The subject of social involvement though, still under debate and being pursued by the Church of Jesus Christ even this time around has not wholly been appreciated by most Pentecostals. This is despite the fact that some of the early Pentecostals, including the early Church as seen from the ‘Acts of the Apostles’ chose to pursue social dimension of the gospel in addition to the Church’s mandate of ‘pure evangelism.’ Although social involvement has been at the very heart of Pentecostal theology, traditionally speaking, PAOG (Z), being one of the Pentecostal groupings has been seen to place much emphasis on ‘pure evangelism’, rather than ‘embracing’ both forms of missional dimensions. However, this trend is slowly changing as observed from the social involvements that some of its congregations and institutions are currently undertaking. This study views that part of the reason for the lack of an all-round social involvement’ by all the PAOG (Z) congregations lies in its theology of mission and thus critically examines it. The other aspect is the non-utilization or recognition of known professions of clergies that could normally enhance social involvement in most of its congregations. Next it makes an in-depth study of one PAOG (Z) - PAOC run projects and few congregations for the purpose of doing a social impact assessment, which has shown positive impacts in the communities that these projects are being undertaken. The study also reveals that the lack of clear constitutional guidelines concerning this has contributed to the absence of social programs in most of its churches resulting in not having a strong ‘social’ voice compared to the Catholic Church. The thesis uses a modified “praxis cycle” to structure its theoretical framework and research methodology. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

So much has been said about the involvement of the Church in socio-economic and political development globally, in Africa, and in South Africa in particular. The appalling fact is that division of the Church into several denominations, and also division along racial and tribal lines, has crippled the much-needed unity for rural, urban and human development. This division, especially when it is expressed within the body of a particular denomination, tends to cut asunder all the connections between the Christian faith, with its concern for love, reconciliation and justice, and the striving to make life worth living for the poor and the marginalised in society. The impact of the Church in community development is very likely to be zero if the Church is divided against itself within racial lines, doctrinal issues and lack of cohesive leadership structure. The focus in the present study is on the Assemblies of God denomination in South Africa. This Church fully reflected and manifested the racial complex of South Africa. The Assemblies of God denomination, instead of creatively making this racial complex a prototype ofChrist's wise blending of his twelve Apostles from various social and tribal backgrounds, used this mosaic complex to destroy and to operate as a divided people along racial lines. The justification for this found expression in the ways and manners in which important doctrines such as ecclesiology, eschatology, soteriology and Christology were taught and upheld by each group in the Assemblies of God. This being the case, the Assemblies of God denomination sought to contribute to development along racial and group lines. Some of the groups became involved in community development and made meaningful impacts. Others did not concern themselves with development, yet others found dualism, individualism and privatisation of faith as the best way to excuse themselves from community development and/or anything that has to do with improving better the life ofthe poor. Did the Church work together or did different groups engage development from their own contexts? The thesis is that the Assemblies of God failed to work together in unity. They operated as a divided group. This is an unhealthy testimony to the world, to whom Christ had told his Church to shine as lights in darkness and to serve as salts to preserve. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002.

