TIME SERIES ANALYSIS OF U.S.-EAST ASIA COMMODITY TRADE, 1962-1992

We examine the composition of bilateral trade between the United States and each of eight Asian Pacific economies from 1962 to 1992. Two complementary time series analyses of individual commodities at the SITC four-digit level indicate that significant change occurred in trade composition during this period. For the eight bilateral trade relationships, commodities representing from fifty to seventy percent of 1992 dollar trade volume have shown statistically significant change in the magnitude and, in some cases, in the direction of net trade balance, over the thirty-year period. Results support the conclusion that changes in trade patterns in both low-tech industries, such as textiles and clothing, and more high-tech industries, such as electronic parts and electronic goods were important in these so-called Asian tigers as their economies advanced. Keywords: international trade flows, time series, ADF, KPSS, trends, economic development JEL Codes: F02, F14, F17, O14international trade flows, time series, ADF, KPSS, trends, economic development

Making connections in science: engaging with ICT to enhance curriculum understanding

The “Teaching Teachers for the Future” (TTF) project (DEEWR, 2012) provided the La Trobe University School of Education with the opportunity to rethink the integration of Information and Communication Technology in the science curriculum subjects offered in their teacher education programs. The La Trobe University iteration of the Teaching Teachers for the Future (TTF) project focused initially on subject in the second semester, third year of the Bachelor of Education course called the Multi-Disciplinary Science & Technology Integrated Experience (MSTIE). Two pairs of pre-service teachers were placed in the school where the TTF ICT Pedagogy Officer (ICTPO) worked as an ICT specialist. The two teams worked with classroom teachers and the ICTPO to cooperatively plan, teach and evaluate a science curriculum project enhanced by strong ICT integration. The experience was a catalyst for significant educational insight, for the students involved, but also for other pre-service teachers and teachers from the school and university. In the second cycle of the project the ICTPO worked with academics from the university to draw on findings from the first cycle in order to design and implement integrated ICT initiatives in a first semester, second year Science curriculum subject. This structure means that students who will take MSTIE in their third year will have a strong foundation of Science ICT integration on which to base their MSTIE preparation and implementation. &nbsp

Power Balance in the ITER Plasma and Divertor

It is planned to use atomic processes to spread out most of the heating power over the first wall and side walls to reduce the heat loads on the plasma facing components in ITER to ~ 50 MW. Calculations indicate that there will be 100 MW in bremstrahlung radiation from the plasma center, 50 MW of radiation from the plasma edge inside the separatrix and 100 MW of radiation from the scrape-off layer and divertor plasma, leaving 50 MW of power to be deposited on the divertor plates. The radiation losses are enhanced by the injection of impurities such as Neon or Argon at acceptably low levels (~0.1 % Argon, etc.)Comment: Preprint for the Plasma Edge Theory Conference, Monterey, Dec.4-6, 1995, 5 pages, gzipped postscrip

Subsidiary Entrepreneurship: an Exploratory Study

This is a study of subsidiary entrepreneurship. In recent years entrepreneurship has been promoted by academics, practitioners and governmental agencies as a panacea for subsidiary managers as they attempt to sustain and grow their subsidiaries. The research question that underpins this works relates to the transposition of the concept of entrepreneurship into large nature business units of multinational corporations (MNC). Drawing on four case studies of subsidiary managers who invoke the discourse of entrepreneurship to make sense of their managerial behaviour, this study examines the difference between entrepreneurship and subsidiary entrepreneurship. There are two key findings. Firstly subsidiary entrepreneurship is markedly different from entrepreneurship, as it is classically understood. It is broader, more complex and encompasses activities such as outsourcing, intra-organisational competition and power politics. Furthermore it draws on the discourse of innovation and change management in large organisations. The second key finding is that subsidiary entrepreneurship is a meaningful concept for subsidiary managers, the academics that research them and the governmental agencies that support them. It pithily identifies and describes the practice of a proactive form of management in subsidiaries. In doing so it has become a compelling tool for managers and governmental agencies as they seek to sustain and develop subsidiaries

The experience of emotional distress and help-seeking for distress in families living with advanced cancer and receiving palliative care: a multi-perspective case study approach

