Hanging Out on the Block(chain): Decentralized Autonomous Organizations for Small Groups and Faith Communities

T he future of organizations is changing from a top-down leadership model to a shared autonomous approach. Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) will revolutionize governance structures, groups, and organizations of any kind. In what way could this influence and improve churches and ministries within those churches such as small groups? This paper explores the impact that Blockchain Technology, cryptocurrency and DAOs can have on small groups and faith communities

A Cosmopolitan Theology for Creating an Urban Missional Small Group to Reach Postmodern Generations in the City of Lacombe, Alberta

Problem Many youths within the Canadian city of Lacombe, Alberta, are having difficulty finding traditional church attractive, engaging, relevant, and meaningful. Because of the prevalent postmodern mindset of youth in the community, thoughts toward church, religious gatherings, and organized religion are pessimistic and skeptical. Research has pointed out that faith-based community initiatives have been either lacking or ineffective in addressing the disengagement and disillusionment being demonstrated by postmodern millennials. Method The purpose of this study was to see if an urban missional small group made up of 10 to 15 youth would have a positive social spiritual impact on their personal lives. The focus was to bring postmodern youth together for a period of 12 weeks to create an urban missional small group intended to foster a sense of community and belonging. It was to employ open dialogue but also allow for discourse and debate, and it was to facilitate individual and collective spiritual development and growth. The dialogue would center on studying and reflecting on the life of Christ; however, the dialogue would also remain open to natural discussion points and personal sharing as raised by the participants. Results The results were reviewed and evaluated by conducting entry and exit surveys. The results of the survey evidenced that implementing a 12-week urban missional small group in an urban city had a substantial spiritual impact on the group participants. The key six areas evaluated were (a) personal life, (b) community life, (c) spiritual life, (d) urban life, (e) church life, (f) church experience/small-group experience. Each of these six categories included a series of questions. The study showed, overall, that 64% participants’ responses indicated positive and constructive improvement since before the participants had joined the small group. This ultimately revealed that urban missional small groups can have a positive, meaningful, constructive, and measurable impact on young urban churched and unchurched postmodern millennials. Hence, a new urban missional church plant is scheduled to be planted September 2019. Conclusions In business, the term disruptive innovation means an idea that disturbs the status quo and changes the nature of the previous model or version that came before it. One may consider urban missional small groups as a type of disruptive innovation because they have the unique power to reach postmodern millennials. Small groups are a new and different way for young unchurched urban youth to meet spiritually, they focus specifically on mission in the city, and they foster a sense of diversity inclusivity, and they are, above all, user friendly. As a result of this small group endeavor is that there is currently a core group of new urban missional leaders who are empowered and equipped to (a) share the gospel with others, (b) disciple new believers, and (c) successfully lead other small groups that will ultimately attract this niche demographic and impact it spiritually for Christ

Dynamics And Control Of Foot-And-Mouth Disease In Endemic Countries: A Pair Approximation Model

The final publication is available at Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2014.05.010 © 2014. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Previous mathematical models of spatial farm-to-farm transmission of foot and mouth disease (FMD) have explored the impacts of control measures such as culling and vaccination during a single outbreak in a country normally free of FMD. As a result, these models do not include factors that are relevant to countries where FMD is endemic in some regions, like long-term waning natural and vaccine immunity, use of prophylactic vaccination and disease re-importations. These factors may have implications for disease dynamics and control, yet few models have been developed for FMD-endemic settings. Here we develop and study an SEIRV (susceptible-exposed-infectious-recovered-vaccinated) pair approximation model of FMD. We focus on long term dynamics by exploring characteristics of repeated outbreaks of FMD and their dependence on disease re-importation, loss of natural immunity, and vaccine waning. We find that the effectiveness of ring and prophylactic vaccination strongly depends on duration of natural immunity, rate of vaccine waning, and disease re-introduction rate. However, the number and magnitude of FMD outbreaks are generally more sensitive to the duration of natural immunity than the duration of vaccine immunity. If loss of natural immunity and/or vaccine waning happen rapidly, then multiple epidemic outbreaks result, making it difficult to eliminate the disease. Prophylactic vaccination is more effective than ring vaccination, at the same per capita vaccination rate. Finally, more frequent disease re-importation causes a higher cumulative number of infections, although a lower average epidemic peak. Our analysis demonstrates significant differences between dynamics in FMD-free settings versus FMD-endemic settings, and that dynamics in FMD-endemic settings can vary widely depending on factors such as the duration of natural and vaccine immunity and the rate of disease re-importations. We conclude that more mathematical models tailored to FMD-endemic countries should be developed that include these factors

