Four years on: Are the gazelles still running? A longitudinal study of firm performance after a period of rapid growth

This article examines variations in performance between fast-growth – the so-called gazelle – firms. Specifically, we investigate how the level of growth affects future profitability and how this relationship is moderated by firm strategy. Hypotheses are developed regarding the moderated growth–profitability relationship and are tested using longitudinal data from a sample of 964 Danish gazelle firms. We find a positive relationship between growth and profitability among gazelle firms. This relationship is moderated, however, by market strategy; it is stronger for firms pursuing a broad market strategy rather than a niche strategy. This study contributes to the current literature by providing a more nuanced view of the growth–profitability relationship and investigating the potential for the future performance of gazelle firms.

Maintaining our rage: Inside Australia's longest-running music video program

This research presents an insider's account of rage, Australia's longest-running music video program. The research's significance is that there has been scarce scholarly analysis of this idiosyncratic ABC program, despite its longevity and uniqueness. The thesis takes a reflective and reflexive narrative journey across rage's decades, presenting the accounts of the program makers, aided by the perspective of an embedded researcher, the program's former Series Producer. This work addresses the rage research gap and contributes to the scholarly discussion on music video and its contexts, the ABC, public service broadcasting, creative labour, and the cultural sense-making of television producers.

Achilles tendon loading patterns during barefoot walking and slow running on a treadmill: An ultrasonic propagation study

Measurement of tendon loading patterns during gait is important for understanding the pathogenesis of tendon "overuse" injury. Given that the speed of propagation of ultrasound in tendon is proportional to the applied load, this study used a noninvasive ultrasonic transmission technique to measure axial ultrasonic velocity in the right Achilles tendon of 27 healthy adults (11 females and 16 males; age, 26 ± 9 years; height, 1.73 ± 0.07 m; weight, 70.6 ± 21.2 kg), walking at self-selected speed (1.1 ± 0.1 m/s), and running at fixed slow speed (2 m/s) on a treadmill. Synchronous measures of ankle kinematics, spatiotemporal gait parameters, and vertical ground reaction forces were simultaneously measured. Slow running was associated with significantly higher cadence, shorter step length, but greater range of ankle movement, higher magnitude and rate of vertical ground reaction force, and higher ultrasonic velocity in the tendon than walking (P < 0.05). Ultrasonic velocity in the Achilles tendon was highly reproducible during walking and slow running (mean within-subject coefficient of variation < 2%). Ultrasonic maxima (P1, P2) and minima (M1, M2) were significantly higher and occurred earlier in the gait cycle (P1, M1, and M2) during running than walking (P < 0.05). Slow running was associated with higher and earlier peaks in loading of the Achilles tendon than walking.

Running-in wear of a compression ignition engine: Factors influencing the conformance between cylinder liner and piston rings

The conformance between the liner and rings of an internal combustion engine depends mainly on their linear wear (dimensional loss) during running-in. Running-in wear studies, using the factorial design of experiments, on a compression ignition engine show that at certain dead centre locations of piston rings the linear wear of the cylinder liner increases with increase in the initial surface roughness of the liner. Rough surfaces wear rapidly without seizure during running-in to promote quick conformance, so an initial surface finish of the liner of 0.8 μm c.l.a. is recommended. The linear wear of the cast iron liner and rings decreases with increasing load but the mass wear increases with increasing load. This discrepancy is due to phase changes in the cast iron accompanied by dimensional growth at higher thermal loads. During running-in the growth of cast iron should be minimised by running the engine at an initial load for which the exhaust gas temperature is approximately 180 °C.

Running Men

In this multi-screen installation, iconic male characters from Hollywood films are reconfigured to create infinitely looping scenes of running; trapping the characters in a kind of Nietchzen eternal recurrence. Stemming primarily from my investigation into anxiety as a shared social experience, the carefully edited, looped, and rotoscoped characters become avatars or surrogates for myself, and for the viewer. Through this editing, they are caught in a space of relentless confusion and paranoia – they run with, and from, anxiety. They are never caught by any unseen pursuers, but are equally unable to catch up to any unseen goal. These figures act as models of masculinity, they are objects of identification and emulation. Simultaneously, as celebrities, they are also fictions of the media sphere, both real and ethereal, they are impossible to grasp. In this duality, the work also references cinema’s tangled conflation of character and celebrity identity. It examines the subjective and intersubjective engagements we can have with popular culture, and the way that these engagements can as strategies to ‘make sense’ of social experiences. The work was exhibited in the Carriageworks space of ‘You Imagine What You Desire’, the 19th Biennale of Sydney.

