East is East and West is West: A Ricardian-Heckscher-Ohlin Model of Comparative Advantage

Models of comparative advantage are usually based either on differences in factor abundance or differences in total factor productivity within a country despite considerable empirical evidence that both matter. This paper articulates a unified and tractable model in which comparative advantage exists due to differences in factor abundance and relative productivity differences across a continuum of industries with monopolistic competition and increasing returns to scale. I provide evidence that both sources of comparative advantage shape international production patterns. In addition, I find that relative productivity differences across industries are uncorrelated with the factor intensities of these industries. Therefore, each of the two forces for comparative advantage offers valid partial descriptions of the data. Consequently, simply aggregating the predictions of the factor abundance-based and relative productivity-based models can be used to obtain a full description of industry-by-industry production patterns.

Putting the auto in ethnography: The embodied process of reflexivity on positionality

This article describes an unexpected methodological shift made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic during doctoral research, and exemplifies reflexivity in action whilst negotiating my complex positionality as both a researcher and a social worker. The first UK national lockdown was announced after I had conducted 3 months of ethnographic data collection in a local authority adult social work team, thus halting my research. As society shut down, face-to-face research was paused overnight, however, the local authority continued to provide essential services and support. Forging a path forward, I successfully gained a job practising as a social worker within the team and completed a supplementary ethics application to include auto-ethnographic data which would complement the existing ethnography. Although practicing reflexivity and analysing positionality are established and encouraged parts of ethnographic research, how a researcher actively conducts them varies and usually remains unseen. Methodologies are often presented in a sanitised and polished manner, depriving the reader of the messy yet informative reality of research. This article draws upon fieldnotes to practically illustrate and bring this reflexivity on positionality to the fore. As I move from participant-observer to complete-participant, the findings zoom in on my experience of navigating positionality, revealing a micro picture of the details and subtleties of this process. This unexpected research journey enhanced my level of intimacy with the phenomenon, the research site, and the participants. Overall, this example of enacting reflexivity helps to bridge the gap between how positionality is theorised and how it actively practiced. Finally, this article is a call for more open, deeper, and continual reflexivity on our positionality as researchers

A catalog of radio observations of Jupiter 1961-1964

Catalog of radio observations of Jupiter 1961 to 196

Structural synthesis of a stiffened cylinder

Structural synthesis of cylindrical shell reinforced with rectangular cross section stiffener

Activity disengagement: Understanding challenges and opportunities for reengagement

Although maintaining engagement in activities has a positive influence on our health and wellbeing as we age, many programs that serve older adults struggle with getting participation in the programs they offer. This study sought to explore activity disengagement among older adults in a senior housing community and identify the challenges and opportunities for reengagement with the aim of informing future intervention development and testing. Fifty-one adults over the age of 60 participated in structured interviews. Findings highlighted that many older adults have activities patterns that are not optimal for health. Many reasons given for disengaging in activities (e.g., no opportunity) were surprising given that participants lived in a setting where a variety of programs were offered. Programs need to more purposively address social challenges to participating in activities and consider a more person-centered approach when developing interventions for the older adults they serve

A Comparative Study of ‘Existential Destitution’ in Pre-Qin Chinese Philosophy and Karl Jaspers in the Context of Homelessness in Hawai‘i.

Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2018

YOUNG ADULT ATTRITION IN THE AMERICAN CHURCH: THE SUSPECTED CAUSES AND SUGGESTED CURES

Young adults in America today are deciding that the Church is no longer relevant, so they are choosing to drop out in increasing numbers. Their disaffiliation from communities of faith is also harming their personal faith. This observation is irrespective of Church denominations; their exodus occurs in most faith groups, including Catholic, Mainline Protestant, Evangelical, and Pentecostal/Charismatic denominations. Consequently, the future vitality of the Church is threatened. Why does this problem exist, and what can be done to intervene and change the downward trajectory? What should Christian parents and ministry leaders do differently to achieve a higher retention rate of children transitioning through adolescence into adulthood? The research of this project seeks to discern the cause of this withdrawal and recommend solutions to reverse this debilitating trend. Young adults were interviewed – those who have remained in the Church and those who have checked out. Parents of young adults and ministry leaders in positions to observe those young adults were also interviewed. Other researchers have conducted extensive qualitative and quantitative analyses on the perspectives of young adults. Reasons for ecclesiastical departure by young adults have been categorized and noted. The uniqueness of this project is the nexus of Christian parents and ministry leaders partnering together with biblical principles as they focus on the spiritual development of children so that they remain in the Church and the faith. As parents focus on improving the spiritual formation of children in the home and as ministry leaders concentrate on improving the discipleship of children in the Church, the divine blessings promised in Scripture about such collaborative efforts will be explored in this study

Increasing Realism in the Physics Laboratory

At Iowa Wesleyan College we have felt the need of making the physics laboratory more interesting to the student. This has been accomplished, in part, by making the experiments such that the application is direct or obvious. The following four experiments meet our need