In recent years an emphasis has been placed on the development of alternative and clean energy sources to reduce the global use of fossil fuels. One of these alternatives entails the use of H2 as an energy carrier, which can be obtained amongst others using thermochemical processes, for example the hybrid sulphur process (HyS). The HyS process is based on the thermal decomposition of sulphuric acid into water, sulphur dioxide and oxygen. The subsequent chemical conversion of the sulphur dioxide saturated water back to sulphuric acid and hydrogen is achieved in an electrolyser using a platinum coated proton exchange membrane. This depolarised electrolysis requires a theoretical voltage of only 0.158 V compared to water electrolysis requiring approximately 1.23 V. One of the steps in the development of this technology at the North-West University, entailed the establishment of the platinum coating technology which entailed two steps; firstly using newly obtained equipment to manufacture the membrane electro catalyst assemblies (MEA’s) and gas diffusion electrodes (GDE’s) and secondly to test these MEA’s and GDE’s using sulphur dioxide depolarized electrolysis by comparing the manufactured MEA’s and GDE’s to commercially available MEA’s and GDE’s. Different MEA’s and GDE’s were manufactured using both a screen printing (for the microporous layer deposition) and a spraying technique. The catalyst loadings were varied as well as the type and thickness of the proton exchange membranes used. The proton exchange membranes that were included in this study were Nafion 117®, sPSU-PBIOO and SfS-PBIOO membranes whereas the gas diffusion layer consisted of carbon paper with varying thicknesses (EC-TP01-030 – 0.11 mm and EC-TP01-060 – 0.19mm). MEA and GDE were prepared by first preparing an ink that was used both for MEA and GDE spraying. The MEA’s were prepared by spraying various catalyst coatings onto the proton exchange membranes containing 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 mg/cm2 platinum respectively. The GDE’s were first coated by a micro porous carbon layer using the screen printing technique in order to attain a suitable surface for catalyst deposition. Using the spraying technique GDE’s containing 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 mg/cm2 platinum were prepared. After SEM analysis, the MEA’s and GDE’s performance was measured using SO2 depolarized electrolysis. From the electrolysis experiments, the voltage vs. current density generated during operation, the hydrogen production, the sulphuric acid generation and the hydrogen production efficiency was obtained. From the results it became clear that while the catalyst loading had little effect on performance there were a number of factors that did have a significant influence. These included the type of proton exchange membrane, the membrane thickness and whether the catalyst coating was applied to the proton exchange membrane (MEA) or to the gas diffusion layer (GDE). During SO2 depolarized electrolysis VI curves were generated which gave an indication of the performance of the GDE’s and MEA’s. The best preforming GDE was GDE-3 (0.46V @ 320 mA/cm2), which included a GDE EC-TP01-060, while the best preforming MEA’s were NAF-4 (0.69V @ 320mA/cm2) consisting of a Nafion117 based MEA and PBI-1 (0.43V @ 320mA/cm2) made from a sPSU-PBIOO blended membrane. During hydrogen production it became clear that the GDE’s produced the most hydrogen (best was GDE-02 a in house manufactured GDE yielding 67.3 mL/min @ 0.8V), followed by the Nafion® MEA’s (best was NAF-4 a commercial MEA yielding 57.61 mL/min @ 0.74V) and the PBI based MEA’s. , (best was PBI-2 with 67.11 mL/min @ 0.88V). Due to the small amounts of acid produced and the SO2 crossover, a significant error margin was observed when measuring the amount of sulphuric acid produced. Nonetheless, a direct correlation could still be seen between the acid and the hydrogen production as had been expected from literature. The highest sulphuric acid concentrations produced using the tested GDE’s and MEA’s from this study were the in-house manufactured GDE-01 (3.572mol/L @ 0.8V), the commercial NAF-4 (4.456mol/L @ 0.64V) and the in-house manufactured PBI-2 (3.344mol/L @ 0.8V). The overall efficiency of the GDE’s were similar, ranging from less than 10% at low voltages (± 0.6V) increasing to approximately 60% at ± 0.8V. For the MEA’s larger variation was observed with NAF-4 reaching efficiencies of nearly 80% at 0.7V. In terms of consistency of performance it was shown that the Nafion MEA’s preformed most consistently followed by the GDE’s and lastly the PBI based MEA’s which for the PBI based membranes can probably be ascribed to the significant difference in thickness of the thin PBI vs. the Nafion based membranes. In summary the study has shown the results between the commercially obtained and the in-house manufactured GDE’s and MEA’s were comparable confirming the suitability of the coating techniques evaluated in this study. / MSc (Chemistry), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