The emotional impact of serious illness in families is recognised. To enhance well-being in families living we must understand how distress is experienced within families; from this, evidenced-based systemic distress interventions can be derived. However, the success of systemic intervention programmes is reliant on whether families will seek help (or not) for distress. This PhD by publication explores emotional distress and help-seeking in families living with advanced cancer. Papers one and two used systematic review techniques. Paper one evidenced distress as a systemic construct and proposes the tiered model of distress to convey current understandings. Paper two offers the attaining normality model to convey why some people seek help for distress to achieve a new normality whereas some choose not to seek help to maintain normality. Together, these papers evidence gaps in systemic understandings of distress and help-seeking; from this an exploratory cross-sectional multiple case study of families was proposed. Papers three and four provided methodological underpinning to this research through the development of the DESCARTE model: The Design of Case Study Research in Healthcare (paper three) used in the case study design; paper four reflects on multi-perspective interviewing methods used. Distress and help-seeking are conceived as systemic relational phenomena, occurring within the family system and arising from relational interaction with healthcare. Distress is conveyed through four themes: interdependent distress, living in uncertainty, unnecessary distress and oscillatory distress; from this, possible systemic intervention designs are offered (paper five). Non-help-seeking for distress was the predominant response in families. The mutuality model of help-seeking is proposed to synthesise current understandings (paper six). Families describe how healthcare interactions cause unnecessary distress and shapes families’ help-seeking behaviours. Findings indicate significant gaps between the rhetoric of palliative care policy and families’ experience. To improve families’ wellbeing, relational care must be embedded in policy and practice

An Army of Lovers?: Queering the Ministry of Defense Report of the Homosexual Policy Assessment Team

Certain queer theorists argue that gay men and lesbians are banned from military service in certain countries not due to a fear of otherness. Instead, they are prohibited from serving precisely because of a fear that the opposite might be true -- that introducing openly gay people into a \u27homosocial\u27 environment might destabilize accepted notions of sexuality among members of the service who presently constitute themselves as heterosexual. This article explores that idea in the context of the Report of the Homosexual Policy Assessment Team established to defend exclusion of openly gay people from military service in the United Kingdom. The Report justified the continued exclusion of openly gay service members (a ban subsequently dropped), by arguing that this would provoke a hostile, violent reaction from non-homosexual military personnel, undermining \u27unit cohesion.\u27 By subjecting the Report to what Janet Halley describes as an aggressive, unsympathetic reading, this article reveals a hidden rationale. The hidden rationale is that categories of sexual identity are inherently unstable and that acceptance of openly-acknowledged homosexual conduct could cause an increase is homosexual activity or acknowledgement of homosexual or bisexual desires among personnel previously regarded as heterosexual. The article argues that this hidden rationale of the authors of the military report ironically intersects with beliefs of so-called \u27queer theorists,\u27 who refuse to accept notions of fixed and unchanging categories of sexuality. The UK military may share a belief that categories of sexual identity are not inherent, but rather malleable and indeterminate

‘Papers, Please’ – Using a Video Game to explore Experiential Learning and Authentic Assessment in Immigration and Asylum Law

This paper presents a case-study of the author’s efforts to align Lucas Pope’s 2013 video game, ‘Papers, Please,’ with teaching, learning, and assessment strategy on the Immigration, Refugee & Citizenship Law module at TU Dublin. The author secured funding from TU Dublin IMPACT to purchase the game for the 37 students enrolled on the module in the 2020-2021 academic year. Students played the game over a five-week period, during which time they submitted reflective blog posts on their experience of the game. A more substantive written assignment followed thereafter, in which students elaborated upon their reflections with reference to the relevant scholarship and lecture materials. Following debriefing, marking, and feedback, the author evaluated this assessment strategy with reference to the students’ blog posts, their assignment submissions, and their responses to a semi-structured survey. What emerges from the data is an overwhelmingly positive response to games-based learning as a means to facilitate active, experiential learning and accommodate alternative learning styles. Role-playing as an immigration officer allowed students to apply the law in practice, and supported higher levels of cognition and knowledge retention. While the limitations of the data are noted herein, this case-study affirms the potential of video games as a supplementary resource, and the extent to which video games can be constructively aligned with course syllabi

