Religious buildings have, for centuries, occupied a crucial position at the heart of our civic centres; anchoring communities through an emphasis on ritual, tradition and continuity. In recent years as urban neighbourhood perimeters shift in response to waves of immigration, and the cohesive congregations that supported them disperse, many buildings face abandonment or closure. In the last twenty‐five years a number of houses of worship have been adapted into museums and venues for cultural exchange, aiming to honour and interpret the religious history of the building while promoting dialogue with a diverse local community. This thesis explores the trend for adapting and converting houses of worship into museums and cultural centres. It assesses three unique sites as case studies: a former synagogue in London’s East End, a functioning synagogue on the Lower East Side of New York, and a former Methodist church in Cape Town, South Africa, as well as emerging sites located in active Anglican churches in London and the south east. My thesis postulates that former sacred places can be re‐animated by an arts group responding to the building’s spiritual legacy; utilising it to demonstrate a powerful link between the existing community and its early congregants. I argue that multiuse buildings which promote secular cultural programming while continuing to house a congregation may appeal to members of the public who do not necessarily identify with mainstream museum culture. This presents the field of museum studies with a new model for the ‘participatory’ museum: a landmark building which can respond to the distinct needs of a multi‐faith, ‘multicentred’ society. The analysis my thesis provides locates my work within at the intersection of theory and practice, and within broader developments in the disciplines of cultural, urban and museum studies, providing a socio‐historical perspective on a new kind of museum. It is intended to be used as a modus operandi for adaptive use by religious buildings.

This work is an investigation of the orthodox concept of exorcism in Islam. The main purpose of this study is to identify the orthodox Islamic viewpoint of spirit-possession of humans and its treatment (i.e., exorcism) based upon evidence from the Qur'An, the Sunnah, views of the sahabah (companions of Prophet Muhammad [4]) and the opinions of the early Sunnite scholars. This dissertation is comprised of an introduction, four chapters, a conclusion and two appendixes. The first chapter establishes the Islamic parameters of the spiritual world of created beings. The second chapter consists of a discussion of the orthodox understanding of spirit-possession and a delineation of the prophetic methodology of exorcism. The third chapter is devoted to a study of tabulated data from interviews with a sampling of modem-day, orthodox exorcists from various parts of the Muslim world and a brief presentation of exorcism according to Roman Catholicism. The fourth chapter consists of a comparative discussion of the second and third chapters, and it includes a conclusion in which the views of modem medicine are compared to exorcist tradition. Additionally, some questions concerning exorcism in Islam and other religions are answered.

Stanton Moor in the Peak District National Park, is a contested and multiple place. It is scattered with many meanings of past, present and future. Initially, this research discusses the main methodological techniques developed throughout the process of investigation, including the emancipatory approach of 'drifting'. Through being in the landscape, the researcher discovered five distinct yet interlinked 'place myths', constructed by: heritage managers; landowners; tourists; pagans; campers; locals and residents of the protest site. 'Place myths' are utopic idealised versions of the place. The thesis, outlines the ways 'users' interact with the place and others in the landscape, through the practices of guardianship- people interacting in ways to protect their place myths. The ways these multiple imaginings can be utilised, by official managers who attempt to promote care for sacred sites, is the focus for the final section. It suggests by incorporating the local community in the interpretative management of sacred sites, through creative consultation based techniques, the 'mindful visitor' can be promoted within formal interpretation strategies. This can ultimately create increased respect and appreciation of the multiple place for all involved, including managers and users of the site. The thesis offers new and distinct ways of experiencing and managing sacred sites. It provides a platform for the users voices to be heard, creating a ground roots history of the landscape. It mediates between diverse understandings and presents the differing voices within one place.

This thesis seeks to give an overview of the practice and manifestations of pilgrimage in medieval East Anglia. Unlike previous works on this subject it focuses not on a specific time period or a certain shrine, but attempts to give an overview of every shrine and associated locus within Suffolk and Norfolk (and where appropriate also of locations just beyond these boundaries) from the Anglo-Saxon conversion period to the Reformation. Inherent in this aim is a certain degree of editorial severity to fit the bounds of the format. This thesis seeks to amalgamate approaches and sources from a variety of disciplines, chief amongst them ecclesiastical history, archaeology, art history, landscape archaeology and antiquarian history to present a narrative for each shrine as well as to attempt to identify patterns, trends and changes in devotional behaviour across the region. The thesis comprises detailed case studies of the larger shrines across the region as well as an extensive gazetteer of minor locations and secondary focal points for pilgrimage, such as wells and other landscape features.

Liturgical Theology: Children and the City engages academic liturgical theology, contextual sensitivity and key challenges faced by the church in contemporary Britain. From its initial focus on the emphasis on congregational participation in the twentieth-century Liturgical Movement, and on the Church of England prayer-book Patterns for Worship (1989, 1993) as an example of a late twentieth-century liturgical resource that stresses participation, the thesis deepens perspectives on a number of related issues. As Patterns for Worship was intended especially to encourage participation in specific contexts - worship in 'urban priority areas', and in congregations seeking to include children - the thesis explores the themes of children and the city in order to suggest a range of challenges which need to be engaged by a contemporary contextually-sensitive liturgical theology. Then, as the discipline is largely neglected in Britain, it explores some North American expressions of liturgical theology and identifies a number of themes and features by which the arguments of Patterns for Worship might be strengthened, or questioned and recast on better foundations. Appreciation of the work of Gordon W Lathrop, Don E Saliers and James F White provides the basis for the thesis' contention that engagement with articulate theological perspectives on liturgy is necessary in order for Patterns for Worship to fulfil its potential. Conversely, however, the thesis also identifies issues with which the discipline of liturgical theology has by no means fully engaged, and so invites a more inclusive vision in liturgical theology. Towards the end of the thesis, the work attempts to initiate the kind of approach to liturgy that it claims is needed in order to fulfil the potential of Patterns for Worship. Using resources gleaned from North American liturgical theology it develops theological and practical ideas about how congregations in urban priority areas and seeking to include children can relate their celebration of liturgy to a sense of divine hospitality.

The passage of Proposition 203 in Arizona in November 2000, virtually replaced bilingual education with a default program for English Language Learners--Structured English Immersion (SEI). The requirement is for nearly all instruction to be in English, with a minimal amount of the native language allowed. This mixed-method study chronicles the implementation of Proposition 203 in a local school district and examines its effects on instructional practices, student achievement, as well as on school climate and culture. Also described are the mitigating requirements of NCLB and Arizona Learns and their effect on instruction for ELL students.Eight teachers in grades K-3 in both SEI and bilingual education programs, and two elementary bilingual special education teachers participated in the study. Six of the ten total participants hold an endorsement in bilingual education. Student achievement data included an analysis of AIMS scores in reading, writing, and math for 2005 and 2006. Qualitative research methodologies were used to obtain classroom observation data. Teacher interviews consisted of open-ended questions related to teachers' understanding about Proposition 203 and its effects on their instruction and school climate.This study suggests that SEI has not been successful in raising student achievement and English proficiency to the levels its proponents had promised. High-stakes testing and other requirements of NCLB and Arizona Learns have exacerbated district attempts to expand bilingual education programs. The study concludes with a summary of continued challenges regarding effective ELL instruction and recommendations and proposed solutions from the literature and the field.

