The purpose of this study is to reveal that local churches are in a declining state. It further proves there is a need for strategies to turn around decline in local churches, with an emphasis on a case of Second Bethel, African Methodist Episcopal local church. To address the possible causes of the decline in local church membership, this study was conducted. The participants provided data indicating the causes of local church membership decline. The participants agreed that as per chapter four report what were the cause for this decline in membership This study presented several reasons why churches are declining in membership and possible strategies to curb a decline in membership into growing churches. / MA (Biblical Studies/Theology)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015.

Nowadays the Learning Management System (LMS) platforms provide limited bidirectional, interactive mechanisms that they are competent to handle personal or small-scale distance learning systems. These mechanisms are designed for one to many online tutorials, and the technology utilizes single-input by single-output video stream technology, the video and audio data need to be coupled with one or many Multipoint Control Units (MCU) to mix or convert them into a single output media stream. In this platform MCU is critical to LMS, however, such system is expensive, lack of capacity and difficult to be massively deployed. Access-Grid (AG), an Open Source program, offers users capability to watch online multimedia audio-video contents from all the interconnected nodes of LMS through Multicast protocol, and supports groups-to-group high quality interactive distance learning. It requires all the networks to support the Multicast protocol. The MBONE (Multicast Backbone) can be used to connect different Multicast groups via Unicast communication. However, if the number of groups involving in the distance learning are large, the host computers or routers of the network will be heavily loaded because they need to handle the delivering of the media packets. To use a QuickBridge for aggregating and delivering packages is an alternative of LMS and requires (N-1) *N *BW bandwidth . For example, if there is a 15 nodes online conference and each node uses 800kbps data rate to transmit audio-video contents, then the demanded bandwidth of the aggregation is 168 Mbps. The way of dispersing and controlling the data flow becomes important factors and will greatly affect the quality of the AG online conference. This thesis modifies the procedure of AG and QuickBridge, and allows all the AG Clients to be able to transmit Unicast and Multicast packets in the online conference. It offers a Meeting Management Server to dynamically adjust topology and hub points, and achieves better elasticity to the system. By modifying VIC and RAT procedure, the system controls the outbound audio-video data flow from each nodes of online conference, and reduces the demand of bandwidth. The system can directly provide end-to-end conferencing, using Unicast communication to connect the nodes in different Multicast groups, or using the Multicast on the backbone and then using unicast communication to the local nodes. The functionality of the LMS can be improved and capable of supporting multi-windows to multi-user interactive online conference for the users. The results of this thesis can be applied upon real-time interactive distance learning, online video conferencing and interactive online TV. It also helps to lower the cost of the system and reduce the requirement of network bandwidth.

Drive requirements of tractors and communal vehicles are demanding and varied. Energy efficiency and the different requirements in off-road and on-road operation are the basis for a powerful drive. Combinations with the so-called hydrostatic wide angle technology are often used. The article deals with a hydraulic drive with wide angle technology (45°) and an integrated, quick-shift, single stage transmission. A particularly large conversion range can be realized with this. Special shift elements, sensors and an adjustment developed for this purpose enable a fast, quiet and low-wear gear change. This new gearbox development will in future be implemented at RIGITRAC in cooperation with SAUER BIBUS.

Suspension systems are used to diminish the vibration of vehicles. The hydraulic dampers in conventional suspension systems are mainly designed with the orifices of the piston; however, the vibration energy will be transferred into waste heat. In recent years, conventional vehicles with internal combustion engines and hybrid vehicles are used commonly. However, with the gradual depletion of fossil fuels, electric vehicles are developing. For this reason, the research focuses on recycling energy from the suspension of vehicles to improve the vehicle’s endurance. The purpose of this study is to develop a semi-active suspension control system with an energy harvesting system. Instead of the fixed orifices in conventional vehicles, an adjusting damping force method with variable resistance circuits system is studied for the semi-active suspension control system. Thus, we are able to develop semi-active control to improve the riding comfort. The energy harvesting system contains a hydraulic gear motor and a DC generator. When vehicles vibrate, the hydraulic damper serves as a hydraulic pump to compress the oil and drive the hydraulic motor. At the same time, the hydraulic motor drives the generator to generate electricity which will be stored in a battery. In this study, the test rig is the quarter-car system. We first design the novel hydraulic suspension system combining with the energy harvesting system. The simulation of dynamic mathematical model will be performed and analyzed by MATLAB/Simulink. Besides that, the semiactive control by the fuzzy sliding mode controller will be realized in the hydraulic suspension system with energy harvesting system. Finally, a test rig is set up for practical experimental implementation and verification.

