Thesis--Leipzig. / Cover title. "Sonderdruck aus dem XVII Jahresbericht des Institutes für rumänische Sprache zu Leipzig." Vita. Bibliography: p. 358-360.

Previous scholarly studies of the founder of the Ṣafawid dynasty in Iran, S̲hāh Ismāʻīl I, have concentrated, to a large extent, on the political events of this turbulent period and have described in detail the military career of this still little-known ruler. These earlier works have used only a limited range of historical material, drawing information mostly from straightforward historical chronicles, the majority of which are heavily biased in favour of the Ṣafawids. The intention of this present work has been to analyse in detail the personality of S̲hāh Ismāʻīl I and to fit this highly enigmatic personality into his social and cultural background. Particular emphasis has been placed on the religious attitudes and policies of S̲hāh Ismāʻīl and a detailed account has been given of his imposition of Twelver S̲hiʻism on Iran. Chapters I and II discuss his early life, while chapters III and IV treat different facets of his personality and the intellectual life at court. Chapter V is devoted to the relationship of S̲hāh Ismāʻīl with the various members of his close family. Chapters VI and VII are concerned with religious matters. The final chapter discusses the leisure activities of S̲hāh Ismāʻīl. Throughout the thesis, extensive use has been made of primary sources, some of which have not been used before; as for those sources already discussed by other scholars, they have been studied again in this thesis to lay stress on certain aspects of S̲hāh Ismāʻīl's reign previously overlooked.

Assessment of a significant number of water samples across South Africa by Casey and Meyer over a number of years, revealed that high concentrations (30- 32 mg/L) of bromine (Br) occur naturally within groundwater in South Africa, hence a potentially hazardous chemical constituent (PHCC). Br, the only liquid non-metallic element, is ubiquitous and an abundant trace element, but it has not been conclusively shown to perform essential functions in plants, micro organisms or animals (NRC, 2005). The recommended limit (maximum limit for no risk) for Br in drinking water was set at 1 mg/L by Kempster et al. (1980); Casey and Meyer (2001) recommend the relevant safety guideline for Br to be 0.01 mg/L. The aim of this project was to establish the effect of Br and iodine (I) in drinking water on the physiological parameters of broilers. This will contribute to verifying and refining water quality guidelines. The effect of six treatments administered as sodium bromide (NaBr) and potassium iodide (KI): 0 mg Br/L and 0 mg I/L; 1 mg Br/L; 1mg Br/L and 0.7 mg I/L; 0.7 mg I/L; 3 mg Br/L; 3 mg Br/L and 0.7 mg I/L, in the drinking water of 540 mixed Ross broiler chickens was investigated. The trial ran over a 42-day growth period from Day 1 post-hatching where mortalities, water and feed intakes were recorded daily. Chickens were weighed weekly and slaughtered at 4 and 6 weeks of age. Blood samples were taken before slaughter and free T3 and T4 hormone levels were quantified. Thyroid gland, liver and kidney samples were analysed for Br and I quantity. The different treatments of Br, irrespective of I, significantly decreased water intake (P=0.0232) and feed intake (P=0.0035) over the 42 days. The overall interaction of Br and I had no significant effect on water (P=0.0928) and feed (P=0.9593) intakes thus I did have an effective ameliorating effect on Br. FCR, weight gain and mortalities were not significantly affected by Br intake. This was also found for free T3 and T4 hormone levels. Br had an overall effect on the thyroid gland (P=0.0457), liver (P=0.0025) and kidney (P=0.0032) with accumulation of the PHCC within these three organs. It was apparent that 1 and 3 mg Br/L water administered to broilers or ingestion rates of 1.59 and 4.44 mg Br/L per bird per day, over a production period of 42 days did affect the production parameters of the birds sub-clinically. Another derivation to refine the water quality guidelines was that the administration of 0.7 mg I/L water or ingestion rates of 1.1 mg I/L per bird per day did alleviate the severe detrimental effect of the high PHCC. The 3 mg Br/L guideline is thus not too restrictive. Further research exposing the animals for a longer time period (exceeding 42 days) and exposing mature animals (producing nutritional products for human consumption) to these treatments would assist in quantifying these results. / Dissertation (MSc(Agric))--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Animal and Wildlife Sciences / unrestricted

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There is writing about how nineteenth-century churchgoers' views of other countries were formed by church periodicals. And there is writing about how opinions of the Cing and Japanese Empires were changed by the 'Cing-Japanese War of 1894-1895' ('First Sino-Japanese War'; 'Jiá-wǔ War'), and the 'Japanese-Táiwanese War of 1895'. But, there are no works making connections between these bodies of writing. This work makes such a connection through a comparison of writing about the wars in two church periodicals, the England-based Monthly Messenger and Gospel in China , and the Táiwan-based 'Dāi-lám Church News' ('Dāi-lám Hu-siá n Gào-ho ê -b e'). It makes the argument that the periodicals' writers and editors were on the side of the Japanese, as it seemed to them that Japanese success against the Cing Empire, and Japanese rule in Tái-wan, would make Western ways commoner in these places, which would be good for the Protestant Churches there. But the writers and editors had to give their opinions differently, as their readers were in different positions with respect to the wars. The Monthly Messenger's readers were in England; nothing the writers said about the war would make them any less safe, and so in both wars the periodical gave its support to the Japanese loudly and frequently. But the Church News' readers and writers were in Tái-wan. Openly supporting an attacking country could put them in danger, so the writers said nothing for or against any side in the first war, and were but quietly against the Táiwanese Republic in the second.

This study is concerned with modern Christian poetry in Afrikaans. Afrikaans poetry, which initially carried the clear stamp of the Afrikaner's Calvinistic view of life, gradually assumed a new image to the extent that it could no longer be recognised as religious and specifically Calvinistic poetry. To the contrary, modern Afrikaans Christian poetry is the expression of a contemporary conceptualisation of the very same gospel. The occasional violent reaction especially of conservative institutions to so called "unchristian" modern poetry in Afrikaans during the past three decades, has prompted this study which attempts to illustrate that modern Afrikaans poetry still exhibits a strong Christian element. The essential qualities of contemporary Christian poetry in Afrikaans are illustrated in the discussion of the works of particular leading Afrikaans poets. Chapter 3 attempts to indicate a transitional stage between traditional and modern Christian poetry by means of an overview of the latest tendencies and approaches, with brief references to the recent poetry of the Louws, the poetry of Peter Blum as the initial exponent of the poetry of the Sixties, and the poetry of Ina Rousseau. The work of Sheila Cussons, eminent Roman Catholic (and thus also Christian) poet who is probably the most impressive contemporary exponent of metaphysical/mystic poetry in Afrikaans, is discussed in chapter 4. Chapter 5 illustrates the traditional Calvinistic Christian point of view and Christian experience as represented in the poetry of I.L. de Villiers. The poetification of the ministry adds new dimension to religions poetry in Afrikaans. Chapter 6 constitutes a discussion of the works of T.T . Cloete, the most significant contemporary Reformed poet in Afrikaans indicating the extent to which the many related facets embodied in his poetry consistently reflect a Christian attitude and are unified in and encompassed by the principle of Soli Deo Gloria. Chapter 7, by way of conclusion, reviews the religious poetry of Lina Spies and Petra Müller who write accessible popular poetry, nevertheless exploring interesting references. In conjunction with the poetry of Ina Rosseau, this poetry represents a contribution to modern Afrikaans religious poetry from a feminine point of view