In recent years an emphasis has been placed on the development of alternative and clean energy sources to reduce the global use of fossil fuels. One of these alternatives entails the use of H2 as an energy carrier, which can be obtained amongst others using thermochemical processes, for example the hybrid sulphur process (HyS). The HyS process is based on the thermal decomposition of sulphuric acid into water, sulphur dioxide and oxygen. The subsequent chemical conversion of the sulphur dioxide saturated water back to sulphuric acid and hydrogen is achieved in an electrolyser using a platinum coated proton exchange membrane. This depolarised electrolysis requires a theoretical voltage of only 0.158 V compared to water electrolysis requiring approximately 1.23 V. One of the steps in the development of this technology at the North-West University, entailed the establishment of the platinum coating technology which entailed two steps; firstly using newly obtained equipment to manufacture the membrane electro catalyst assemblies (MEA’s) and gas diffusion electrodes (GDE’s) and secondly to test these MEA’s and GDE’s using sulphur dioxide depolarized electrolysis by comparing the manufactured MEA’s and GDE’s to commercially available MEA’s and GDE’s. Different MEA’s and GDE’s were manufactured using both a screen printing (for the microporous layer deposition) and a spraying technique. The catalyst loadings were varied as well as the type and thickness of the proton exchange membranes used. The proton exchange membranes that were included in this study were Nafion 117®, sPSU-PBIOO and SfS-PBIOO membranes whereas the gas diffusion layer consisted of carbon paper with varying thicknesses (EC-TP01-030 – 0.11 mm and EC-TP01-060 – 0.19mm). MEA and GDE were prepared by first preparing an ink that was used both for MEA and GDE spraying. The MEA’s were prepared by spraying various catalyst coatings onto the proton exchange membranes containing 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 mg/cm2 platinum respectively. The GDE’s were first coated by a micro porous carbon layer using the screen printing technique in order to attain a suitable surface for catalyst deposition. Using the spraying technique GDE’s containing 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 mg/cm2 platinum were prepared. After SEM analysis, the MEA’s and GDE’s performance was measured using SO2 depolarized electrolysis. From the electrolysis experiments, the voltage vs. current density generated during operation, the hydrogen production, the sulphuric acid generation and the hydrogen production efficiency was obtained. From the results it became clear that while the catalyst loading had little effect on performance there were a number of factors that did have a significant influence. These included the type of proton exchange membrane, the membrane thickness and whether the catalyst coating was applied to the proton exchange membrane (MEA) or to the gas diffusion layer (GDE). During SO2 depolarized electrolysis VI curves were generated which gave an indication of the performance of the GDE’s and MEA’s. The best preforming GDE was GDE-3 (0.46V @ 320 mA/cm2), which included a GDE EC-TP01-060, while the best preforming MEA’s were NAF-4 (0.69V @ 320mA/cm2) consisting of a Nafion117 based MEA and PBI-1 (0.43V @ 320mA/cm2) made from a sPSU-PBIOO blended membrane. During hydrogen production it became clear that the GDE’s produced the most hydrogen (best was GDE-02 a in house manufactured GDE yielding 67.3 mL/min @ 0.8V), followed by the Nafion® MEA’s (best was NAF-4 a commercial MEA yielding 57.61 mL/min @ 0.74V) and the PBI based MEA’s. , (best was PBI-2 with 67.11 mL/min @ 0.88V). Due to the small amounts of acid produced and the SO2 crossover, a significant error margin was observed when measuring the amount of sulphuric acid produced. Nonetheless, a direct correlation could still be seen between the acid and the hydrogen production as had been expected from literature. The highest sulphuric acid concentrations produced using the tested GDE’s and MEA’s from this study were the