A 20 kg/hr ritual-money combustion chamber and a 20 Am3/min (@35oC) wet scrubber were setup for performance tests on the removal of TSP (total solid particulates) from the combustion flue gas. Test results indicate that (1) TSP in the flue gas ranged from 93-157 (avg. 126) and 127-182 (avg. 157) mg/m3 (@35oC) at gas drawing rates (QG) of 13.1 and 26.3 m3/min (@35oC), respectively, and ritual-money combustion rates of 14.2-16.3 (avg. 15.3) kg/hr. The lower gas drawing rate gave lower TSP concentrations in the flue gas. TSP removal efficacy varied linearly with the liquid scrubbing rate (QL) and a 70% TSP removal was achieved at a QL of 60 L/min which is equivalent to a scrubbing-liquid intensity of 4.0 L/m2.s over the scrubber cross section. (2) Visual smoke intensity in the exit of the scrubber chimney was not apparent with a combustion rate of 16 kg/hr, scrubbing intensity of 4.0 L/m2.s, and gas drawing rates of 13.1 and 26.3 m3/min. (3) Scrubbing water consumptions of 1.2-2.4 L were estimated for a combustion of 1 kg ritual money. (4) Pertinent design parameters of a scrubber for 70% TSP removal from the flue gas are (a) liquid/gas ratio (QL/QG) = 3-6 L liquid/(m3 gas @30oC); (b) superficial gas velocity over the scrubber cross section (UG) = 0.6-1.2 m/s; (c) superficial liquid velocity over the scrubber cross section (UL) = 0.004 m/s; and (d) a gas-liquid contacting length of 0.70 m. Results also show that the combustion exit gas odor concentration (D/T, dilution times to threshold) could be removed from 309 to 232 by the scrubber at operation conditions of QG = 13.1 and 26.3 m3/min, and QL = 60 L/min. Results also show that parts of CO2, CO, and NO could be removed by the scrubbing liquor, and there was no significant removal for NO2 and SO2 by the scrubber. By spraying KClO3 on a homemade wood pulp ritual money at a dosage of 3 wt.%, it shows that it burned more rapidly and with more smoke emission than a non-sprayed sample. Experiments also show that FeCl3 (15mg/L) was a satisfactory coagulant for enhancing the coagulation and sedimentation of the suspended solids (SS) in the wasted scrubbing liquor (known as Gray water). By the coagulant, SS in the Gray water with a pH of 7.0 could be removed from 100 to < 10 mg/L. XRD (X-Ray Diffraction) examination of a bottom ash sample indicates that the ash has an elemental composition of O, Na, Al, and Si of 49.9, 11.8, 23.8, and 15.1%, respectively. SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) analysis indicates that the collected fly ash and the bottom one have particle sizes of 20-110 (mostly 45-60 nm) and 50-300 (average 250) nm, respectively.

This thesis aims to analyze the gender dynamics in the Alevi belief and the &lsquo / Cem&rsquo / rituals by focusing on the gap and tension between the discourse of equality and practices of the rituals. Within the framework of a theoretical approach which underlines the evolution of monotheistic religions along a patriarchal line of development and the resultant subordination of women particularly in the rituals, the approach and the discourse of the Alevi belief on women is overviewed. In this study, &lsquo / cem&rsquo / ceremonies of the selected Alevi communities in Istanbul and Isparta are analyzed empirically. It is contended that while there are significant differences in terms of gender dynamics and women&rsquo / s position between the observed cems, in general the gender equality principle of the belief is not fully realized. It is contended that the gender issue and women&rsquo / s position vis-a-vis men constitute a major site of the constitution of the Alevi identity in the Turkish society. However, although patriarchal practices and premises have permeated the ritual dynamics of the Alevis, they are also subject to ongoing negotiations, legitimizations and interpretations by male and female actors of the community.

Thesis (M.A.)--Denver Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-130).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2000. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 159-166).