Running men: The precarious, paranoid body in screen culture

This paper discusses my video installation Running Men as an example of how an artist’s appropriative engagements with screen images of the perilous body can reflect the technological zeitgeist of the last hundred years but also create a space of meditative and mediated reflection in Slavoj Žižek’s “endlessness” of the present-future. In this artwork, iconic male characters from Hollywood films are recontextualised to create infinitely looping scenes of running; trapping the characters in a kind of Nietchzen eternal recurrence that suspends them between impending violence and uncertain futures. Stemming primarily from my investigation into anxiety as a shared social experience, one perhaps primed by the increasing intensity of visual culture in the 21st century, these digitally reconfigured bodies become avatars or surrogates for myself, and for the viewer. Through selective editing, these emblematic figures are caught in a space of relentless confusion and paranoia – they run with, and from anxiety. They are never caught by any unseen pursuers, but are equally unable to catch up to any unseen goal. These figures map an historical trajectory of violence and masculinity as it has been projected through various iterations of screen culture Simultaneously, as celebrities, they are also fictions of the media sphere, both real and ethereal, they are impossible to grasp but paradoxically are objects of identification and emulation. In this duality, the work also references cinema’s tangled conflation of character and celebrity identity. This discussion will address the two distinct but connected sites and activities of body/image engagement. Firstly, the artistic process and conceptual ramifications of this activity, and secondly in the artwork’s potential as an installation to provide an opportunity for the viewer (like the artist) to reflect on the constructed-ness and complicated power structures at play in the representation of a gendered body.

Dynamics of free-running, pump-modulated and coupled semiconductor and solid-state lasers

The output of a laser is a high frequency propagating electromagnetic field with superior coherence and brightness compared to that emitted by thermal sources. A multitude of different types of lasers exist, which also translates into large differences in the properties of their output. Moreover, the characteristics of the electromagnetic field emitted by a laser can be influenced from the outside, e.g., by injecting an external optical field or by optical feedback. In the case of free-running solitary class-B lasers, such as semiconductor and Nd:YVO4 solid-state lasers, the phase space is two-dimensional, the dynamical variables being the population inversion and the amplitude of the electromagnetic field. The two-dimensional structure of the phase space means that no complex dynamics can be found. If a class-B laser is perturbed from its steady state, then the steady state is restored after a short transient. However, as discussed in part (i) of this Thesis, the static properties of class-B lasers, as well as their artificially or noise induced dynamics around the steady state, can be experimentally studied in order to gain insight on laser behaviour, and to determine model parameters that are not known ab initio. In this Thesis particular attention is given to the linewidth enhancement factor, which describes the coupling between the gain and the refractive index in the active material. A highly desirable attribute of an oscillator is stability, both in frequency and amplitude. Nowadays, however, instabilities in coupled lasers have become an active area of research motivated not only by the interesting complex nonlinear dynamics but also by potential applications. In part (ii) of this Thesis the complex dynamics of unidirectionally coupled, i.e., optically injected, class-B lasers is investigated. An injected optical field increases the dimensionality of the phase space to three by turning the phase of the electromagnetic field into an important variable. This has a radical effect on laser behaviour, since very complex dynamics, including chaos, can be found in a nonlinear system with three degrees of freedom. The output of the injected laser can be controlled in experiments by varying the injection rate and the frequency of the injected light. In this Thesis the dynamics of unidirectionally coupled semiconductor and Nd:YVO4 solid-state lasers is studied numerically and experimentally.

Use of running fractal dimension for the analysis of changing patterns in electroencephalograms

Running fractal dimensions were measured on four channels of an electroencephalogram (EEG) recorded from a normal volunteer. The changes in the background activity due to eye closure were clearly differentiated by the fractal method. The compressed spectral array (CSA) and the running fractal dimensions of the EEG showed corresponding changes with respect to change in the background activity. The fractal method was also successful in detecting low amplitude spikes and the changes in the patterns in the EEG. The effects of different window lengths and shifts on the running fractal dimension have also been studied. The utility of fractal method for EEG data compression is highlighted.

