Establishment of an Australian mild onion industry - the sensory component

In recent years, there has been increasing interest from growers, merchants, supermarkets and consumers in the establishment of a national mild onion industry. Imperative to the success of the emergent industry is the application of the National Mild Onion Certification Scheme that will establish standards and recommendations to be met by growers to allow them to declare their product as certified mild onions. The use of sensory evaluation techniques has played an imperative role throughout the project timeline that has also included varietal evaluation, evaluation of current agronomic practices and correlation of chemical analysis data. Raw onion consumer acceptance testing on five different onion varieties established preferences amongst the varieties for odour, appearance, flavour, texture and overall and differences in the level of pungency and aftertaste perceived. Demographic information was obtained regarding raw and cooked onion use, frequency of consumption and responses to the idea of a mild, less pungent onion. Additionally, focus groups were conducted to further investigate consumer attitudes to onions. Currently, a trained onion panel is being established to evaluate several odour, flavour and aftertaste attributes. Sample assessments will be conducted in January 2004 and correlated with chemical analyses that will hopefully provide the corner-stone for the anticipated Certification Scheme.

Familiengeschichte und Lebenserinnerungen 1800-1937

Genealogy reaching back to his great-grandparents in 18th century; history of the family's wine business until its liquidation in 1931; primary and secondary education; military service; activities in various associations; president of the "Israelitische Oberkirchenbehoerde" (Federation of Wuerttemberg Jewish communities); information about Stuttgart Jewish community.

To Greta: The Biography of Kurt Tauber 1914-1995

The memoir contains poems, eulogies and family photos and was written in 1995 in Connecticut. Recollections of the author's childhood in an orthodox Jewish family in the Leopoldstadt, the second district in Vienna. He was the third of four children. His father was a businessman who was dealing with clothing and textile. Kurt was enrolled in the same class as his older brother Hans at Gymnasium. Memories of his Bar Mitzvah celebration. Cello lessons and concerts with his brother Hans. After graduation Kurt started to study medicine at the Anatomic Institute of Julius Tandler at the Vienna University. Member of the liberal medical students' union "Wiener Mediziner". Acquaintance with his future-wife Greta. Skiing trip in the mountains. Antisemitic attacks at University, particularly within the faculties of law and medicine. Arrest under the false accusation of distributing illegal literature. In January 1938 Greta and Kurt Tauber were married. Worsening of political situation and rising of the illegal Nazi movement in Austria. Recollections of the "Anschluss" (Nazi take-over) in March 1938. Affidavit for Greta and Kurt from her brother in the United States. In June 1938 they went to London, where they waited for their visas to the US. Fervent attempts to arrange exit permits for their families in Vienna. Greta and Kurt Tauber arrived in New York in October of 1938. Difficult start at the beginning. Kurt started to work in a bakery. Greta and Kurt moved to a small apartment in the Lower East Side. Move to Queens with Greta's parents. Kurt's parents arrived in 1940 and moved to Washington Heights. Kurt and Greta started a baking business in Kew Gardens, Queens. Birth of their daughters Judy in 1941 and Ellen in 1944. Recollections of Passover family celebrations and vacations in the mountains and at Fleischmann's in the Catskills. Description of business encounters and family events, such as the birth of their grandchildren. Journey to Israel. Retirement and

Familienerinnerungen. Ein Fragment 1790-1913

History of the family of Isak Mirabeau (born 1840); his maternal grandfather Isak Henle was the first Jew to receive civic rights in Hall (Wuerttemberg); his paternal grandfather came from Olnhausen (Wuerttemberg); he was a hops and wool merchant; he became wealthy as a supplier for the French army, and entered the banking business; notes on Jewish history in 19th century Wuerttemberg; contains also instructions to his son for the case of his death (does not have to say kaddish).

