Assisting Ministers: Enlisting, Training, and Leaming from the Diversity of Gifts

(Excerpt) God of majesty, whom saints delight to worship in heaven and on earth: Bless the ministry of those who serve your people, that we may know the joy of your presence and may worship to the glory of your holy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (adapted, Occasional Services) To serve God by serving his people is the lovely keeping of the Law. Called to love the world, the Church gathers each Lord\u27s Day and Holy Day and as often in addition as desired, to hear again the community\u27s story which proclaims God\u27s victory over evil and the grave through the dying and rising of our Lord Jesus. For over fifteen hundred years the liturgy has been the context for the telling of and our participation in this story; it has been the microcosmic arena in which God\u27s action on our behalf is demonstrated and proclaimed as well as the vehicle for setting before us the greater things we are called to do. This liturgy is work, the people\u27s work

Returns to education and experience in self-employment: Evidence from Germany

This paper compares the returns to human capital in the self-employed and wage-employed sectors of the economy. Using data from the former West German sample of the German Socioeconomic Panel survey for the 1984-1997 time period, we estimate returns to education and work experience from standard log-earnings equations for self-employed and wage-employed workers. Two key results are found. First, additional schooling has a smaller effect on earnings for the self-employed than for the wage-employed. Indeed, educational attainment has an insignificant effect on self-employment earnings. Second, prior self-employment experience receives a lower return in wage-employment than does prior wage-employment experience. These results are consistent across specifications controlling for education endogeneity and self-selection bias.

The Economic Returns to Multiple Language Usage in Western Europe

To what extent are there economic returns to learning a second or third language? Do the benefits differ according to country? This paper examines the return to multi-lingualism in the workplace. In particular, we estimate the effect that using an additional language in one’s job has on earnings for a sample of workers in the European Community Household Panel survey. Log-earnings regressions are estimated by country with controls for standard human capital, job, and personal characteristics. Preliminary results indicate that the use of a second language in the workplace raises earnings by about 5 to 10 percent, but the results are sensitive to the specification used and vary across countries, occupations, and gender.

A dynamic analysis of recent changes in the rate of part-time employment

The part-time employment rate has declined since the early 1980s, especially among females. This paper examines the decline over the 1980-1990 period, with a focus on the gender differential, using gross change data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Monthly transition rates between full-time employment, part-time employment, unemployment, and nonparticipation are estimated according to sex. Trend and cyclical analysis of the transition rates is conducted to identify the sources of part-time employment-rate trends and to explore gender differentials in them. The results suggest that the decline in the rate of part-time employment among females is not so much because unemployed females are more likely to move into full-time employment, but rather because females have become more likely to move from part-time to full-time employment and, most important, because they have become less likely to leave full-time employment once they get there.Labor supply ; Employment (Economic theory)

Gender Discrimination and Self-Employment Dynamics in Europe

This paper examines the effect that gender-based earnings discrimination has on self-employment dynamics among females, with a focus on four countries in Western Europe. Using data from the European Community Household Panel in the 1999-2001 time period, we test the hypothesis that the probability of moving into self-employment is positively related to prior earnings discrimination, as measured by unexplained deviations from expected (male) earnings. Our findings suggest that women who have lower than expected wage sector earnings relative to other women are more likely to leave wage employment in the following year. The results with respect to discrimination, however, are mixed.

FEED/CATTLE PRICE RELATIONSHIPS AND THE OPTIMUM SYSTEM AND LOCATION OF CATTLE FEEDING IN TEXAS

Livestock Production/Industries,

Analysis of a doubly plated grillage under in-plane and normal loading

Imperial Users onl

Prediction of rigid silica based insulation conductivity

A method is presented for predicting the thermal conductivity of low density, silica based fibrous insulators. It is shown that the method can be used to extend data values to the upper material temperature limits from those obtained from the test data. It is demonstrated that once the conductivity is accurately determined by the analytical model the conductivity for other atmospheres can be predicted. The method is similar to that presented by previous investigators, but differs significantly in the contribution due to gas and internal radiation

White-and-blue-collar jobs in the recent recession and recovery: who's singing the blues?

An investigation of the 1990-91 recession's impact on blue- versus white-collar workers, showing that although blue-collar workers bore the brunt of the downturn, white-collar employment growth was unusually slow by historical standards.Employment (Economic theory) ; Recessions