Where Do Flappers Fit In?: The Photography of Modern Fashion in Australia

The visual technique of fashion photography is examined which taught Australian women to look modern. Especially fashion photography intervenes ambivalently into the story of Australian modernism and modernity. During 1920s and 1930s within the fashion press there were synergies and differences between commercial fashion photography, celebrity and cinematic portraiture, and social set endorsement. However, modernism was widely acknowledged in Australia during the 1920s through women's spaces, their fashions and culture of department stores.

Fighting fit: thermal plasticity of metabolic function and fighting success in the crayfish Cherax destructor

1. We examined the effect of thermal acclimation on fighting success and underlying performance traits in the crayfish Cherax destructor. We tested the hypothesis that animals will be more successful when fighting at their acclimation temperature than at a colder or warmer temperature, and that changes in metabolic capacity underlie differences in behavioural performance. 2. Thermal acclimation (to 20 degrees C and to 30 degrees C) had a significant effect on behavioural contests, and the likelihood of winning was significantly greater when individuals fought at their acclimation temperature against an individual from an alternate acclimation temperature. 3. The ratio of ADP stimulated respiration to proton leak (respiratory control ratio) of isolated mitochondria increased significantly in chelae muscle of the cold-acclimated group, and differences in respiratory control ratio between winners and losers were significantly correlated with the outcome of agonistic encounters. However, acclimation did not affect tall muscle mitochondria or the activity of pyruvate kinase in either chelae or tail muscle. 4. The force produced by closing chelae was thermally insensitive within acclimation groups, and there were no significant differences between acclimation treatments. None the less, differences in chelae width between contestants were significantly correlated with the outcome of agonistic encounters, but this perceived resource holding power did not reflect the actual power of force production. 5. Thermal acclimation in C destructor has beneficial consequences for dominance and competitive ability, and the success of cold acclimated animals at the cold temperatures can be at least partly explained by concomitant up-regulation of oxidative ATP production capacity.

Simplified recording of soft contact lens fit

Purpose: To determine the critical fitting characteristics of modern soft contact lens fits and from this to devise a simplified recording scheme. Methods: Ten subjects (aged 28.1 ± 7.4 years) wore eight different modern soft contact lenses. Video was captured and analysed of blink (central and up-gaze), excursion lag (up, down, right and left gaze) and push-up movement, centration and coverage. Results: Lens centration was on average close to the corneal centre. Movement on blink was significantly smaller in up-gaze than in primary-gaze (p<0.001). Lag was greatest in down-gaze and least in up-gaze (p<0.001). Push-up test recovery speed was 1.32±0.73mm/s. Overall lens movement was determined best by assessing horizontal lag, movement on blink in up-gaze and push-up recovery speed. Steeper lens base-curves did not have a significant effect on lens fit characteristics. Contact lens material did influence lens fit characteristics, particularly silicone-hydrogels which generally had lower centration and a faster push-up speed of recovery than HEMA lenses (p<0.05). Conclusion: Lag on vertical gaze, and movement on blink in primary gaze generally provide little extra information on overall lens movement compared to horizontal lag, movement on blink in up gaze and push-up recovery speed. They can therefore be excluded from a simplified recording scheme. A simplified and comprehensive soft contact lens fit recording system could consist of a cross-hairs indicating the centre of the cornea; a circle to indicate the lens centration; a mark on the relevant position of the circle to indicate any limbal incursion; a grade (‘B’) below for movement with blink in up-gaze, a grade (‘L’) to the side for horizontal lag and a grade above (‘P’) for the assessed push-up recovery speed.

The influence of corneoscleral topography on soft contact lens fit

To evaluate the influence of peripheral ocular topography, as evaluated by optical coherence tomography (OCT), compared with traditional measures of corneal profile using keratometry and videokeratoscopy, on soft contact lens fit.

Stock index reaction to large price changes:evidence frommajor Asian stock indexes

We examine the short-term price behavior of ten Asian stock market indexes following large price changes or “shocks”. Under the standard OLS regression, there is stronger support for return continuations particularly following positive and negative price shocks of less than 10% in absolute size. The results under the GJR-GARCH method provide stronger support for market efficiency, especially for large price shocks. For example, for the Hong Kong stock index, negative shocks of less than -5% but more than -10% generate a significant one day cumulative abnormal return (CAR) of-0.754% under the OLS method, but an insignificant CAR of 0.022% under the GJR-GARCH. We find no support for the uncertainty information hypothesis. Furthermore, the CARs following the period after the Asian financial crisis adjust more quickly to price shocks.

Stochastic volatility and the goodness-of-fit of the Heston model

Recently, Drǎgulescu and Yakovenko proposed an analytical formula for computing the probability density function of stock log returns, based on the Heston model, which they tested empirically. Their research design inadvertently favourably biased the fit of the data to the Heston model, thus overstating their empirical results. Furthermore, Drǎgulescu and Yakovenko did not perform any goodness-of-fit statistical tests. This study employs a research design that facilitates statistical tests of the goodness-of-fit of the Heston model to empirical returns. Robustness checks are also performed. In brief, the Heston model outperformed the Gaussian model only at high frequencies and even so does not provide a statistically acceptable fit to the data. The Gaussian model performed (marginally) better at medium and low frequencies, at which points the extra parameters of the Heston model have adverse impacts on the test statistics. © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group Ltd.

Malmquist indexes using a geometric distance function (GDF)

Traditional approaches to calculate total factor productivity change through Malmquist indexes rely on distance functions. In this paper we show that the use of distance functions as a means to calculate total factor productivity change may introduce some bias in the analysis, and therefore we propose a procedure that calculates total factor productivity change through observed values only. Our total factor productivity change is then decomposed into efficiency change, technological change, and a residual effect. This decomposition makes use of a non-oriented measure in order to avoid problems associated with the traditional use of radial oriented measures, especially when variable returns to scale technologies are to be compared.

Malmquist indexes using a geometric distance function (GDF):application to a sample of Portuguese bank branches

Traditional approaches to calculate total factor productivity (TFP) change through Malmquist indexes rely on distance functions. In this paper we show that the use of distance functions as a means to calculate TFP change may introduce some bias in the analysis, and therefore we propose a procedure that calculates TFP change through observed values only. Our total TFP change is then decomposed into efficiency change, technological change, and a residual effect. This decomposition makes use of a non-oriented measure in order to avoid problems associated with the traditional use of radial oriented measures, especially when variable returns to scale technologies are to be compared. The proposed approach is applied in this paper to a sample of Portuguese bank branches.