Memoirs : Heida Hermanns Holde /

The author's mother Alice Goldschmidt was a gifted piano player, who studied with Carl Maria Breithaupt and became his most talented student. Childhood recollections. Early musical awakening. Outbreak of World War One. Recollections of air raids and scarceness of food. Inflation and political instability in post-war Germany. Piano lessons by her mother from an early age. Heida made her debut at age fourteen with the Wiesbaden Symphony under the conductor Carl Schuricht, who became a close mentor and friend. Close relationship to her mother, who had a great influence on her professional career. Heida had a number of outstanding teachers, among them Artur Schnabel, Karl Leimer and Egon Petri. Heida was accepted as a student of Petri at the "Hochschule fuer Musik" in Berlin, where she studied between 1922-1925. Salon at her aunt's house with guests such as the playwright Georg Kaiser and Siegfried Wagner. Her sister Elsie received her Ph.D. in economics and moved to Berlin as well. Heida graduated from the "Hochschule" in 1925. Soon after she won an international piano competition in Berlin. Engagements with various conductors such as Max Fiedler and Otto Klemperer. Private lessons with Arthur Schnabel and Carl Friedberg, the co-founder of Juilliard. Due to occasional experiences of antisemitism during her music career Heida decided to change her name from Goldschmidt to Hermanns. Position at the "Hoch Conservatory" in Frankfurt. Encounter with the music critic Artur Holde, Heida's future-husband. Engagement and wedding in 1932. Move to Berlin.

We are what we eat: The demise of the ethical grocery shopper

In 1954, American consumer behaviour academic, Gregory Stone identified four different types of consumers. Consisting of 150 in-depth interviews, Stone’s research found there was an “economic” shopper, who was after bargains, a “personalising” shopper, who liked interaction with staff, and an “apathetic” shopper, who was disillusioned and unengaged in shopping activity. Then there was the “ethical” grocery shopper – consumers who demonstrated a moral obligation to patronise local merchants, purchase locally produced products and felt the need to “shop where they ought to”. This ethical shopper was willing to sacrifice lower prices, convenience and range, in order to “help the little guys out”.The idea of the ethical shopper has since taken hold in mainstream retailing. But my new research has suggested that socially responsible consumption may be a thing of the past.

Hendricks-Tobias business correspondence undated, 1802-1889

The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence to Hendricks & Brothers, 1833[?]-1851. Also included are business cards from various Hendricks-Tobias family enterprises, correspondence to Harmon Hendricks, and correspondence to several members of the Tobias family. The collection is arranged in four series. See finding aid for more information.

Lion Eppenstein Collection (Lublinitz) 1798-1980

Documents pertaining to the protected Jew Lion Eppenstein in Berlin; 1798-1813

E-book monopolies and the law

This article will examine the legality of the digital rights management (‘DRM’) measures used by the major e-book publishers and device manufacturers in the United States, European Union and Australia not only to enforce their intellectual property rights but also to create monopolistic content silos, restrict interoperability and affect the ability for users to use the content they have bought in the way they wish. The analysis will then proceed to the recent competition investigations in the US and EU over price-fixing in e-book markets, and the current litigation against Amazon in the US for an alleged abuse of its dominant position. A final point will be made on possible responses in Australia to these issues taking into account the jurisprudence on DRM in other scenarios.

Trade Liberalization, Heterogeneous Firms and Industrial Dynamics

This master thesis studies how trade liberalization affects the firm-level productivity and industrial evolution. To do so, I built a dynamic model that considers firm-level productivity as endogenous to investigate the influence of trade on firm’s productivity and the market structure. In the framework, heterogeneous firms in the same industry operate differently in equilibrium. Specifically, firms are ex ante identical but heterogeneity arises as an equilibrium outcome. Under the setting of monopolistic competition, this type of model yields an industry that is represented not by a steady-state outcome, but by an evolution that rely on the decisions made by individual firms. I prove that trade liberalization has a general positive impact on technological adoption rates and hence increases the firm-level productivity. Besides, this endogenous technology adoption model also captures the stylized facts: exporting firms are larger and more productive than their non-exporting counterparts in the same sector. I assume that the number of firms is endogenous, since, according to the empirical literature, the industrial evolution shows considerably different patterns across countries; some industries experience large scale of firms’ exit in the period of contracting market shares, while some industries display relative stable number of firms or gradually increase quantities. The special word “shakeout” is used to describe the dramatic decrease in the number of firms. In order to explain the causes of shakeout, I construct a model where forward-looking firms decide to enter and exit the market on the basis of their state of technology. In equilibrium, firms choose different dates to adopt innovation which generate a gradual diffusion process. It is exactly this gradual diffusion process that generates the rapid, large-scale exit phenomenon. Specifically, it demonstrates that there is a positive feedback between firm’s exit and adoption, the reduction in the number of firms increases the incentives for remaining firms to adopt innovation. Therefore, in the setting of complete information, this model not only generates a shakeout but also captures the stability of an industry. However, the solely national view of industrial evolution neglects the importance of international trade in determining the shape of market structure. In particular, I show that the higher trade barriers lead to more fragile markets, encouraging the over-entry in the initial stage of industry life cycle and raising the probability of a shakeout. Therefore, more liberalized trade generates more stable market structure from both national and international viewpoints. The main references are Ederington and McCalman(2008,2009).

