Thesis (D. Min.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2001. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 248-255).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 214-223).

Thesis (D.W.S.)--Institute for Worship Studies, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 157-162).

Uppsatsen syfte är att undersöka mötet mellan feministisk religionsfilosofi och frågan om religiös mångfald. Utgångspunkten för uppsatsen är religionsfilosofiska texter av Pamela Sue Anderson och Grace Jantzen och dessa texter får här representera och ligga till grund för en feministisk religionsfilosofi. Som representant för det filosofiska samtalet om religiös mångfald använder jag mig av Mikael Stenmarks översikt över den typologi som präglar det filosofiska samtalet om religiös mångfald. Uppsatsens frågeställning lyder: Vad kan en feministisk religionsfilosofi som tar sin utgångspunkt i Grace Jantzens och Pamela Sue Andersons religionsfilosofiska texter bidra med till det filosofiska samtalet om religiös mångfald? Genom att läsa Andersons och Jantzens litteratur svarar jag för det första på hur en feministisk religionsfilosofi som tar sin utgångspunkt i Andersons och Jantzens texter skulle kunna se ut. För det andra undersöker jag hur en feministisk religionsfilosofi förhåller sig till det filosofiska samtalets typologi (exklusivism, inklusivism och pluralism) vad gäller religiös mångfald. Slutligen svarar jag på vad en feministisk religionsfilosofi kan bidra med till det filosofiska samtalet om religiös mångfald. Ett första bidrag kan innebära en medvetenhet och erfarenhet om mångfalden som finns ibland oss. Ett andra bidrag kan innebära en diskurskritik och en medvetenhet av att religionen inte går att separera från samhälleliga normer och diskurser. Ett tredje bidrag kan handla om fantasi och föreställningsförmåga som strategi. På grund av globalisering, migration och kommunikation som snabbt tar oss över jordklotet uppstår möten mellan människor med olika erfarenheter, traditioner, kulturer och religioner. Detta innebär nya utmaningar som inte bör lösas genom att dela in människor i påstått homogena grupper och försöka lösa konflikter och oenighet mellan dessa grupper. Den feministiska religionsfilosofin med dess utmaningar - att granska maktstrukturer, söka alternativa bilder och våga göra nya tolkningar av religioners funktioner och betydelser i ljuset av feministisk teori - riktar blicken mot mellanmänskliga relationer, oavsett religionstillhörighet.

Previous studies have suggested that ocean bottom pressure (OBP) can be used to measure the transport variability of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). The OBP observations from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) are used to calculate transport along the choke point between Antarctica and Australia. Statistical analysis will be conducted to determine the uncertainty of the GRACE observations using a simulated data set. There has been some evidence to suggest that Southern Hemisphere winds and the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) or the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO) play a significant role in accelerating/decelerating ACC transport, along with some contribution from buoyancy forcing. We will examine whether average zonal wind stress, wind stress curl, local zonal winds, or the SAM are representative of the low frequency zonal mass transport variability. Preliminary studies suggest that seasonal variation in transport across the Australia-Antarctica choke point is driven by winds along and north of the northern front of the ACC, the Sub Tropical front (STF). It also appears that interannual variations in transport are related to wind variations centered south of the Sub Antarctic Front (SAF). We have observed a strong negative correlation/positive correlation across the STF of the ACC in the Indian Ocean, which suggests wind stress curl may also be responsible for transport variations.

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) has been orbiting the Earth and determining its gravity field since 2002. Throughout the course of the mission, the orbital elements occasionally change such that the satellites enter a repeat ground track configuration. Repeat ground tracks result in reduced spatial resolution of the satellites, which poses problems in the context of gravity recovery. The monthly gravity solutions during these periods are examined and shown to have lower quality than usual. The characteristics of these repeat period solutions are identified and compared to a period of uniform coverage to illustrate the ways in which the solutions are degraded. An investigation into the underlying physical and computational sources of these errors is also presented. / text

I developed a thermal model of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellite for the Center for Space Research to use in verifying their thermal models and for developing the next generation of satellites for their experiments. I chose COMSOL to model the satellite and used ProEngineer and 3Ds Max to generate the mesh from a .STEP file provided by DaimlerChrysler. I adjusted the model based on previous computer models and actual telemetry data from the GRACE satellite provided from 2002 through 2008. Using the model, I developed a sensitivity analysis of the satellites key thermal environment components and used that to recommend design changed for the next generation of satellites. Special attention should be given to redesigning the Star Camera Arrays and the heat transfer between the Main Equipment Platform and the Radiator. / text

La sequía agrícola ocurre cuando la cantidad de precipitación, su distribución, las reservas de agua en el suelo y las pérdidas producidas por la evapotranspiración se combinan para causar una disminución considerable de los rendimientos del cultivo y el ganado. Desde el punto de vista hidrogeofísico, la sequía se manifiesta como una disminución de las reservas de agua en la zona afectada por este evento. Durante el año 2009, la provincia de Buenos Aires se vió afectada por una sequía que se estima ha sido el peor evento de este tipo que atravesó el país en más de medio siglo y cuyos efectos climáticos repercutieron en un descenso significativo en los cuerpos de agua superficiales, una disminución de los niveles freáticos en toda la región y significativas pérdidas en la economía de la principal región agrícola-ganadera del país. El presente trabajo de Tesis analiza la potencialidad de la misión satelital Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) para detectar y estudiar esta impactante sequía. La misión espacial GRACE tiene como principal objetivo la medición de variaciones espacio-temporales del campo de gravedad terrestre, siendo estas variaciones de gravedad originadas principalmente por las variaciones de las reservas de agua. Para estudiar los efectos de la sequía en las reservas de agua subterráneas durante el año 2009 se tomó como referencia el año 2008 que puede considerarse a los fines de este análisis como un año hidrológico normal. Los datos utilizados consisten en alturas de agua equivalente calculados cada 10 días a partir de los datos de la misión GRACE por el Grupo de Investigación de Geodesia Espacial del Centro Nacional de Estudios Espaciales de Francia (CNES/GRGS). Estos datos satelitales que poseen una cobertura regional muy amplia, han sido comparados con datos puntuales de dos estaciones de medición de niveles freáticos ubicadas en las ciudades de Azul y La Plata. A partir de los datos de alturas de agua equivalente se realizó un seguimiento de la evolución de la sequía en la provincia de Buenos Aires que pudo ser validado por mediciones de los niveles freáticos. A partir de la correlación de los datos satelitales y de campo se calcularon propiedades de la zona de estudio, como la capacidad específica y las variaciones de humedad del suelo en la zona no saturada. El carácter regional del fenómeno de la sequía observado a partir de los datos de GRACE también queda de manifiesto en los descensos del los niveles freáticos observados en las estaciones de Azul y La Plata. Los resultados obtenidos muestran la utilidad de los datos de GRACE para cuantificar las reservas de agua subterráneas y realizar estudios regionales en zonas donde no se cuenta con datos de campo o resultan de difícil acceso.

In The Handmaid’s Tale, Bodily Harm, and Alias Grace, Atwood demonstrates that the connection between language, translation, and the female body is evident in the ways in which language is used to control the female body. Atwood posits that language systems assume the female body is fixed; however, language is inherently unstable. Consequently, if the female body is inscribed by language, the female body is not fixed just as a text is not fixed. Atwood writes the female body as a translation of masculinist text in order to resist the tradition of constructing the female body reductively through masculinist language. Through the attempts of her female characters to represent themselves (rather than being represented) in her work, Atwood illustrates that ?authentic? linguistic representation of the female body is impossible because language is a patriarchal construction which defines limitations on female voice and articulates the female body in masculinist terms.

God expresses Himself with emotions. This is well attested in Scripture, with statements of love (1Jn 4:8), anger (Ex 4:14), and delight (Isa 62:4). But the real question is not whether God has emotions, but what is the source of those emotions. If God emotes in the context of our suffering, and our suffering is not abated, does this mean that God is impotent or indifferent? Both possibilities yield a frightening conclusion. Rightly understanding the character and nature of God in this regard is paramount. For the past two thousand years, the prevailing doctrine was that God was in some way impassible, in that He is without passions or emotions with respect to his creation. This means that God does not change his feelings or thoughts about events on the earth. Even though certain passages called the “divine repentance” passages in the Old Testament (Ge 6:6-7; Ex 32:12-14; 1Sa 15:11, 35; Nu 23:19) appeared to contradict God’s impassibility, this was solved through the idea of anthropopathism, that is, the belief that God describes Himself with emotional terms. Prior to 1930, most of the English Bible renderings of the divine repentance passages preferred the word “repent,” because the prevailing theology was rooted in the impassibility of God, and these passages were deemed to be anthropopathic. But with the doctrine of God’s impassibility now in question, English Bible translations began to reflect the view that God actually reacts to our suffering with strong emotion. Words such as “sorry,” “grief,” “regret,” and even “changed his mind” were now used to describe the reaction of God whenever God appeared to be disappointed with his creation, or worse, if He was disappointed with his own plan. The purpose of this study is to provide an exegetical solution to the problem of God’s response in the divine repentance passages in four Old Testament historical texts. These passages are labelled as such because of the use of the Hebrew verb ~xn which describe God as “sorry” or “repenting.” For those who hold to God’s full immutability, the preferred view through the ages was that the Hebrew ~xn was to be taken as anthropopathically. This study will want to explore the possibilities of an alternative view for the Hebrew ~xn in the divine repentance passages which allow for God’s passibility while holding to his full immutability. Specifically, this study not only strives to answer the question “Does God repent?”, but through a sound methodology also wants to answer the larger question of the source of God’s emotion when his judgment or grace is in view. The methodology followed in this study is two-fold. First, it is biblical-theological, meaning that it utilises a whole-Bible theology, and following the work of Walter Kaiser and James Hamilton, posits that the Old Testament contains a theme or centre of grace within judgment. At the Fall in Ge 3, God simultaneously introduced judgment and grace into the world. That judgment and grace has never left. As one looks through the Bible, these are the two unbroken strands that weave their way through every chapter and every book. In addition, this study is also an exegetical study, and follows the grammaticalhistorical- lexical-syntactical methodology of Walter Kaiser. God disclosed Himself objectively through the words of a book. This book records actual historical events, as well as specific declarations and commands from God Himself. It is necessary that the words of this book be correctly understood in their context so that a correct understanding of God will result. Using this methodology, this study will explore the meaning of God’s ~xn in each divine repentance passage. The lexical study will be combined with the biblical-theological approach of a theme or centre of “grace within judgment” that flows through the Old Testament. Because of this, is it possible that God, who is fully immutable, provide us everything that we need to navigate a world of sin, suffering and uncertainty? The answer could very well be in the understanding of God’s ~xn in light of our suffering and sin. / PhD (Old Testament), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014