Residential auction clearance rates – what do they really mean?

The residential market in Melbourne is often referred to as the &lsquo;auction capital of the world&rsquo; with approximately 30-35% of housing transfers undertaken via the auction process, most of which are conducted on the weekend and then reported in the media the following day. The most quoted measurement of auction success is via the clearance rate which simply indicates the proportion of signed contracts of sale within the auction process. At the same time the clearance rate can have a relatively large variance where the residential market can traditionally range from very good (i.e. a high clearance rate) to very poor (i.e. a low clearance rate). The subsequent effect on the market can directly increase or decrease demand, predominantly based only on this single measure of the perceived level of auction clearance rates only.This paper examines the concept of the auction clearance rates and the heavy reliance on the only one measure of success (i.e. the clearance rates), regardless of other variables. The emphasis is placed on the auction clearance rate as one measure of demand in the housing market but within the context of the definition of market value i.e. willing buyer-willing seller. This is supported by a discussion about other variables including the asking price, the auction process itself, marketing considerations and seasonal adjustments. The findings provide an insight into how to correctly interpret the auction clearance rate in the context of the overall supply-demand interactions. Whilst the auction process is clearly an integral part of the residential transfer process it is essential that the auction clearance rate is used with caution and also in conjunction with other variables.<br /

Butterflies and Moths of Peru

The Order Lepidoptera is one of the most widely recognized orders in the world, it includes butterflies and moths and composes 10% of all described species on the planet. Butterflies and moths have an important role as pollinators, food sources and biological indicators of ecosystem health. Peru is a megadiverse country with the most butterfly species in the world, making it an excellent place to study Lepidoptera species richness and moth diversity. Diversity is indicative of ecosystem health, as these species play a vital role in the ecosystem as pollinators and a food source for other species. Traditionally, species richness of a geographic location would be collected from literature or museum inventory, however, citizen science apps like iNaturalist make species identification simpler and easily accessible. Images of moths, butterflies, and caterpillars in the Madre de Dios region were uploaded to iNaturalist and a list of species was compiled

Some Electronic Properties of ZnO and SrTiO^3

The surface barrier systems consisting of gold and palladium on both chemically prepared and cleaved zinc oxide have been studied in detail. Surface barrier energies on non-degenerate chemically prepared zinc oxide were found to be 0.66 and 0.60 eV respectively for gold and palladium, as determined by four independent methods: photoresponse, current-voltage characteristics, thermal activation energy, and capacitance variation with voltage. The Bethe diode theory as modified by image force lowering was found to be an excellent description of the voltage-current characteristics. Thermionic field and pure tunneling currents were observed for surface barriers on degenerate zinc oxide at room and liquid nitrogen temperatures, respectively. The voltage dependence of these currents was in excellent agreement with the thermionic field and tunneling theories. Although dependence on impurity concentration was functionally in agreement with theory the predicted currents were too high by an order of magnitude. This effect is attributed to deficiencies in the theory. The second material investigated was strontium titanate. The surface barrier systems consisting of gold, palladium, copper, and indium on both chemically prepared and cleaved single crystal strontium titanate were examined in detail. Surface barrier energies were determined, and the current versus voltage characteristics were examined in light of Bethe diode theory as modified by image force lowering. The relative permittivity of strontium titanate was determined over a temperature range from 4.2°K to 300°K as a function of applied electrical bias. No evidence of a ferroelectric transition was observed. A phenomonological description of the free energy involved in the titanium atom motion, which is responsible for the large relative permittivity, was derived. Evidence for domain interaction is discussed.</p

Micromagnetic and Structural Studies of CoPtCr Longitudinal Recording Media

The work presented in this thesis is a study of the micromagnetic structure of inductive and magnetoresistive playback CoPtCr longitudinal recording media. Through the use of Lorentz electron microscopy the magnetic structure of the recorded bits can be viewed directly

Continental breakup and UHP rock exhumation in action: GPS results from the Woodlark Rift, Papua New Guinea

We show results from a network of campaign Global Positioning System (GPS) sites in the Woodlark Rift, southeastern Papua New Guinea, in a transition from seafloor spreading to continental rifting. GPS velocities indicate anticlockwise rotation (at 2–2.7°/Myr, relative to Australia) of crustal blocks north of the rift, producing 10–15 mm/yr of extension in the continental rift, increasing to 20–40 mm/yr of seafloor spreading at the Woodlark Spreading Center. Extension in the continental rift is distributed among multiple structures. These data demonstrate that low-angle normal faults in the continents, such as the Mai'iu Fault, can slip at high rates nearing 10 mm/yr. Extensional deformation observed in the D'Entrecasteaux Islands, the site of the world's only actively exhuming Ultra-High Pressure (UHP) rock terrane, supports the idea that extensional processes play a critical role in UHP rock exhumation. GPS data do not require significant interseismic coupling on faults in the region, suggesting that much of the deformation may be aseismic. Westward transfer of deformation from the Woodlark Spreading Center to the main plate boundary fault in the continental rift (the Mai'iu fault) is accommodated by clockwise rotation of a tectonic block beneath Goodenough Bay, and by dextral strike slip on transfer faults within (and surrounding) Normanby Island. Contemporary extension rates in the Woodlark Spreading Center are 30–50% slower than those from seafloor spreading-derived magnetic anomalies. The 0.5 Ma to present seafloor spreading estimates for the Woodlark Basin may be overestimated, and a reevaluation of these data in the context of the GPS rates is warranted