this sensory method probably co-evolved alongside behavioural changes in swimming mechanics to allow postural stability at low swimming speeds

Targeting the undruggable in pancreatic cancer using nano-based gene silencing drugs

Pancreatic cancer is predicted to be the second leading cause of cancer-related death by 2025. The best chemotherapy only extends survival by an average of 18 weeks. The extensive fibrotic stroma surrounding the tumor curbs therapeutic options as chemotherapy drugs cannot freely penetrate the tumor. RNA interference (RNAi) has emerged as a promising approach to revolutionize cancer treatment. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) can be designed to inhibit the expression of any gene which is important given the high degree of genetic heterogeneity present in pancreatic tumors. Despite the potential of siRNA therapies, there are hurdles limiting their clinical application such as poor transport across biological barriers, limited cellular uptake, degradation, and rapid clearance. Nanotechnology can address these challenges. In fact, the past few decades have seen the conceptualization, design, pre-clinical testing and recent clinical approval of a RNAi nanodrug to treat disease. In this review, we comment on the current state of play of clinical trials evaluating siRNA nanodrugs and review pre-clinical studies investigating the efficacy of siRNA therapeutics in pancreatic cancer. We assess the physiological barriers unique to pancreatic cancer that need to be considered when designing and testing new nanomedicines for this disease

Il monastero benedettino di S. Giorgio in Braida a Verona: nuove prospettive di ricerca sulla rifabbrica romanica (sec. XII)

L’attuale aspetto rinascimentale della chiesa di San Giorgio in Braida è frutto di una serie di interventi promossi dai canonici veneziani di San Giorgio in Alga a partire dalla fine del XV secolo. Il monastero benedettino, tuttavia, fu fondato nella metà dell’XI secolo e completamente ricostruito fra il terzo e il quarto decennio del secolo successivo per volere del vescovo Bernardo. L’articolo ripercorre le vicende storiche dell’istituzione in età medievale e rende nota l’esistenza di alcune parti della compagine romanica tuttora inedite, che permettono d’inserire il cantiere di San Giorgio in Braida nel contesto delle coeve manifestazioni architettoniche veronesi