The International UDC Seminar 2009 “Classification at a Crossroads - multiple directions to usability” took place in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in The Hague on 29-30 October 2009. It was a truly international event as it attracted 135 delegates from 32 countries comprising librarians, LIS lecturers, researchers, information consultants, Web technologists and indexing specialists.

This research study aims to assess the potential for Saudi Arabia to become an international conference destination. Faced with problems created by rising unemployment, a rapidly growing population, and fears over dependence on petroleum output and price, the kingdom is currently looking to develop new sources of employment and national revenue. Having joined the World Trade Organization in 2005, Saudi Arabia is committed to liberalizing its markets and opening to foreign participation by creating investment and business opportunities. Developing an international conference sector is considered a potentially suitable way to meet the current domestic and international imperatives to change and the challenges these present.‎ The growth of new markets and international conference destinations in a globalizing economy is leading to increased research. However, the field is still young: there has been limited attention paid to the perspective of delegates and much of the research has been concerned with western destinations. As no other study has been carried out into the potential of this sector in Saudi Arabia, or the Gulf region, this research makes an original contribution to knowledge. A mixed methods approach was adopted to explore and assess both the practical capacity of the country to host international conferences and the socio-political context that might impact on this development. The primary sources of data were officials in the field and visiting delegates, whose views and knowledge were obtained through the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods (through a questionnaire and interviews respectively). The results are integrated in the final discussion. The findings indicate that, although Saudi Arabia has the practical capacity to host international conferences, the effects of an ambivalent attitude towards opening up to the outside world - expressed through a number of factors embedded in the socio-political situation in the kingdom - has led to an impasse which is blocking development.

In December 2007 I began an internship with the Tennessee Williams Scholars' Conference/Tennessee Williams Annual Review. The Conference and Review are co-produced by Williams expert and professor of English at Middle Tennessee State University Dr. Robert Bray and the publications department of The Historic New Orleans Collection. The majority of my internship took place from my home and at The Collection, where I also currently serve full-time as an editor on book projects and the institution's quarterly magazine. The following report provides an overview of my internship, my analysis of the operation of the Conference/Review, and my recommendations for the organization developed over the course of my tenure, which will conclude in December 2008.

Die Studentenkonferenz des Instituts für Informatik der Universität Leipzig richtet sich an alle Studierende der Informatik sowie angrenzender Disziplinen mit Schwerpunkt Informatik. Die Konferenz setzt sich zum Ziel, Studierenden eine Plattform zu bieten, ihre Projekte und Forschungsvorhaben vorzustellen. Im Mittelpunkt der Tagung stehen studentische Projekte aus Seminaren, Praktika, Abschlussarbeiten oder extracurricularen Aktivitäten. Die SKIL bietet den Studierenden die Möglichkeit, vor einem akademischen Publikum Ideen, Pläne und Ergebnisse zu präsentieren und zu diskutieren. Die Organisation der Konferenz unterscheidet sich nur wenig von wissenschaftlichen Fachkonferenzen. Die Einreichung der Beiträge erfolgte mit Hilfe eines Conference Systems; anschließend wurden alle Einreichungen durch das Programmkomitee bewertet. Angenommene Beiträge wurden am Konferenztag vorgestellt und in dem hier vorliegendem Tagungsband publiziert. Die dritte Studentenkonferenz Informatik Leipzig 2012 fand im Rahmen der SABRE am 25.09.2012 statt. Die SABRE ist eine internationale integrative Multikonferenz auf dem Gebiet zukunftsweisender Technologien der Softwareentwicklung, Agententechnologien und Servicecomputing für Wirtschaft, Entwicklung und Wissenschaft. Die SKIL 2012 wurde am Institut für Angewandte Informatik (InfAI) e.V. organisiert. Initiiert und maßgeblich realisiert wurde die SKIL 2012 von den Forschungsgruppen Agile Knowledge Engineering and Semantic Web (AKSW) und Service Science and Technology (SeSaT) der Universität Leipzig.