Patent Damage Strategies and the Enterprise License: Constructive Notice, Actual Notice, No Notice

For the patent owner, early provision of patent notice can help maximize recoverable infringement damages during subsequent litigation. This iBrief recognizes a growing trend of infringement suits predicated on patented enterprise software technology, and analyzes application of patent notice principles against industry convention. This iBrief examines the licensing paradigm of enterprise software and questions whether mechanical compliance with the marking statute should qualify as constructive notice. Borrowing from analogous Federal Circuit principles, this iBrief concludes by proposing alternate notice theories that would empower patentees to seek increased remedies consistent with industry reality, case law, and fundamental statutory purpose

Notice and the New Deal

The New Deal Supreme Court revised a well-known set of constitutional doctrines. Legal scholarship has principally focused on the changes that occurred in three areas—federalism, delegation, and economic liberty. This Article identifies a new and important fourth element of New Deal constitutionalism: a change in the constitutional doctrine of due process notice, the doctrine that specifies the minimum standards for constitutionally adequate notice of the law. The law of due process notice—which includes the doctrines of vagueness, retroactivity, and the rule of lenity—evolved dramatically over the course of the New Deal to permit lesser clarity and to tolerate more retroactivity. The upshot has been the near-total elimination of successful notice-based challenges other than in the limited context of First Amendment vagueness attacks. Unlike the more famous doctrinal changes of this period, changes to due process notice doctrine were not obviously necessary to accommodate the New Deal legislative agenda, either as a matter of jurisprudence or as a matter of politics. Due process notice doctrine nonetheless underwent a radical transformation in this era, as the Court came to regard its broader shift toward deferring to legislative and executive policy decisions as requiring the relaxation of due process notice doctrine. The link forged between deference and notice had significant functional effects on the most important audience for the Court\u27s notice jurisprudence—Congress. By loosening the strictures of due process notice doctrine, the Court lowered sharply the enactment costs of federal legislation and thereby facilitated its proliferation. This is a distinct, and hitherto unacknowledged, mechanism by which the Court in this period enhanced national power and encouraged the flourishing of the emerging administrative state. Like much of the New Deal settlement, the New Deal reformulation of due process notice doctrine is today the subject of ferment in the courts. Recognizing the New Deal roots of due process notice doctrine is critical for understanding these ongoing judicial debates—and for beginning the conceptual work of mapping the future shape of this vital cluster of doctrines

Notice, Designation and Substitution of Leave Requirements Under the Family and Medical Leave Act

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) imposes notice obligations on both employers and employees. Employees must give their employer notice of their need for leave by providing an FMLA-qualifying reason for leave. Employees are not, however, required to use the words “FMLA” when asking for leave. Employees must also tell their employer if they wish to substitute paid leave for unpaid FMLA leave. Finally, employees must provide their employer with two-days’ notice of their plans to return to work following leave. Employers initially must give employees notice of their FMLA rights. Once an employee has requested leave, the employer then must (1) notify the employee if he/she is eligible for FMLA leave, (2) designate the employee’s leave as FMLA leave, if appropriate, and (3) tell the employee if paid leave must be substituted for unpaid FMLA leave. In 2002, in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court altered the legal landscape of FMLA notice. In Ragsdale v. Wolverine World Wide, 535 U.S. 81 (2002), the Supreme Court invalidated one remedial FMLA regulation related to notice, but expressly declined to rule on the validity of other notice and related remedy provisions. Notably, the Ragsdale dissent did validate these related individualized notice provisions, finding the regulations a reasonable exercise of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) authority