In her fourth letter to Abelard, Heloise asks the question, "Oh what will become of us obedient ones?" The question presents a paradox. By putting her question in writing, Heloise violates the code of silence imposed on medieval women. The medieval church and the literate aristocracy agreed with Sophocles and Aristotle: silence is the adornment of women. Gender roles in medieval society were unambiguous. Men, by nature, belonged in the public, political arena where they directed the affairs of the world, in part, by thinking, speaking, and writing. Obedient to male authority, a woman's natural place was in the private, domestic domain where she was expected to perform the duties of daughter, sister, wife, and mother in muted obscurity. In spite of these restrictions, a few women put pen to parchment during the Middle Ages. This thesis examines the writing of three of these women, Perpetua, Dhuoda, and Hildegard of Bingen. Like Heloise, they considered themselves obedient even though they created texts in which they made their ideas and experiences available to readers in the male-dominated public discourse community. Research indicates that, because they were born into upperclass families, Perpetua, Dhuoda, and Hildegard probably enjoyed an education comparable to that of upperclass men. Although the curriculum available to each of these women included reading and writing Latin, researchers agree that writing was not considered an appropriate activity for medieval women. In addition to the cultural belief that good women were obedient and silent, it was also assumed that women were intellectually inferior to men and therefore not equipped to be competent writers. Research into theories about the process of thinking and writing has demonstrated that once such cultural assumptions are embedded in the human meaning-making system they are rarely questioned. These assumptions are perpetuated because the process of defining experience and developing ideas involves recombining patterns and metaphors provided by other writers and thinkers who usually share these beliefs. Perpetua's, Dhuoda's, and Hildegard's texts indicate that they accepted these cultural assumptions about women and did not question the fact that patterns and metaphors created by female writers were not available to them. Nevertheless, it is evident throughout the writing of all three women that they possessed genius and skill equal to that of men with similar intellectual gifts and educational opportunities. Yet the texts written by these women are often dismissed as less significant than texts written by men. Further research in rhetorical theory led to the realization that Perpetua, Dhuoda, and Hildegard have often been considered inferior writers, not because they were, but because the reader knows that he or she is reading a text written by a woman. Readers of these texts traditionally have assumed that these authors were obedient because they accepted their subservient position to men and the belief that women were, by nature, less intelligent and capable than men. This has led to the assumption that if the author acknowledges her inferiority she must indeed be a less competent artist than her male counterparts. Such readings have resulted in assessments of theses texts that ignore the complexity, art and significance of the work. This thesis demonstrates that the reader willing to suspend these assumptions in the process of reading Perpetua, Dhuoda, and Hildegard may find writing that is anything but the work of obedient, submissive women. He or she may also find authors whose thinking and writing skills equal those of male writers and whose opinions, observations, and experiences are more than marginal glosses on their historical context

Coastal regions are very important because they provide a lot of resources and benefits for all the humankind. Coastal defense structures protect coastal regions from wave attacks. However, the cost of construction such coastal defense structures are very high and need big investments. Hence, to reach the optimum design and minimize the risk of failure has vital importance during the design stage of these structures. Model studies are the most effective tool in optimizing the design of these structures. Rubble mound coastal defense structures were constructed with assembly of different sizes of armor stones and front slopes. Rubble mound coastal defense structures were designed by Van der Meer

It is well known that, socioeconomic development in coastal regions is in many respects are more rapid than elsewhere. The rapid development has been the outcome of recognition of these regions as a means providing ideal conditions for relatively cheap transport, food and mineral resource, petroleum, natural gas, agricultural and industrial development, housing and recreation, etc. Therefore, coastal areas are under threat due to forcing function of human activities. A novel technique addressed scenic evaluation through application of fuzzy logic methodologies to values obtained from checklist that itemized 26 human and physical parameters rated on five-point attribute scale. The methodology enabled calculation of an Evaluation Index (D) which categorizes all sites and statistically best described attribute values in terms of weighted areas. The methodology developed for coastal scenic evaluation using Fuzzy Logic Approach (FLA) is a very useful tool in making future management plans for coastal areas by simulating different human usages. With regard to coastal zone management this technique is suitable for evaluating future potential changes especially with regard to influence of coastal structures on the coastal scenery. This work will hopefully be utilized by coastal mangers, planners, academics, governmental agencies, as to improve the especially human usage of the coastal areas also this work will be a tool for the preservation and conservation and the sustainable development of the coastal areas. For the pilot site, &Ccedil / irali, D values are calculated and corresponding classes are found for different attributes of parameters rising from the human usage.

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