Charles Harpur's reputation 1853 - 1858: The years of controversy

Between 1853 and 1858 there was a dramatic change in the literary reputation of Charles Harpur. Prior to 1853 Harpur had produced a volume of verse, Thoughts> A Series of Sonnets, and had been a regular contributor to various newspapers since 1833. There were, no doubt, minor disagreements as in the Ewing-Parkes-Milton controversy which occurred soon after Parkes' very warm appraisal of Harpur's slim volume, 1 but these were not major criticisms of the poet. 1853, however, began with the publication of Harpur's second volume and by 1858 Harpur had become the centre of one of the major literary controversies of the period. Moreover, much more fundamental questions relating not only to the intrinsic worth of Harpur as a poet but also to the overall direction of Australian literature began to be raised and discussed in earnest. This change in literary responses as it relates to Charles Harpur is one of the more interesting episodes of mid-nineteenth century Australian literary history and deserves a closer look

Lives in halves: A homage to Vidiadhar Naipaul

Literary and film scholar Vijay Mishra highlights the similarities of his life with Vidiadhar Naipaul, in paying tribute to writer V.S. Naipaul on being awarded the Nobel Prize in literature for 2001. He suggests that Naipaul has lived his life in halves, as part of the Indian diaspora in Fiji and then in Trinidad which he considers 'half-baked societies', but it is these societies which have provided him his experiences and stories for his books

Where do Australians invest?

The rapid increase in international capital flows is one of the most significant developments in the global economy in recent decades. International portfolio diversification brings potential benefits to investors by offering investors the opportunity to insulate their portfolios from domestic risks associated with a down turn in local asset prices. The Australian investment environment has been progressively liberalised beginning with the removal of foreign exchange controls in 1987, and the movement to a floating exchange rate regime, other milestones included opening up the banking sector to foreign competition. Until recently, data on the level and geographical pattern of international portfolio investment has been inadequate. In recognition of this fact the International Monetary Fund (IMF) commenced in the mid nineties a pioneering comprehensive survey of the geographic structure of the foreign portfolios (equity and long-term bonds). The first publication covered the 1997 position of foreign portfolios held by the residents of twenty-nine countries, including Australia (IMF 2000), data from a follow up survey relating to 2001 international portfolio holdings was made available in 2003. In this paper we analyse the Australian data reported in the surveys by providing an analysis of the geography of international portfolio investment (equity and long-term securities). We find that countries most open to trade and hence most vulnerable to external shocks tend to diversify more by holding a higher percentage of their portfolios in foreign assets, compared to other countries. Australia appears to be quite outward looking in its investment behaviour, suggesting that Australian investors recognise the advantages of international diversification. However, a cross country analysis of the pattern of international portfolio investment indicates that the Australian portfolio investment position is not proportional to the overall economic or financial market size of the destination countries global standing, but instead matches Australian trade patterns surprisingly closely, here the US is over represented in the case of Australia's international portfolio investment position. Does this reflect a preference for investing in countries made familiar by trade and other relations? If so, this portfolio may imply sub-optimal strategies by Australian investors

Theory of THz Conductivity in the Pseudogap Phase of the Cuprates: A Pre-Formed Pair Perspective

In this paper we deduce transport properties in the presence of a pseudogap associated with precursor superconductivity. Our theoretical analysis is based on the widely adopted self energy expression reflecting this normal state gap, which has appeared in interpretations of photoemission and in other experiments. Thus, it should be generally applicable. Here we address THz conductivity $\sigma (\omega) = \sigma_1(\omega) + i \sigma_2(\omega)$ measurements in the underdoped high temperature superconductors and arrive at reasonable agreement between theory and recent experiment for both $\sigma_1$ and $\sigma_2$ above and below $T_c$.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure