This dissertation compares the religious epistemology of Carl F. H. Henry and of Alvin Plantinga. Chapter 1 briefly examines the impact of the Enlightenment and its subsequent developments upon religious epistemology and provides an overview of the thought of Carl F. H. Henry and of Alvin Plantinga. Chapter 2 examines the religious epistemology of Carl F. H. Henry with specific attention to the development of his religious epistemology within the Augustinian tradition and his conception of the Logos doctrine as an essential component of religious epistemology. Chapter 3 examines the important critiques of Henry's religious epistemology. Chapter 4 examines the religious epistemology of Alvin Plantinga, with specific attention to the development of his religious epistemology within the Augustinian tradition and the development of the concept of warranted Christian belief. Chapter 5 examines several important critiques of Plantinga's religious epistemology. This dissertation concludes that the works of Henry and Plantinga are important for contemporary discussions of theological method and religious epistemology within evangelical theology. Specifically, the connection that is evident in Henry and Plantinga's work between the ability of humanity to know God and the special status of humanity as bearing the image of God could be the core idea which serves as the epistemological application of the ontological reality of God's existence. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.

University of Macau / Faculty of Arts and Humanities. / Department of English

The purpose of this master thesis is to create, test and evaluate an analytical instrument for children’s library environment based on a theoretical framework consisting of Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences and Thomas Armstrong’s pedagogical application of the original seven intelligences. We wanted to investigate whether the environment in Rum för barn stimulated all of children’s different intelligences. We also wanted to identify possibilities and liabilities within the analytical instrument. In order to test the analytical instrument we conducted observations on the physical environment of the Swedish children’s library Rum för barn. We did not observe the staff, visitors or social interaction in the library. The results of our investigation of the environment in Rum för barn implicated that all seven intelligences were stimulated by the physical environment. We analyzed the results in a discussion where we compared them to our empirical material consisting of research about children and environment from different scientific fields. Our conclusions of this master thesis were that our analytical instrument made it possible to investigate the physical environment of children’s libraries. It also determined whether the environment stimulated the seven intelligences according to the theory of multiple intelligences. The analytical instrument could therefore be used for the development of children’s library environments. We also identified some liabilities in the analytical instrument, mainly concerning the definitions of some environmental concepts, age adjustments and the fact that we excluded observations of social interactions. We suggested solutions to the liabilities and encouraged further research on the subject. / Uppsatsnivå: D

Diplomová práce se zabývá analýzou mezinárodního úspěchu společnosti Starbucks. Příčiny tohoto bezprecedentního úspěchu jsou nejprve detekovány ve vnějších faktorech a v odvětví samotném. Následuje pozorování strategických kroků společnosti od založení až po mezinárodní expanzi a podrobná deskripce interních praktik společnosti. V analytické části je pak vymezen a aplikován model, který byl vyvinut na Bocconské univerzitě v Miláně. Jednotlivé předpoklady modelu jsou porovnávány s postupem společnosti Starbucks. Vyhodnocením shodností a odlišností reality a modelu se pak dochází k závěrům, které vysvětlují příčiny extrémně pozitivních výsledků společnosti Starbucks a její schopnosti přeměnit stagnující neatraktivní odvětví na lukrativní obor s vysokými maržemi.

From the early 1980s until the late 1990s the genre or sub-genre known as sword-&-sorcery was largely moribund. The Tolkien-derived high fantasy novel, on the other hand, flourished and mutated into six, eight, ten volume, or open-ended series. Even though the terms high fantasy and sword-&-sorcery are sometimes used interchangeably, sword-&-sorcery came to be viewed as an inferior, cruder form: rougher in style, more limited structurally, stunted in terms of character development, even morally questionable (rather than ambiguous). Revivifying the Ur-text aims to investigate if it is possible to subvert the genre, to create a work that realizes the form s potential to exist as literature . In order to do this it attempts to both analyze and re-vision the form by rendering the genre down to its pristine elements - exemplified but not monopolized by the widely-acknowledged creator of the sword-&-sorcery form, Robert E. Howard. The critical areas of the thesis thus concentrate on Howard, but extend backwards to Beowulf as proto-sword-&-sorcery and forwards to contemporary fantasy writers such as Joe Abercrombie and Steve Erikson. It begins by constructing an account of the creation of the form by Howard, hypothesizing that the conditions for its genesis are a result of the writer s internal emotional and thought processes interacting with external circumstances. This is followed by a study of a set of highly influential anthologies published in the sixties edited by Lyon Sprague de Camp, interrogating de Camp s introductions as well as his selections, sub-categorizing these into the variations on the Howardian model which evolved in the wake of his 1920/30s work, work from which other writers developed a commonly perceived genre. From this the thesis proceeds to a consideration of related forms such as epic fantasy, science fantasy, and grimdark, prefaced by a survey and analysis of what sword-&-sorcery was/is perceived to be by commentators such as de Camp, Brian Attebery and Peter Nicholls. These sections are followed and augmented by a refocusing on Robert E. Howard. A consideration of the crucial relationship between violence and the numinous in his fantasy is central to this thesis. This is done both through research into published texts, mainly fictional but also non-fictional, and is discussed both generally and through in-depth case studies of two stories, attempting to identify the particular elements of his writing which contributed to the birth and definition of sword-&-sorcery in order to establish Howard s output as an Ur-text . The creative heart of this research is my sword-&-sorcery fiction, The Shadow Cycles. Here I have attempted to write a narrative in the form which innovates narrative techniques, modifying or abandoning the generic scaffolding of situations, and methods of characterization, and developing a style of language appropriate to my aim of revisioning Howard s Ur-text for the 21st century. This is followed by a concluding afterthesis which draws on all the preceding sections to explicate the relationship between the critical and creative elements of the thesis. As with earlier critical sections, these recruit a synthesis of literary history, influence studies, genre theory, narratology, and practical criticism. By so doing they touch on conceptions of the literary such as those of Bakhtin, Eagleton, Todorov, and Katherine Hume.

Yu Yan Ting Renee. / Thesis (M.Div.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-71). / Abstract --- p.",ii" / Acknowledgement --- p.iv / Table of Contents --- p.V / Chapter Chapter One: --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter (I) --- Overview --- p.1 / Chapter (II) --- Statement of Research Questions --- p.3 / Chapter (III) --- Definitions of Professions --- p.4 / Chapter (A) --- Pastoral Counseling --- p.4 / Chapter (B) --- Pastoral Care --- p.6 / Chapter Chapter Two: --- Stone´ةs Theology in Pastoral Counseling --- p.8 / Chapter (I) --- Introduction --- p.8 / Chapter (II) --- “The Word of God´ح in Stone´ةs Theology in Pastoral Counseling --- p.10 / Chapter (III) --- “Acceptance of Self and Spirit´ح in Stone´ةs Theology in Pastoral Counseling --- p.14 / Chapter (IV) --- Theodicy in Stone´ةs Theology in Pastoral Counseling --- p.17 / Chapter (V) --- Theological Assessment in Pastoral Counseling --- p.20 / Chapter (VI) --- Spiritual Direction as a Concern in Pastoral Counseling --- p.21 / Chapter (VII) --- Pastoral Care as Community Endeavor --- p.23 / Chapter Chapter Three: --- Stone´ةs Brief Pastoral Counseling --- p.26 / Chapter (I) --- Introduction --- p.26 / Chapter (II) --- Methodologies of Stone´ةs Brief Pastoral Counseling --- p.28 / Chapter (III) --- Practice of Stone´ةs Brief Pastoral Counseling --- p.33 / Chapter Chapter Four: --- A Dialogue Between Stone´ةs Theology in Pastoral Counseling And His Brief Pastoral Counseling --- p.45 / Chapter (I) --- Word of God in Pastor-Counselor and Parishioner-Counselee Relationship --- p.45 / Chapter (II) --- Proactive Role of Pastors as Means of Grace or Means of Goal --- p.48 / Chapter (III) --- Assessment in Brief Pastoral Counseling --- p.49 / Chapter (IV) --- Making Change as the Goal in Brief Pastoral Counseling --- p.51 / Chapter (V) --- Role and Meaning of Suffering in Brief Pastoral Counseling --- p.54 / Chapter (VI) --- Community Endeavor --- p.57 / Chapter (VII) --- Influence of Solution-Focused Approaches in Stone´ةs Brief Pastoral Counseling --- p.58 / Chapter Chapter Five: --- Conclusion --- p.63 / Appendix 1 ： Pastoral Counseling Checklist --- p.66 / Bibliography --- p.70

Dependently typed programming languages allow the type system to express arbitrary propositions of intuitionistic logic, thanks to the Curry-Howard isomorphism. Taking full advantage of this type system requires defining more types than usual, in order to encode logical correctness criteria into the definitions of datatypes. While an abundance of specialized types helps ensure correctness, it comes at the cost of needing to redefine common functions for each specialized type. This dissertation makes an effort to attack the problem of code reuse in dependently typed languages. Our solution is to write generic functions, which can be applied to any datatype. Such a generic function can be applied to datatypes that are defined at the time the generic function was written, but they can also be applied to any datatype that is defined in the future. Our solution builds upon previous work on generic programming within dependently typed programming. Type theory supports generic programming using a construction known as a universe. A universe can be considered the model of a programming language, such that writing functions over it models writing generic programs in the programming language. Historically, there has been a trade-off between the expressive power of the modeled programming language, and the kinds of generic functions that can be written in it. Our dissertation shows that no such trade-off is necessary, and that we can write future-proof generic functions in a model of a dependently typed programming language with a rich collection of types.

This thesis presents a study of John Howard’s leadership of Australian foreign policy from 1996 to 2003. It documents and examines the way in which John Howard, Australia’s national leader, managed the complex challenges presented by two major events in Australian foreign policy: the East Timor crisis and the war against Iraq. Because it is the national leader who speaks for the nation, the manner in which the Prime Minister articulates and communicates the country’s foreign policy is vitally important, both domestically and internationally. Two theoretical concepts—constant scanning and multidimensional diplomacy—are proposed and developed in this thesis to explore and analyse how national leaders, situated at the nexus of domestic and foreign concerns, manage the distinctive challenges presented to them in this position. They also assist in understanding and explaining John Howard’s particular approach to these two major foreign policy issues. This study demonstrates that both constant scanning and multidimensional diplomacy are useful descriptive and normative tools for examining ways in which national leaders communicate and implement their foreign policies in the increasingly interconnected political landscape. By tracing and documenting the trajectory of Howard’s foreign policy, this study finds that his skill and confidence in the area of foreign policy, and his command and control of the foreign policy process, all increased over time. The evidence also suggests that he developed a greater awareness of the need to employ both constant scanning and multidimensional diplomacy. However, as this study shows, his absolute commitment to the ANZUS alliance saw him relinquish the responsibility to employ them in the case of Iraq. This study draws on exisiting knowledge in the areas of leadership, political science and international relations as a basis for testing the proposed concepts of constant scanning and multidimensional diplomacy. It then explores the wider application of these approaches for leaders striving to balance domestic and international concerns and considers their importance for the security and stability of the international system.

The Howard Government has made public its agenda to significantly reform the Australian Public Service (APS). It has presented its vision for a highly efficient APS which is globally competitive by being customer focused, and by benchmarking best practice in organisation management. Outsourcing of a range of internal functions is but one of the strategies Commonwealth agency Chief Executive Officers are applying or considering to apply in achieving the Government's vision for a reformed APS. When examining functions to be outsourced within Commonwealth agencies it seems that many senior managers see benefits in outsourcing a range of corporate support functions. Such support functions, which are considered as potentially being undertaken by private sector vendors, generally include property management, financial management, payroll services, records management, human resource management (HRM) and human resource development (HRD). In view of the varying impacts different functions have on an organisation it would be rational to consider the implications of outsourcing each function separately. All functions are complex and have their own specific impacts on the organisation. In its own right HRD has a significant impact on an organisation in that it develops and trains employees, initiates and delivers a range of interventions to improve performance and brings about a desired corporate culture. The idea of outsourcing the HRD function presents an interesting topic for study. Recent APS reforms, which include outsourcing strategies, provide an opportunity to examine the practice of outsourcing the HRD function within selected Commonwealth agencies. Outsourcing the HRD function, within the Commonwealth context, raises two basic questions: · What factors need to be considered before deciding to outsource (or not outsource) the HRD function? · What factors do managers within selected Commonwealth agencies consider before arriving at a decision to outsource the HRD function? In essence this study seeks to review how HRD and outsourcing generally apply to the APS. It also critically examines the outsourcing of the HRD function in certain Commonwealth agencies, and the implication this could have for ongoing people and organisation development.

Cette thèse étudie différents aspects de la réalisabilité classique due à Jean-Louis Krivine. Celle-ci permet de mettre en oeuvre l'isomorphisme de Curry-Howard: on peut ainsi associer un programme à chaque démonstration mathématique, et considérer chaque théorème comme une spécification. Dans un premier temps, on rappelle le formalisme de la réalisabilité classique ainsi que certains de ses résultats fondamentaux. On s'attache ensuite à l'analyse des contenus opérationnels obtenus suivant deux méthodes différentes d'étude des entiers des modèles de la réalisabilité. Dans un second temps, on rappelle la notion de jeu qui peut être associée à chaque formule du premier ordre dans ce cadre. Ces jeux permettent d'établir une correspondance entre les formules valides du calcul des prédicats et les protocoles de la couche transport des réseaux, que l'on peut spécifier de manière claire et précise par ce biais. La dernière partie est consacrée à l'étude de l'axiome du choix dépendant. On montre que la méthode développée pour le réaliser s'adapte à une expression simple de celui-ci au niveau des individus d'un modèle. On utilise enfin l'instruction associée pour réaliser un cas particulier du théorème de Herbrand. Le terme obtenu effectue une opération très générale, qui peut être interprétée dans le cadre des protocoles réseaux.