Monopoly Price Discrimination and Demand Curvature

Published as an article in: American Economic Review, 2010, vol. 100, issue 4, pages 1601-15.

"Con casa, familia y domicilio". Mercaderes extranjeros en Guipúzcoa durante la Edad Moderna

[ES] El presente trabajo analiza la presencia de mercaderes extranjeros en Guipúzcoa durante los siglos XVI al XVIII. Comerciantes, procedentes de países como Portugal, Francia, Inglaterra, Flandes, Alemania, etc., que durante la Edad Moderna recalaron y se establecieron en los puertos guipuzcoanos, con la mirada puesta en el acceso a los mercados españoles y coloniales. Trata, por tanto, de analizar el método utilizado para asentarse y establecerse en los principales puertos guipuz- coanos, sobre todo en San Sebastián, y las dificultades experimentadas. En definitiva, se intenta profundizar en las estrategias utilizadas por cada uno de ellos para lograr la integración social y el disfrute de los privilegios a los que tienen acceso los naturales.

La Guerra de la Convención, la separación de Guipúzcoa y los comerciantes vasco-franceses y bearneses

[ES] El intento de separación de Guipúzcoa de la Corona española durante la Guerra de la Convención (1793-1795) es un asunto en el que se vio implicado un numeroso grupo de comerciantes vascofranceses y bearneses, residentes en San Sebastián desde hacía tiempo. Los estudiosos han explicado su impli- cación desde parámetros ideológicos y políticos. Sin embargo, existió tam- bién un componente económico y familiar, que tuvo más peso que el resto de factores. Es precisamente este componente el objeto de estudio del presente artículo.

Discrepancias en el seno de la burguesía guipuzcoana en torno a la libertad de comercio y el traslado de aduanas durante los siglos XVIII y XIX

[ES] El objetivo del presente artículo es demostrar y analizar las discrepancias que hubo en el seno de la burguesía guipuzcoana durante los siglos XVIII y XIX en torno a la habilitación de los puertos guipuzcoanos para el comercio directo con América y el traslado de aduanas desde el interior a la costa. Para ello, se acude a la extensa historiografía que se ha ocupado del tema y se hace un análisis crítico de cierto número de representaciones enviadas por el grupo de comerciantes disidentes, con el fin de llevar a cabo un reco- rrido por el debate en torno a ambas cuestiones, que se prolongó desde el advenimiento de la dinastía borbónica hasta los decretos de 1841. A pesar de la visión unívoca que se ha dado del mencionado debate, según la cual parti- ciparon dos bloques perfectamente diferenciados, la documentación muestra una mayor heterogeneidad en las posturas, de manera que en el seno de la burguesía comercial se perciben ciertas divisiones y discrepancias. Si bien es cierto que en un principio los bloques parecen tener un discurso claramente beligerante, aunque también existen todavía puntos de coincidencia, a medi- da que transcurre el tiempo, las posturas se van radicalizando y diversifi- cando, creando una mayor heterogeneidad.

A manifestação da fé em Cachoeira Paulista: o espaço sagrado da comunidade Canção Nova 1978-2011

A geografia da religião no Brasil pós 1990, vem apresentando temas que auxiliam os geógrafos no entendimento do espaço. Para o geógrafo da religião, os estudos têm por análise a dimensão espacial da fé, no tempo e no espaço, trata-se da análise de duas categorias: o sagrado e o profano. Esta pesquisa visa como objetivo, o estudo da comunidade católica, a Canção Nova, inserida em um movimento renovador na Igreja Católica Apostólica Romana denominada Renovação Carismática Católica (RCC) em seu espaço e no tempo de fé. Torna-se necessário desenvolver a importância do sagrado no Vale do Paraíba Paulista em seus sucessivos (re) arranjos espaciais na hierópolis de Cachoeira Paulista. A interpretação dessas organizações espaciais ocorreu ao analisar os possíveis agentes modeladores no espaço: peregrinos, turistas, visitantes, comerciantes e moradores. O Espaço Sagrado e seus respectivos espaços vinculados representaram a contribuição geográfica dessa dissertação e facilitou a compreensão do homem com o divino e sua relação na dimensão econômica, a dimensão política e a dimensão do lugar.