The Rise of the Baptists in South Carolina: Origins, Revival, and their Enduring Legacy

Baptists have played an important role in the development of the religious landscape in the United States since the First Great Awakening. This religious sect’s core of influence eventually migrated south around the turn of the nineteenth century. A battle over the soul of the South would be waged by the Baptists, along with the Methodists, and Presbyterians also moving into the area. This Protestant surge coincided with the decrease in influence of the Episcopal (Anglican) Church after ties with England were severed. In many ways, this battle for the future would occur in the newly settled backcountry of South Carolina. The influx of yeoman farmers pouring into the backcountry were an eager audience to the message of the Separate Baptists that espoused “rejecting creeds and paying little attention to formal doctrine” and in turn focusing on “manifesting a deep belief in the power of the Holy Spirit, and emotional and egalitarian…worship practices.” These great numbers of Separate Baptists would eventually coalesce with the other Baptist sects in the State to dominate the religious landscape. This united group used a variety of factors, including the Convention Plan of Richard Furman, to achieve this eventual dominance. This Convention Plan would become the blueprint on which other state conventions in the South were modeled and ultimately led the way for the Southern Baptist Convention. Most historians give credit for many of the successes of Southern Baptists in the twentieth century to this Convention Plan that completed Baptist denominational unification in South Carolina

Settlement of South Carolina’s Colonial Backcountry: From Conflict to Prosperity

The Carolina Colony was the first foothold for the British in the lower south region of North America. Carolina developed in the tradition of Barbados, with its economy based on staple crops. These staple crops would become rice and indigo, both of which flourished in the areas near the coast. This lucrative agricultural development would assure that the seat of power in Carolina would remain near the sea for most of its early history. The coastal elites would face three major concerns: threat from the Native Americans in the west, treats from the Spanish in the south, and a fear of slave revolt in a colony that had an ever-increasing black majority. The solution that was initiated in the 1730’s by the coastal government was to systematically settle a “new” backcountry that could provide a buffer between themselves and these growing physical threats. The settlement of this “new” backcountry would also help to add white residents to the colony to help dilute the growing black majority in the coastal regions. Due to this strategic positioning the backcountry settlers were exposed to extensive conflict and hardship, a circumstance that would have otherwise been thrust at the coastal settlements. In spite of these conditions the backcountry settlers grew from their yeoman roots to a prosperous society. Increased transportation networks, further access to slave labor, and the development of staple crops such as cotton, eventually allowed the backcountry to become involved with the staple based commercial economy of the coastal elites. This increase in commercial development would intimately intertwine the two regions of the state both economically and culturally by the turn of the nineteenth century

Changes in the Breeding Range of the Broad-Winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus) due to Habitat Fragmentation in the Northern Appalachian Region

The Broad-winged Hawk (BWHA), Buteo platypterus, a small, secretive hawk with distinguishing broad black tail bands, breeds in northeastern North America. The hawks nest in deciduous or mixed forest, often near water, and close to clearings or forest edges. Land conversion and fragmentation alters the landscape and reduces the area of contiguous forest used by BWHA. This study seeks to determine the habitat metrics that may be influencing the apparent breeding range declines of the BWHA at the landscape scale. Landscape characteristics and BWHA presence data from 18,684 Breeding Bird Atlas blocks (each about 25km2) from Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York for two atlas period (1st Atlas: 1980s, 2nd Atlas: 2000s) were analyzed. Logistic regression models revealed block level declines in BWHA presence that were associated with increases in urban, barren, wetland and agricultural land cover. These trends were especially prevalent in low-elevation areas around the region’s largest cities: New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington DC. Alternatively, an increase in predicted presence was associated with increases in core and edge forest, specifically in regions of New York. Availability of forested habitat with large areas of core forest at higher latitudes and elevations appear to be influential in the breeding habitat selection of BWHA and may be suggestive of a climate change influence. Additional research on the relative influence of each of the metrics and the impacts that the range decline may have on BWHA populations is warrante

Are personalities genetically determined? Inferences from subsocial spiders.