Lenz v. Universal Music Corp. And the Potential Effect of Fair Use Analysis Under the Takedown Procedures of §512 of the DMCA

The notice and takedown/putback procedures in §512 of the Digital Millennium Act fail to adequately protect the rights of individuals who post content on the internet. This iBrief examines the notice and takedown/putback procedures and Judge Fogel\u27s decision in Lenz v. Universal Music Corp., which requires a copyright owner to conduct a fair use evaluation prior to issuing a takedown notice. This iBrief concludes such a requirement is an appropriate first step towards creating adequate protection for user-generated content on the Internet

Applications notice

The discipline programs of the Space and Terrestrial (S&T) Applications Program are described and examples of research areas of current interest are given. Application of space techniques to improve conditions on earth are summarized. Discipline programs discussed include: resource observations; environmental observations; communications; materials processing in space; and applications systems/information systems. Format information on submission of unsolicited proposals for research related to the S&T Applications Program are given

Examining the relationship between conceptualisation and practice of research support by librarians in selected Zimbabwean universities

Doctor of Philosophy. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2018.This study was carried out to examine and gain insight into the relationship between conceptualisation and practice of research support by librarians in Zimbabwean university libraries. This was mooted after realising that librarians practising research support were struggling to make a positive impact on the scholarly work of researchers. To facilitate the investigation, the study employed the Theory of Action: espoused theories and theories-in-use by Argyris and Schön (1974) as the fulcrum. Mission statements, strategic documents and policies of selected libraries were examined as conveyors of espoused theories to gain understanding of how research support was conceptualised. Services and facilities offered to researchers were examined to establish theories-in-use of librarians practising research support. Interviews and questionnaires were used to gather data about research support services. A constant comparison approach was used in analysing mission documents and interview scripts using the ATLAS.ti 8.0 software. The comparative analysis allowed for the development of subcategories and broad themes which facilitated the development of statements of claims for both conceptualisation and practice in each of the bounded cases. Meta-claims were developed from iterative cross-case comparison of findings from individual libraries investigated. Findings and conclusions showed that libraries conceptualised and espoused an information role in support of researchers which emphasised traditional services such as resource provision and training. Research support was practised using the Resources, Liaison and Shared Service models where services and facilities such as literature search, e-resources training, and institutional repositories were dominant. Practice of research support was conducted within a collaborative and technologically driven environment. Librarians reported ambiguity in the roles which they should play in the transitional research environment. Comparative analysis between conceptualisation and practice of research support meta-claims revealed several congruent and incongruent aspects which helped to explain why librarians were not being effective in support of researchers. It was discovered that librarians encountered several unusual experiences ranging from low attendance in training to antiquated policies. It was further established that librarians dealt with these unfamiliar experiences in practice using the Single Loop Learning strategy which emphasised the technical operating environment under which research support was being practised without necessarily questioning the goals, values and policies that inform the practice of research support. Contribution of this study to practice includes encouraging librarians to be reflective practitioners who should be sensitive to their operating environments in order to swiftly respond to new trends

EC Competition Law and Member State Courts

The main purpose of this paper is to critically analyze the “Notice on cooperation between national courts and the Commission in applying Articles 85 and 86 of the EEC Treaty” (the “Notice”), which the Commission of the European Community (the “Commission”) published in 1993. Among the topics covered by the Notice the following deserve a closer analysis: the Commission\u27s enforcement policy, the Commission\u27s views on the application of Articles 85 and 86 by national courts, and the cooperation between national courts and the Commission