The Dormant Second Amendment: Exploring the Rise, Fall, and Potential Resurrection of Independent State Militias

The term “militia” is polarizing, misunderstood, misapplied, and generally difficult for modern Americans to digest. That is not surprising, given the depth and breadth of American militia history and militias’ substantial evolution over four centuries. Historically, militia simply refers to a broad-based civic duty to protect one’s fellow citizens from internal and external dangers and is not limited to activities involving firearms. Reestablishing militia’s true meaning and purpose—and reinvigorating independent state militias in the United States to effect that purpose—has the potential to address states’ emerging financial and security gaps and to produce multiple other significant benefits, including recalibrating federalism. This article suggests a method for how best to reinvigorate independent state militias, addresses the major critique against doing so, and initiates a real discussion about the future of state militias—an issue conspicuously underdeveloped in scholarship today

AN ECONOMETRIC MODEL OF FARMERS' DEMAND FOR COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION LOANS

Agricultural Finance,

Through the Valley of Darkness: Spiritual Formation for Pain Sufferers Within the Context of Evangelicalism Today

Chronic pain sufferers can find themselves on the margins of evangelical culture in the United States. Evangelicals are largely guided by a paradigm of power, an ethos that finds little room for the hurting and disabled. Pain sufferers do not fit into such a paradigm; their physical limitations can prevent them from contributing to the evangelical church’s efforts to extend their influence. It is not that pain sufferers are ignored by evangelicals; many churches have some type of ministry function to assist them. The issue is that they are not valued in their current state of suffering. Spiritual formation for many evangelicals is centered around community activities that can be challenging for people with chronic pain to participate in. An over-emphasis on communal expressions rather than personal devotion places spiritually formative experiences outside the reach of some chronic pain sufferers. This dissertation considers various solutions within the church to meet the spiritual and emotional needs of chronic pain sufferers. Section One states the problem. Section Two looks at the current cultural/theological landscape within evangelicalism and how its paradigm of power excludes chronic pain sufferers. I then extract some ideas from Job’s account of personal suffering. I also look at the solutions offered by the contemporary signs and wonders movement among some Pentecostal churches, and finish with some of the thinking within contemporary Eastern Orthodoxy. Section Three is my thesis, that chronic pain sufferers embrace their thorn in the flesh as Paul does in 2 Corinthians 12. Section Four describes the artifact, a book entitled Spiritual Help for Chronic Pain: Three Phases of Spiritual Transformation. Section Five describes the specifications for the artifact through a book proposal. Section Six is the summation of what I have learned through my dissertation process

Forest Vegetation and Site Relationships in the Central Portion of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The primary objectives of this study were (1) to apply recently developed quantitative vegetation analysis procedures to the problem of describing the forest vegetation of the central portion of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, (2) to group samples into forest types based on the importance of a large number of taxa and to compare the results with studies using types defined by relative density or basal area of canopy dominants, (3) to assess and further define the relationships of vegetation pattern with elevation and with topographic characteristics, (4) to examine possible relationships between soil characteristics and vegetation pattern, and (5) to examine the successful status of the forest types. Data were analyzed from 266 sample locations ranging from 759 to 1585 m elevation in the central portion of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in the vicinity of Mt. LeConte, Greenbrier Pinnacle, and Thomas Ridge. The 266 sample soils were tentatively classified as: Typic Dystrochrepts, 51%; Lithic Dystrochrepts, 14%; Typic Haplumberpts, 15%; Umbric Dystrochrepts, 10%; Lithic Histosols, 4%; Lithic Umbric Dystrochrepts 3%; Fragmental, 2%; and Lithic Umbrepts, 1%. Sample linear correlations among the soil, site and vegetation characteristics were computed. The highest number of significant vegetation-soil correlations occurred with clay content of the A and B horizons and with phw. Most of the general vegetation characteristics were significantly correlated with microtopographic position. Canopy sample plots were grouped into forest types based on taxa and importance values with the aid of the agglomerative minimum dispersion clustering procedure. The types were: Spruce-Yellow Birch, Yellow Birch-Hemlock, Hemlock-Buckeye, Basswood, Northern Red Oak, Red Maple-Sweet Birch, Red Maple-Northern Red Oak, Yellow Poplar, Chestnut Oak, Oak-Pine, Table-Mountain Pine-Pitch Pine and Table-Mountain Pine. The discreteness of the plot groups (types) was tested by canonical analysis. Vegetation, site and soil characteristics of the 17 forest types were described. Relative densities of tree taxa in the canopy, sapling and seedling strata were compared to judge the successional stability of the types. Types which had no evidence of past disturbance appeared to be relatively stable, although periodic reproduction apparently had occurred in some plots. Acer rubrum, Quercus prinus, Q. rubra and Oxydendrum arboreum were the most common tree taxa which had replaced American chestnut. A topographic site gradient was constructed based on combinations of potential solar irradiation classes (based on aspect and slope angle) and microtopographic slope positions. Each position along this gradient was assigned a number, termed the site gradient index (SGI), which increased toward mesic sites. The samples of each forest type were plotted on axes of elevation and SGI. A composite diagram was made portraying the pattern of most of the types on the SGI -elevation axes. Observable patterns were noted when Umbrepts, Umbric Dystrochrepts and Lithic Dystrochrepts were plotted on the site diagram. Other characteristics showing patterns on the diagram were: percent clay in the B horizon, total vascular taxa, percent shrub cover, tree sapling density, and canopy basal area. The combined vegetation-site summary contained in the composite site diagram suggests that the Mt. LeConte area departs significantly in detail (if not in basic outline) from the mosaic chart of Whittaker. This suggests that further local studies are needed in the Park to further verify or redefine its outline and / or details

The preparation and kinetics of a sterically hindered gold (III) complex

The alkyl substituted gold (III) complex [Au(1, 4, 7-Me3dien)Cl] (PF6)2 [where 1, 4, 7-Me3dien respresents (CH3) HNCH2CH2N(CH3)CH2CH2NH(CH3)] has been synthesized. The cation of this compound differs from previously synthesized gold (III) complexes of similar structure since it can form a conjugate base only by loss of hydrogen from a terminal nitrogen. Aqueous solution chemistry studies of this ion reveals that the Cl- is hydrolyzed before loss of a proton from the ligand which is the reverse of the sequence observed with previously studied ions. Monobromo substitution rates are found to be slower than for the complex with no alkyl substitution but faster than for the completely methylated complex. A rate constant of kBr = 17 –mole-1-sec-1 was obtained. The rate of chelate ligand unwrapping from the monobromo complex was also studied. This process was discovered to be second order in Br- with a rate constant of k = 15 –mole-2 –sec-

Agency Theory Issues in the Food Processing Industry

The objective is to identify significant determinants of performance for food processing firms over the 1992 to 2003 time period, focusing particularly on the issue of family control. Variables measuring firm effects such as asset size, governance, income distribution, and risk are used to explain return on equity. This study builds upon previous research by including a measure of income distribution in the food processing industry. Governance variables are found to be significant determinants of return on equity. The results found no evidence of agency problems in family-controlled firms during this time period.agribusiness, institutional economics, organizational economics, Agribusiness, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Production Economics, D23, G34, Q13, Q14,

Moving Ahead: Factors contributing to successful transition of people with intellectual disabilities from congregated to community-based residential options in two regions in Ireland

This report details the findings of a research project entitled Moving Ahead. The project aimed to examine factors that contribute to the successful transfer of people with intellectual disabilities from congregated to community-based living in two regional areas in Ireland. It was undertaken by a team of researchers from Ireland and the UK, led by Dr. Christine Lineha