Executing Long-running Multi-component Applications on Batch Grids

Computational grids are increasingly being used for executing large multi-component scientific applications. The most widely reported advantages of application execution on grids are the performance benefits, in terms of speeds, problem sizes or quality of solutions, due to increased number of processors. We explore the possibility of improved performance on grids without increasing the application’s processor space. For this, we consider grids with multiple batch systems. We explore the challenges involved in and the advantages of executing long-running multi-component applications on multiple batch sites with a popular multi-component climate simulation application, CCSM, as the motivation.We have performed extensive simulation studies to estimate the single and multi-site execution rates of the applications for different system characteristics.Our experiments show that in many cases, multiple batch executions can have better execution rates than a single site execution.

Middleware for Long-running Applications on Batch Grids. Student Research Symposium poster

Computational grids with multiple batch systems (batch grids) can be powerful infrastructures for executing long-running multicomponent parallel applications. In this paper, we have constructed a middleware framework for executing such long-running applications spanning multiple submissions to the queues on multiple batch systems. We have used our framework for execution of a foremost long-running multi-component application for climate modeling, the Community Climate System Model (CCSM). Our framework coordinates the distribution, execution, migration and restart of the components of CCSM on the multiple queues where the component jobs of the different queues can have different queue waiting and startup times.

Running neutrino mass from six dimensions

In the present talk, we will discuss a six dimensional mass generation for the neutrinos. The SM neutrinos live on a 3-brane and interact via a brane localised mass term with a Weyl singlet neutrino residing in all the six dimensions. We present the physical neutrino mass spectrum and show that the active neutrino mass and the KK masses have a logarithmic cut-off dependence at the tree level. This translates in to a renormalisation group running of n -masses above the KK compactification scale coming from classical effects without any SM particles in the spectrum.This could have effects in neutrinoless double beta decay experiments.

Large improvements in application throughput of long-running multi-component applications using batch grids

Computational grids with multiple batch systems (batch grids) can be powerful infrastructures for executing long-running multi-component parallel applications. In this paper, we evaluate the potential improvements in throughput of long-running multi-component applications when the different components of the applications are executed on multiple batch systems of batch grids. We compare the multiple batch executions with executions of the components on a single batch system without increasing the number of processors used for executions. We perform our analysis with a foremost long-running multi-component application for climate modeling, the Community Climate System Model (CCSM). We have built a robust simulator that models the characteristics of both the multi-component application and the batch systems. By conducting large number of simulations with different workload characteristics and queuing policies of the systems, processor allocations to components of the application, distributions of the components to the batch systems and inter-cluster bandwidths, we show that multiple batch executions lead to 55% average increase in throughput over single batch executions for long-running CCSM. We also conducted real experiments with a practical middleware infrastructure and showed that multi-site executions lead to effective utilization of batch systems for executions of CCSM and give higher simulation throughput than single-site executions. Copyright (c) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Forward-Running Detonation Drivers for High-Enthalpy Shock Tunnels

To improve the quality of driving flows generated with detonation-driven shock tunnels operated in the forward-running mode, various detonation drivers with specially designed sections were examined. Four configurations of the specially designed section, three with different converging angles and one with a cavity ring, were simulated by solving the Euler equations implemented with a pseudo kinetic reaction model. From the first three cases, it is observed that the reflection of detonation fronts at the converging wall results in an upstream-traveling shock wave that can increase the flow pressure that has decreased due to expansion waves, which leads to improvement of the driving flow. The configuration with a cavity ring is found to be more promising because the upstream-traveling shock wave appears stronger and the detonation front is less overdriven. Although pressure fluctuations due to shock wave focusing and shock wave reflection are observable in these detonation-drivers, they attenuate very rapidly to an acceptable level as the detonation wave propagates downstream. Based on the numerical observations, a new detonation-driven shock tunnel with a cavity ring is designed and installed for experimental investigation. Experimental results confirm the conclusion drawn from numerical simulations. The generated driving flow in this shock tunnel could maintain uniformity for as long as 4 ms. Feasibility of the proposed detonation driver for high-enthalpy shock tunnels is well demonstrated.