in-house manufactured GDE-01 (3.572mol/L @ 0.8V), the commercial NAF-4 (4.456mol/L @ 0.64V) and the in-house manufactured PBI-2 (3.344mol/L @ 0.8V). The overall efficiency of the GDE’s were similar, ranging from less than 10% at low voltages (± 0.6V) increasing to approximately 60% at ± 0.8V. For the MEA’s larger variation was observed with NAF-4 reaching efficiencies of nearly 80% at 0.7V. In terms of consistency of performance it was shown that the Nafion MEA’s preformed most consistently followed by the GDE’s and lastly the PBI based MEA’s which for the PBI based membranes can probably be ascribed to the significant difference in thickness of the thin PBI vs. the Nafion based membranes. In summary the study has shown the results between the commercially obtained and the in-house manufactured GDE’s and MEA’s were comparable confirming the suitability of the coating techniques evaluated in this study. / MSc (Chemistry), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Τα μαγνητικά νανοσωματίδια συνήθως σχηματίζουν συλλογές, είτε με τυχαία είτε με διατεταγμένη δομή, που παρουσιάζουν νέες μαγνητικές ιδιότητες, διαφοροποιημένες σε σχέση με αυτές των συμπαγών μαγνητικών υλικών. Οι ιδιότητες των συστημάτων μαγνητικών νανοσωματιδίων έχουν αποτελέσει αντικείμενο εκτεταμένης πειραματικής και θεωρητικής έρευνας για πολλά χρόνια και έχουν δείξει τις δυνατότητες των τεχνολογικών εφαρμογών τους. Στην παρούσα εργασία μελετήθηκαν διάφορα μεσοσκοπικά μοντέλα συλλογών μαγνητικών νανοσωματιδίων. Νέοι υπολογιστικοί κώδικες αναπτύχτηκαν που χρησιμοποιούν τον αλγόριθμο Metropolis Monte Carlo για την μελέτη της μαγνητικής συμπεριφοράς των συλλογών των νανοσωματιδίων. Πρώτα μελετάμε το ρόλο των αλληλεπιδράσεων μεταξύ των νανοσωματιδίων και της μορφολογία στην μαγνητική συμπεριφορά των πυκνών συλλογών των νανοσωματιδίων σιδήρου (Fe) με συγκεντρώσεις πολύ πάνω από το κατώφλι διήθησης. Στα μοντέλα μας κάθε απλό νανοσωματίδιο απεικονίζεται από ένα τρισδιάστατο κλασικό μοναδιαίο διάνυσμα σπιν. Οι προσομοιώσεις μας έδειξαν ότι ο ισχυρός ανταγωνισμός μεταξύ της ενέργειας ανισοτροπίας και της ενέργειας ανταλλαγής σε μη-ομοιόμορφες πυκνές συλλογές έχει σαν αποτέλεσμα τον ασαφή καθορισμό των ζεύξεων των μαγνητικών ροπών των νανοσωματιδίων και δημιουργεί οροπέδια (plateau) και απότομα βήματα (steps), τα οποία υποδηλώνουν μια ξαφνική, συλλογική αναστροφή των σπιν για χαμηλής και ενδιάμεσής ισχύος διπολικές δυνάμεις. Η σύγκριση μεταξύ των αποτελεσμάτων των προσομοιώσεων μας και των πειραματικών αποτελεσμάτων για τις πυκνές συλλογές νανοσωματιδίων Fe επιβεβαιώνει το σπουδαίο ρόλο των περιοχών με διαφορετικές συγκεντρώσεις, που έχουν σαν αποτέλεσμα το σχηματισμό συσσωματωμάτων διαφορετικών μεγεθών, και δείχνει ότι η μαγνητική συμπεριφορά καθορίζεται από την μορφολογία του συστήματος. Ακολούθως μελετάμε την ταυτόχρονη συνεισφορά μεταξύ των εγγενών ιδιοτήτων και των συλλογικών φαινομένων. Πρώτα θεωρούμε την επιφανειακή συνεισφορά κάθε μαγνητικού νανοσωματιδίου της συλλογής. Παράγονται αναλυτικές εκφράσεις για τη μαγνήτιση για ασθενείς διπολικές αλληλεπιδράσεις σε χαμηλές συγκεντρώσεις. Η μελέτη μας βασίζεται στην θερμοδυναμική θεωρία διαταραχών για το ισοδύναμο μοντέλο του ενός σπιν ανά σωμάτιο όπου ένα νανοσωματίδιο αναπαρίσταται από την μακροσκοπική μαγνητική ροπή του, λαμβάνοντας υπόψη τα επιφανειακά φαινόμενα κάθε νανοσωματιδίου. Οι προσεγγιστικές αναλυτικές εκφράσεις για την μαγνήτιση συγκρίνονται με προσομοιώσεις Monte Carlo και καθορίζεται το εύρος της ισχύος τους. Οι υπολογισμοί μας δείχνουν ότι η μαγνήτιση επηρεάζεται από την ανισοτροπία των νανοσωματιδίων και το σχήμα της συλλογής και ότι, σε όλες τις περιπτώσεις, το αποτέλεσμα του όρου δεύτερης τάξης της διπολικής αλληλεπίδρασης στη θεωρία διαταραχών είναι η μείωση της μαγνήτισης. Κατόπιν, παρουσιάζουμε μια νέα προσέγγιση για την προσομοίωση των μαγνητικών ιδιοτήτων μεγάλων συλλογών σύνθετων μαγνητικών νανοσωματιδίων με μορφολογία σιδηρομαγνητικού πυρήνα/αντισιδηρομαγνητικού φλοιού. Οι προσομοιώσεις με τη μέθοδο Monte Carlo των συλλογών μαγνητικών νανοσωματιδίων με σύνθετη μορφολογία πυρήνα/φλοιού αναπαράγει τις τάσεις που παρατηρούνται πειραματικά για τα φαινόμενα διεπαφής αλλά και για τα φαινόμενα που οφείλονται στις αλληλεπιδράσεις. Η μεσοσκοπική μέθοδος βασίζεται στη μείωση του αριθμού των αναπαριστώμενων σπιν στον ελάχιστο αριθμό που είναι απαραίτητος για να περιγράψει την μαγνητική δομή των νανοσωματιδίων εισάγοντας τον επαρκή αριθμό των παραμέτρων ανταλλαγής μεταξύ των διαφορετικών σπιν. Για τέσσερα σωματίδια σιδηρομαγνητικού πυρήνα/αντισιδηρομαγνητικού φλοιού, οι τάσεις του μεσοσκοπικού μοντέλου είναι