BACKGROUND:Recent research has revealed that polymorphic behavioral strategies shape intra-and interspecific interactions and contribute to fitness in many animal species. A better understanding of the proximate mechanisms underlying these behavioral syndromes will enhance our grasp this phenomenon. Spiders in the genus Anelosimus exhibit inter-individual behavioral variation on several axes: individuals have consistent responses to stimuli (e.g. bold vs. shy individuals) and they are subsocial (exhibiting extended maternal care and sibling cooperation) across most of their range, but they sometimes form permanent social groups in northern temperate regions. Here, we seek genetic variants associated with boldness and with social structure in a socially polymorphic population of the spider Anelosimus studiosus. We also develop preliminary genomic resources, including a genome assembly and linkage map, that support this and future genomic research on this group. RESULTS:Remarkably, we identify a small genomic scaffold (~ 1200 bp) that harbors seven single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with boldness. Moreover, heterozygotes are less common than expected based on Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, suggesting that either assortative mating or selection against heterozygotes may be occurring in this system. We find no loci significantly associated with social organization. Our draft genome assembly allows us to localize SNPs of interest in this study and to carry out genetic comparisons with other published genomes, although it remains highly fragmented. CONCLUSIONS:By identifying a locus associated with a well-studied animal personality trait, this study opens up avenues for future research to link behavioral studies of animal personality with genotype and fitness

Sail intelligent terminal evaluation

Engineering assessments, recommendations, and equipment necessary to solve the operational problems are described, and operational flexibility of the intelligent terminal facility are extended. The following capabilities were considered: (1) the operation of at least two D/D stations and one remote graphics terminal simultaneously; (2) the capability to run plotter, AIDS and FORTRAN programs simultaneously; (3) simultaneous use of system utility routines of D/D stations and remote graphics terminal; (4) the capability to provide large volume hardcopy of data and graphics; and (5) the capability to eliminate or at least ease the current operation/programming problems with related labor costs. The overall intelligent terminal development, and plans guiding the analysis and equipment acquisitions were studied, and the assessments and analyses performed are also summarized

Assessment of the NASA Flight Assurance Review Program

The NASA flight assurance review program to develop minimum standard guidelines for flight assurance reviews was assessed. Documents from NASA centers and NASA headquarters to determine current design review practices and procedures were evaluated. Six reviews were identified for the recommended minimum. The practices and procedures used at the different centers to incorporate the most effective ones into the minimum standard review guidelines were analyzed and guidelines for procedures, personnel and responsibilies, review items/data checklist, and feedback and closeout were defined. The six recommended reviews and the minimum standards guidelines developed for flight assurance reviews are presented. Observations and conclusions for further improving the NASA review and quality assurance process are outlined

Current Status of the Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus) in Arkansas

The secretive Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus) is believed to be much more widespread during fall and winter than previously thought. Of the few places in the southern United States conducting research on this species, all have been successful at capturing birds. A total of 12 historic records existed for Arkansas until our work began in fall of 2014. The first confirmed record was in 1959 and the most recent, prior to this research, was in 2010. Over the course of two field seasons, we captured and banded 24 Northern Saw-whet Owls in rural Madison County. All birds were mist-netted along a trail, in woodland composed of pine and cedar with fairly dense undergrowth. Two were captured during our 2014 season after a late start and 22 were captured in 2015, likely the result of an earlier start. Comparing our data to that of several other banding operations in the south, it would appear that the peak of migration in Arkansas is late October through early November, with capture rates dropping by early December. Of the birds captured, all but one was female, the most common sex this far south. A variety of age classes were identified, with a fairly even distribution of hatch-year, second-year, and after-second-year birds. Exactly from where the saw-whets are migrating is unknown, although several foreign recoveries in Missouri and four recoveries in Arkansas suggest they are coming from the western Great Lakes region. Once considered a vagrant, based on this research, the saw-whet appears to be a fall migrant to the state of Arkansas

A Qualitative Study of Supervisees’ Internal Representations of Supervisors

Eleven US-based doctoral student supervisees were interviewed regarding their internal representations (IRs) of their clinical supervisors. Data were analyzed using consensual qualitative research. In speaking about their overall IR experiences, supervisees reported that their exposure to IRs occurred at off-site practicum placements. The IRs, which were both spontaneous and intentionally invoked, usually were auditory in form, were stimulated by supervisees’ clinical work, were used to guide their clinical performance, and were considered a normal part of their development. When describing one specific IR, supervisees characterized the relationship with the supervisor as positive, and noted that supervision focused on clinical interventions. These brief and vivid IRs were auditory/verbal in form, occurred spontaneously, and consisted of the supervisor instructing or supporting the supervisee when s/he felt challenged or doubted her/himself clinically. The IRs yielded positive effects, but were usually not discussed with supervisors. Implications are addressed

Optimal Marketing Strategies for Southeastern Cattle Producers

Hedging, Cattle, Simulation, Expected Utility, Agribusiness, Farm Management, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing, Q13,