Readers of "Speaking Out: Gifts of Ministering Undeterred by Disabilities" will enter the worlds of one Episcopal and 24 United Methodist ministers who cope with various forms of disabilities. Read how each one is a living testimony that will surprise, inspire, and remind you that they are people with God given gifts who were spiritually strengthened during their individual life-journeys, all the while remaining faithful to their respective calls to church ministry. Unfortunately, people with disabilities frequently experience physical and discriminatory barriers, several of which are described by the contributors to this book; undeterred, they overcame-or are overcoming-the barriers through grace, resiliency, and support from many sources. The book focuses on ministers, but their stories are applicable to non-ministerial persons in our all too common negating ways of both the sacred and secular societies. This book is sponsored by the United Methodist Association of Ministers with Disabilities (UMAMD), and all royalties from sales of the book will go to the UMAMD in support of its activities.

The development and use of Micro Air Vehicles is becoming more and more important to the military. Size, weight, maneuverability, stealth, and fuel consumption are just some of the constraints on a future Micro Air Vehicle. Perfect blueprints for a small scale flying machine are both insects and humming birds. Medium sized hummingbirds are found to have wings-beats at a frequency of 18-28 Hz. There is a vast amount of complexity to just how these creatures can create lift; however, this study looks at different beams made of common materials with 1st natural bending frequencies in this range. This study documents and evaluates the use of analytical tools to solve for nonlinear characteristics of a system. A function called the backbone curve is incorporated into a MATLAB program. The Hilbert transform characterized by the nonlinear decrement approach captures all of the necessary coefficients for this function. ABAQUS/CAE is relied upon. The numerical finite element results are compared to experiments. This work gives a better understanding of how materials and geometry perform when used in Micro Air Vehicle design considering large displacements.