The construction of buildings to replicate specific places within the mythic landscape was a long-standing and widespread tradition in ancient Mesoamerica. This study moves beyond the identification of motifs that marked buildings as mythic, as it examines the messages communicated by these structures and evaluates the meaning and impact of mythic architecture within its historic and cultural contexts. An essential aspect of this study is the investigation of ritual dramas which reenacted episodes from creation narratives. By physically re-creating mythic locations and by re-actualizing mythic events, Mesoamerican communities manifested cosmogonic space and time so that the mythic was made present. Moreover, each building was constructed during a specific moment in time and at a particular location, and therefore it reflected and responded to particular historical realities. Because of this, Mesoamerican mythic architecture had a dual significance: both mythic and historic. Mythic architecture was an active force within the community: it communicated views concerning the origins of the world and the foundations of rulership and culture. It also made these concepts tangible within the historical world. Its very presence confirmed the reality of the mythic realm, thereby reinforcing and validating the culture’s core constructs. Because these structures manifested the mythical landscape, they were particularly potent locations for the reenactment of mythological events. These mythic dramas took place in real time which placed the structure within a specific historical context. When it was the ruler who took on the identity of the creation deities during mythic performances, the blending of myth and history was most significant. In addition, mythic dramas were the means by which the populace could be directly integrated into the mythological narrative. By examining evidence of mythic architecture and mythic drama from different Mesoamerican cultures—with a particular focus upon Classic period Copán and the Postclassic Aztec Templo Mayor—this dissertation demonstrates how they reflected their specific cultural contexts and how different communities interacted with these structures in distinct ways. This study also provides new insight into the significance of these structures at specific places and times and suggests how mythic architecture reflected changing historical circumstances. / text

Despite prohibitions attributed to the Prophet Muhammad strictly forbidding the practice of dramatic acts of public mourning, Muslim women have persisted in wailing performances throughout history and across boarders. Pashtun social ethics require women to participate in visitation exchanges commemorating sorrowful and joyous events experienced by members of their social circle known as gham-xadi exchanges. These exchanges, which involve performative mourning rites, affirm a woman’s place in society through the maintenance of complex social networks. This research examines the role ritualized mourning performances play in the construction and maintenance of ethnic and religious identities among Pashtun women living in Pakistan. It explores the opposing pressures of Islamic prescription and Pashtun traditions regarding funerary rites and women’s mourning, arguing that social changes taking place in recent decades have caused these pressures to come into increasing conflict with one another. While urbanization and the shift from an agrarian to an industrial based economy in Pakistan has led to the amplified importance of wailing performances, globalization and growing exposure to the West has revitalized anxieties surrounding proper religious practices. The process of Islamization occurring through constitutional and educational reforms in Pakistan compounds this anxiety. These tensions have created an identity crisis among Pashtun women in Pakistan who are then forced to reconcile these disparate demands resulting in the layering of their identities. / text

This dissertation identifies a paradox at the heart of the visual culture of Song-dynasty (960-1279) Buddhism. On the one hand, as the celestial pantheon expanded, it was conceptualized in ever more bureaucratic ways, mirroring the growth of the terrestrial government itself. On the other hand, the boundary separating that supramundane realm from the human world became decidedly more permeable; ghosts and deities became an omnipresent part of daily life. How to treat these two contradictory phenomena--one pointing to rational orderliness, the other pointing to unpredictable unruliness--posed a distinct problem for Song visual artists, spurring the development of new strategies of pictorial representation and forcing reflection upon the nature of representation itself. Chinese Buddhist art was never to be the same again. I argue that the key to understanding these new forms of art lies in the Water-Land Retreat (Shuilu zhai), a massive, icon-filled ritual of decidedly cosmic pretensions. The patterns of practice and strategies of visual representation associated with this ritual constitute a system that radically broke with earlier Chinese tradition. Practitioners of the liturgy created an open ritual syntax that allowed it to take on myriad forms in accordance with its sponsors’ needs, while also allowing it to absorb deities and practices from non-Buddhist traditions. This dissertation examines these phenomena in three parts. Part 1 excavates the social place, methods of practice, and visual profile of the Water-Land Retreat in and around the Song. Relying extensively on paintings from the Jiangnan region, cliff carvings from Sichuan, and numerous liturgical manuscripts, I argue that image and practice are inextricably bound in this ritual. Part 2 focuses on the motif of the cloud in Water-Land-related images and texts. Through an examination of images of cloud-borne descending deities, I contend that this nebulous motif became the locus for reflection on the mediational nature of representation. Finally, Part 3 addresses the bureaucratization of ritual practice and pictorial production in Song Buddhism. I argue that practitioners of the Water-Land Retreat simultaneously embraced and transcended a bureaucratic idiom drawn from Daoism and contemporary government to create a new Buddhist vision of the cosmos. / History of Art and Architecture

This thesis is a reflection upon objects of power and their roles in the lives of people through the lens of a single case example: power objects as they appear throughout the narrative, philosophical, and ritual writings of the Tibetan Buddhist ritual specialist Sog bzlog pa Blo gros rgyal mtshan (1552-1624) and his milieu. This study explores their discourse on power objects specifically for what it reveals about how human interactions with certain kinds of objects encourage the flow of power and charisma between them, and what the implications of these person-object transitions were for issues of identity, agency, and authority on the personal, institutional, and state registers in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Tibet.

Tārā is arguably the most popular goddess of the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon. She is well known in her Green, White, and Twenty-one forms. However, the numerous red aspects of the divinity have long been overlooked in both popular and academic literature on the goddess. This thesis aims to redress this balance. This thesis presents the various manifestations of Red Tārā in the form of a survey of the literary and practice lineages of this goddess throughout Tibetan Buddhist history. The intention of the thesis is to examine individual forms of Red Tārā, excluding Kurukullā (who has received previous scholarly attention), in order to prove the hypothesis that not all Red Tārās are Kurukullā. The research has identified a preliminary historical order of Red Tārā lineages from the eleventh century works on Pītheśvarī and the Sa-skya-pa Red Tārās, through to the nineteenth and twentieth century forms of the goddess authored by the dGe-lugs-pas and A-paṃ gter-ston in the A-mdo region of Tibet. The red forms of Tārā are more 'worldly' than her Green or White incarnations, and the soteriological component of her worship is not always clear. Accordingly this allows a glimpse into the subjugating/ magnetising ritual process. The thesis comprises three sections. Section One provides a general introduction to Tārā and Kurukullā, followed by a survey of the literature pertaining to Red Tārā identified in the course of this research. Section Two takes four lineages of Red Tārā literature as its focus. Each chapter refers to an individual lineage: Pītheśvarī, Sa-skya-pa, the Twenty-one Tārās, and A-paṃ gter-ton's gter-ma cycle. Section Three deals with modern-day practice of the goddess in the Chagdud Gonpa Foundation and the Flaming Jewel Sangha. The thesis relies on translation of primary sources from the Tibetan language, participant observation, and New Religious Studies methodology, and covers a wide range of areas including subjugation rituals, iconography, body-maṇḍala rituals, the adoption of Buddhism in the West, and New Religious Movements. It adds to current knowledge in a variety of fields including ritual, goddess studies, the Tibetan pantheon and its iconography, and Buddhism in the West.

Though both literary critics and anthropologists have sometimes recognized converging aims and methods between ethnography and narrative fiction, few interpretive studies of fiction have been undertaken using the framework of ethnography of communication. Because ethnography of communication centers attention on language in situated communicative interaction, it could be a useful tool for exploring literary texts, especially texts within the genre of "realistic fiction," which sometimes also depend upon observation or creation of situated social interaction. This dissertation uses ethnography of communication to interpret a Victorian novel, Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Ethnography of communication may also serve as a general framework for teaching literature, combining close linguistic or stylistic analysis of the language, detailed examination of the cultural and social situation, and re-creation of the meaning of the event as it may have been experienced by the participants. This approach may be especially appropriate in the case of L2 learners taking literature courses in university programs. The overall framework of the analysis, ethnography of communication, will be supplemented by Goffman's model of interaction ritual and the concept of co-construction of reality. These frameworks will be employed in the analysis of brief communicative events within the novel. Insights about the characters and the speech communities deriving from ethnographic interpretation will be used to build more precise understanding of the events of the novel, thereby contributing to traditional areas of literary criticism, and offering options for literary study in L1 and L2 contexts.