Thesis (D. Min.)--Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1995. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 241-243).

Ministry research project (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-124).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Ashland Theological Seminary, 2008. / Abstract . Description based on microfiche version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 179-187).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Ashland Theological Seminary, 2008. / Abstract . Includes bibliographical references (leaves 179-187).

This thesis studies some classes of non-periodic branch groups. In particular their growth, relations between elements and their Hausdorff dimensions.

No description available.

Thesis (D.Min.)--Asbury Theological Seminary, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 154-158).

The ping-pong lemma was introduced by Klein in the late 1800s to show that certain subgroups of isometries of hyperbolic 3-space are free and remains one of very few tools that certify when a pair of group elements generate a free subgroup or semigroup. Quantitatively applying the ping-pong lemma to more general group actions on metric spaces requires a blend of understanding the large-scale global geometry of the underlying space with local combinatorial and dynamical behavior of the action. In the 1980s, Gromov publish a sequence of seminal works introducing several metric notions of non-positive curvature in group theory where he asked which finitely generated groups have uniform exponential growth. We give an overview of various developments of non-positive curvature in group theory and past results related to building free semigroups in the setting of non-positive curvature. We highlight joint work with Radhika Gupta and Kasia Jankiewicz and with Carolyn Abbott and Davide Spriano that extends these tools and techniques to show several groups with that act on cube complexes and many hierarchically hyperbolic groups have uniform exponential growth. / Mathematics

Après une introduction générale et la présentation d'un exemple explicite dans le chapitre 1, nous exposons certains outils et techniques généraux dans le chapitre 2.- dans le chapitre 3, nous démontrons l'existence d'un principe de grandes déviations (PGD) pour les composantes de Cartan le long des marches aléatoires sur les groupes linéaires semi -simples G. L'hypothèse principale porte sur le support S de la mesure de la probabilité en question et demande que S engendre un semi-groupe Zariski dense. - Dans le chapitre 4, nous introduisons un objet limite (une partie de la chambre de Weyl) que l'on associe à une partie bornée S de G et que nous appelons le spectre joint J(S) de S. Nous étudions ses propriétés et démontrons que J(S) est une partie convexe compacte d'intérieur non-vide dès que S engendre un semi -groupe Zariski dense. Nous relions le spectre joint avec la notion classique du rayon spectral joint et la fonction de taux du PGD pour les marches aléatoires. - Dans le chapitre 5, nous introduisons une fonction de comptage exponentiel pour un S fini dans G, nous étudions ses propriétés que nous relions avec J(S) et démontrons un théorème de croissance exponentielle dense. - Dans le chapitre 6, nous démontrons le PGD pour les composantes d'Iwasawa le long des marches aléatoires sur G. L'hypothèse principale demande l'absolue continuité de la mesure de probabilité par rapport à la mesure de Haar.- Dans le chapitre 7, nous développons des outils pour aborder une question de Breuillard sur la rigidité du rayon spectral d'une marche aléatoire sur le groupe libre. Nous y démontrons un résultat de rigidité géométrique. / After giving a detailed introduction andthe presentation of an explicit example to illustrateour study in Chapter 1, we exhibit some general toolsand techniques in Chapter 2. Subsequently,- In Chapter 3, we prove the existence of a large deviationprinciple (LDP) with a convex rate function, forthe Cartan components of the random walks on linearsemisimple groups G. The main hypothesis is onthe support S of the probability measure in question,and asks S to generate a Zariski dense semigroup.- In Chapter 4, we introduce a limit object (a subsetof the Weyl chamber) that we associate to a boundedsubset S of G. We call this the joint spectrum J(S)of S. We study its properties and show that for asubset S generating a Zariski dense semigroup, J(S)is convex body, i.e. a convex compact subset of nonemptyinterior. We relate the joint spectrum withthe classical notion of joint spectral radius and therate function of LDP for random walks on G.- In Chapter 5, we introduce an exponential countingfunction for a nite S in G. We study its properties,relate it to joint spectrum of S and prove a denseexponential growth theorem.- In Chapter 6, we prove the existence of an LDPfor Iwasawa components of random walks on G. Thehypothesis asks for a condition of absolute continuityof the probability measure with respect to the Haarmeasure.- In Chapter 7, we develop some tools to tackle aquestion of Breuillard on the rigidity of spectral radiusof a random walk on a free group. We prove aweaker geometric rigidity result.

No description available.