Cette recherche décrit et analyse le processus de mise en œuvre d’un dispositif de justice restaurative au sein du système de justice des mineurs. Le projet s’inscrit dans la politique générale du Ministère de la justice et particulièrement de celle de la Direction territoriale de la protection judiciaire de la jeunesse (DTPJJ). Il est l’un des premiers à être expérimenté sur le plan national avec pour objectif la tenue de conférences restauratives, c’est-à-dire des rencontres en face à face entre infracteurs et victimes, accompagnés de leurs proches et en présence d’un facilitateur ou médiateur. L’expérimentation a associé deux entités du Ministère de la justice, le tribunal de grande instance de Caen et le Service Territorial éducatif de milieu ouvert (STEMO) et trois entités du milieu associatif que sont l’ACJM, le CIDFF qui sont des services d’aide aux victimes et l’Association de thérapie familiale systémique (ATFS).L’expérimentation n’a pu déboucher que sur une seule conférence restaurative entre un jeune, auteur d’un vol avec effraction dans une école et la directrice de cet établissement. Elle a abouti à la conclusion d’un plan de réparation proposé par le mineur et accepté par la victime puis consigné dans un rapport et validé par le médiateur.Le présent travail restitue les enseignements d’une immersion par participation active aux différentes phases du projet, depuis la signature du protocole initial jusqu’aux différentes réunions de bilan du processus. Cette implication, assise sur les enseignements tirés de ma participation antérieure à un programme de justice restaurative en Côte d’Ivoire, m’a permis d’effectuer une enquête ethnographique approfondie.Après avoir situé les enjeux socio-politiques liés à l’implantation internationale de pratiques de justice restaurative et restitué les enseignements de mon expérience Ivoirienne, j’analyse le déroulement de l’expérience caennaise dans un cadre théorique ouvert référé à la sociologie de la traduction et aux économies de la grandeur.Cet ensemble vient selon moi documenter la question suivante : peut-on, malgré les lenteurs et difficultés inhérentes à l’instauration d’une innovation sociale telle que la justice restaurative parier sur les effets bénéfiques d’une rencontre médiée entre les protagonistes d’une infraction ? / This research describes and analyzes the process of implementing a restorative justice system within the juvenile justice system. The project is part of the general policy of the ministry of justice and particularly that of the Direction territorial de la protection judiciaire de la jeunesse (DTPJJ). He is one of the first to be experimented at the national level with the aim of holding restorative conferences, in face to face meetings between offenders and victims, accompanied by their relatives and in the presence of a facilitator or mediator. The expert appraisal involved two entities of the ministry of justice, the hight court of Caen and the Service territorial éducatif de milieu ouvert (STEMO) and three associations that are Association de contrôle judiciaire et médiation (ACJM), Centre d’informations sur les droits des femmes et des familles (CIDFF) which are victim support and Association de thérapie familiale et systémique (ATFS).The experiment was only able to stop at a single restorative conference between a young person who had broken into a school and the director of that school. It led to the conclusion of a repair plan proposed by minor and accepted by the victim then recorded in a report and validated by the mediator.The present work presents the lessons of an immersion through active participation in the various phases of the project from the signing of the initial protocol to the various review meeting of the process. This involvement based on the lessons learned from my previous participation in the program of restorative justice in Côte d’Ivoire allowed me to carry out an in depth ethnographic survey.After having located the socio-political issues related to the international implementation of practices of restorative justice and restituted the lessons of my Ivorian experience, I analyze the unfolding of the Caen experience in an open theoretical framework refered to the sociology of translation and economic of greatness.This set comes in my opinion to document the following question: Can one despite the delays and difficulties inherent in the establishment of a social innovation such as restorative justice bet on the beneficial effects of a mediated meeting between the protagonists of offense?

Modern educational administration demands that all departments be conducted on a business-like basis. Because of the amount of money taken in and spent, the financial management of his department is one of the most important duties of the director of athletics. Lack of knowledge or ability in this area may well handicap the whole program.