RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY AND SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS RESEARCH AND TEACHING FACULTY IN THE SOUTHERN REGION

Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

ASSESSMENT OF JOURNALS USED BY AGRICULTURAL ECONOMISTS AT LAND-GRANT UNIVERSITIES

Agricultural economists at land-grant universities were surveyed to evaluate the use and assessment of professional journals. Faculty rankings of journals are reported along with faculty perceptions of changes in the quality of selected journals. Of 25 journals used by agricultural economics faculties, the Southern Journal of Agricultural Economics ranked first among regional agricultural economics journals in personal usefulness, subscriptions held, papers submitted, papers published, and participation in the editorial and review processes. The SJAE was also ranked as the second most improved journal among all journals evaluated.Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Scattering of a Baseball by a Bat

A ball can be hit faster if it is projected without spin but it can be hit farther if it is projected with backspin. Measurements are presented in this paper of the tradeoff between speed and spin for a baseball impacting a baseball bat. The results are inconsistent with a collision model in which the ball rolls off the bat and instead imply tangential compliance in the ball, the bat, or both. If the results are extrapolated to the higher speeds that are typical of the game of baseball, they suggest that a curveball can be hit with greater backspin than a fastball, but by an amount that is less than would be the case in the absence of tangential compliance.Comment: Accepted for publication in American Journal of Physic

Historiography and Hierotopy: Palestinian Hagiography in the Sixth Century A.D.

Judean hagiographies are unusual. Some are unexpectedly structured: a saint’s life in the form of a history text. Others offer surprising content. Expected hagiographic stylizations, for example, often depict moments in which the saint is offered money for a miracle. In such cases the saint invariably refuses. Judean saints, however, accept gratitude willingly – often with cash amounts recorded. The peculiarities of these works have regularly been examined on literary and theological grounds. In this dissertation I propose a different approach: socio-economic context. The monasteries that produced these texts were utterly dominated by the environment of Christian Jerusalem. Although often commented upon, the unmined implications of this reality hold the key to understanding these hagiographies. It is only by examining these monasteries’ ties to – and embeddedness within – their peculiar context that we can perceive the mindset that produced such baffling texts. Lengthy historical, literary, and archaeological analysis force Judean hagiography to give up its secrets. These works were in fact not odd at all. Rather, they were hyper-specialized, a unique adaptation to a unique environment. True, we do not see their like in other eastern regions over the span of late antiquity. Yet this is to be expected. Nowhere else can we find the particular conditions that brought these works into being. Nor can we understand the Judean works absent their milieu. It is only upon the foundation of layers of context that these hagiographies stand high enough to view. They were, most accurately, Holy Land hagiographies: a label as unique as the land that produced them

Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah: A Reader\u27s Companion to Contemporary Free Exercise Jurisprudence and the Right to Perform Ritual Animal Sacrifice

Contemporary scholars have devoted ample attention to the Court\u27s free exercise jurisprudence. The scope of this comment is thus appropriately limited to consideration of the fundamental free exercise questions presented by Hialeah. Although some review is obviously necessary, this comment is not intended as a comprehensive discussion of recent free exercise cases. Principally, issues which remain unresolved in the wake of the Court\u27s Smith decision will be addressed, including the following. Observing that neutrality is the cornerstone of the Smith decision, what evidence may properly be considered when making the neutrality assessment? Will facial-neutrality be dispositive? Additionally, assuming that Smith is not controlling, are the challenged regulations appropriately subject to heightened review? Or will strict scrutiny be limited, as the Smith majority suggested, to the specific context of unemployment compensation regulations? As a related question, the Court should also speak to the issue of whether the government will be required to furnish specific evidence in support of any interest asserted as compelling. Resolution of this question would be useful in terms of reconciling the Court\u27s opinions in the unemployment compensation cases (sensitive to the lack of specific evidence) with its decisions elsewhere. This comment will be organized in the following manner. Section II examines the debate between two leading interpretations of the First Amendment: accommodation and formal neutrality. This debate provides a useful point of departure because it highlights the significance of controversy surrounding contemporary free exercise doctrine. Section III next reviews the district court\u27s Hialeah opinion. Particular emphasis is placed on the nature and origins of the Santeria faith. Turning to the Supreme Court\u27s major free exercise cases, Section IV then explores the Court\u27s opinions prior to, and including, Smith. Finally, focusing specifically on the facts of Hialeah, Section V attempts to resolve the questions set forth above

Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah: A Reader\u27s Companion to Contemporary Free Exercise Jurisprudence and the Right to Perform Ritual Animal Sacrifice

Contemporary scholars have devoted ample attention to the Court\u27s free exercise jurisprudence. The scope of this comment is thus appropriately limited to consideration of the fundamental free exercise questions presented by Hialeah. Although some review is obviously necessary, this comment is not intended as a comprehensive discussion of recent free exercise cases. Principally, issues which remain unresolved in the wake of the Court\u27s Smith decision will be addressed, including the following. Observing that neutrality is the cornerstone of the Smith decision, what evidence may properly be considered when making the neutrality assessment? Will facial-neutrality be dispositive? Additionally, assuming that Smith is not controlling, are the challenged regulations appropriately subject to heightened review? Or will strict scrutiny be limited, as the Smith majority suggested, to the specific context of unemployment compensation regulations? As a related question, the Court should also speak to the issue of whether the government will be required to furnish specific evidence in support of any interest asserted as compelling. Resolution of this question would be useful in terms of reconciling the Court\u27s opinions in the unemployment compensation cases (sensitive to the lack of specific evidence) with its decisions elsewhere. This comment will be organized in the following manner. Section II examines the debate between two leading interpretations of the First Amendment: accommodation and formal neutrality. This debate provides a useful point of departure because it highlights the significance of controversy surrounding contemporary free exercise doctrine. Section III next reviews the district court\u27s Hialeah opinion. Particular emphasis is placed on the nature and origins of the Santeria faith. Turning to the Supreme Court\u27s major free exercise cases, Section IV then explores the Court\u27s opinions prior to, and including, Smith. Finally, focusing specifically on the facts of Hialeah, Section V attempts to resolve the questions set forth above