The Birth of the European Union: US and UK Roles in the Creation of a Unified European Community

The United States jealously guards its national sovereignty. This has been reflected in reluctance to participate fully in international agreements or organizations with a \u27supranational\u27 flavor, such as the International Criminal Court or the Kyoto Protocols. It is therefore surprising to find that the United States was one of the principal architects of the supranational characteristics of what has developed into the European Union. Specifically, the earliest stages of European integration, which is embodied in the European Coal and Steel Community Treaty, were heavily influenced by US insistence on creation of supranational institutions that could exert dominance over sovereign European governments. The United Kingdom, one of the leading European powers after the end of the Second World War, sought to undermine efforts to create a \u27supranational\u27 Europe. The UK feared that being part of a more deeply integrated Europe might undermine its \u27special relationship\u27 with the United States. Ironically, its stance in opposition to deeper European integration annoyed US authorities and damaged its relationship with the US. This paper traces the respective roles of the US and the UK in the creation of the European Coal and Steel Commmunity, and reveals a US role often overlooked in legal treatments of the early steps towards the modern European Union

Irish Gay Men and Tourism: Behaviours and Motivations

This paper is an exploratory study of the holiday practices of an increasingly important segment of the Irish tourism market: gay men. Studies show that gay men are, in many respects, desirable tourists: they tend to be more highly educated, have greater disposable incomes and a higher propensity to travel than non-gay people. Yet there has been relatively little research – and virtually none in an Irish context – concerning gay male holiday motivations, destination choice and behaviours. After reviewing the existing literature on gay men and tourism, this paper employs qualitative research methods – primarily focus groups, semi-structured interviews and participant observation – in an attempt to identify: Why do Irish gay men go on holiday? Where do they go on holiday and why do they go there? What role does sexuality play in their holiday decision making? How do they define a ‘gay holiday’? Would they go on a gay holiday? What role does sexuality play in the deselection of holiday destinations? These basic research enquiries facilitate a testing of various hypotheses found in the international tourism literature, including: that gay men employ tourism in ‘constructing’ a ‘gay identity’; that availability of sexual encounters is a significant motivating factor in holiday choice among gay men, and; that sexuality plays a much larger role in the deselection of potential holiday destinations than in the selection of where to go on holiday. My findings include: that ‘culture’ is a stronger motivating factor than ‘sexuality’ in choice of a holiday destination among Irish gay men; that once a holiday destination has been chosen, research is undertaken to determine the ‘gay scene’ at the prospective holiday destination; that Irish gay men use the internet to explore the gay scene at a holiday destination, including personal contact with individuals to inquire about the gay scene; that homosexuality is a much larger factor in the ‘deselection’ of a holiday destination than in the selection of a destination, and; that Irish gay men are not attracted to the notion of a ‘gay holiday’, which they define in various ways. Finally, there is a suggestion that certain Irish men may use tourism as a means of avoiding self-identification as gay or bisexual, rather than as a means of constructing a gay identity

Irish Gay Men and Tourism: Behaviours and Motivations

This paper is an exploratory study of the holiday practices of an increasingly important segment of the Irish tourism market: gay men. Studies show that gay men are, in many respects, desirable tourists: they tend to be more highly educated, have greater disposable incomes and a higher propensity to travel. Yet there has been relatively little research – and virtually none in an Irish context – concerning gay male holiday destination choice, behaviours, and motivations. After reviewing the existing literature on gay men and tourism, this paper employs qualitative research methods – primarily focus group, depth interviews and observation – in an attempt to identify: How do they define a ‘gay holiday’? Would they go on a gay holiday? Where do Irish gay men go on holiday? What role does sexuality play in their holiday decision making? What are their experiences with tourism providers? These basic research enquiries facilitate a testing of various hypotheses found in the international tourism literature, including: that gay men employ tourism in ‘constructing’ a ‘gay identity,’ and that availability of sexual encounters is a significant motivating factor in holiday choice among gay men. This paper will be of interest to practitioners who might wish more insight into this potentially lucrative tourism market, and to academics interested in the role that tourism can play in identity construction and self actualisation. Working together in this field, practitioners and academics can help create tourism products that attract high-spending tourists while providing life-affirming experiences