Projections and forecasts in Australia: The context
Despite the considerable expansion of demographic projection activity in Australia over the past two decades, comparatively little of this work has found its way into the academic literature. This issue of the Journal attempts to address this deficiency by bringing together six distinctive contributions on various aspects of demographic projections and forecasting. The present introductory paper describes the context of this work and provides an overview of the papers which follow.
Australian demography at the millennium
This paper looks backwards over the last ten years to see what topics might concern Australian demographers in the future. The possibility of convergence or ’sameness’ is considered, but not proven. The main areas considered are historical demography, mortality, fertility, marriage, fertility regulation, internal migration, international migration, human resources, ageing, forecasting, the family life cycle, policy, and gender.
Formation and Strength of Magnesia Whiskers
The formation of single-crystal magnesia whiskers during the compressive deformation of single crystals at room temperatures is described. These whiskers can have strengths of the order of millions of pounds per square inch. They are formed during fracture as a result of the discontinuous propagation of cracks which are mechanically relieving internal stresses resulting from plastic flow