συνεπείς με τις πλήρεις Monte-Carlo προσομοιώσεις. Επιπλέον τα πλεονεκτήματα της προσέγγισης αποδεικνύεται με την προσομοίωση μεγάλων συλλογών νανοσωματιδίων Co/CoO που αναπαράγει ικανοποιητικά τα πειραματικά αποτελέσματα σε αυτό το σύστημα. / Magnetic nanoparticles usually form assemblies, either with random or ordered structure, which exhibit magnetic behaviour different from that of the bulk magnetic materials. The properties of the magnetic nanoparticles systems have been the subject of extensive experimental and theoretical research for many years and have demonstrated their potential technological application. In the present work, mesoscopic models of different types of magnetic nanoparticle assemblies with different morphologies have been studied. New Computational Codes have been developed with the implementation of the Metropolis Monte Carlo algorithm to study the magnetic behavior of the nanoparticles assemblies. First we study the role of interparticle interactions and the morphology in the magnetic behavior of dense assemblies of Fe nanoparticles with concentration well above the percolation threshold. We model every single nanoparticle with a three-dimensional classical unit spin vector. Our simulations showed that the strong competition between the anisotropy energy and exchange energy in non-uniform dense assemblies results in a frustration of the nanoparticles moments coupling and creates plateaus and abrupt steps, which indicate a sudden, collective spin reversal, for low and intermediate dipolar strengths. The comparison between our simulation results and the experimental findings dense assemblies of Fe nanoparticles confirmed the important role of the areas with different concentration, which results to the formation of clusters of different sizes and that magnetic behaviour is determined by the system morphology. Next we study the interplay between intrinsic properties and collective effects in assemblies. We first consider the surface contribution in each ferromagnetic nanoparticle in the assembly. Analytical expressions for the magnetization are obtained for weak dipolar interactions in dilute assemblies. Our study is based on thermodynamic perturbation theory for the effective macrospin model where a nanoparticle is represented by its macroscopic magnetic moment, taking into account surface effects of each nanoparticle. The approximate analytical expressions for the magnetization are compared to Monte Carlo simulations and their range of validity is established. Our calculations show that the magnetization is influenced by the nanoparticle anisotropy and the shape of the assembly and that in all cases the effect of the second order dipolar interaction term of the perturbation theory is the reduction of the magnetization. Finally, we present a novel approach to simulate the magnetic properties of large assemblies of bi-magnetic FM core/AFM shell nanoparticles. Monte-Carlo simulations of core/shell nanoparticle assemblies have reproduced the main trends observed experimentally for the the interface effects together with the interaction effects. Our mesoscopic method is based on reducing the amount of simulated spins to the minimum number necessary to describe the magnetic structure of the particles and introducing the adequate exchange parameters between the different spins. For four ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic core/shell nanoparticles, the trends of the mesoscopic model are consistent with full Monte-Carlo simulations. Moreover, the validity of the approach is demonstrated by the simulation of large arrays of Co/CoO nanoparticles which satisfactorily reproduces experimental results in this system.

<p>Two state of the art finite element reduction techniquespreviously validated against the direct finite element method,one based on classical modal analysis and another based oncomponent mode synthesis, are applied for efficient mistunedfree vibration and forced response analysis of several bladeddisk geometries. The methods are first applied to two testcases in order to demonstrate the differences in computationalefficiency as well as to validate the methods againstexperimental data. As previous studies have indicated, nonoticeable differences in accuracy are detected for the currentapplications, while the method based on classical modalanalysis is significantly more efficient. Experimental data(mistuned frequencies and mode shapes) available for one of thetwo test cases are compared with numerical predictions, and agood match is obtained, which adds to the previous validationof the methods (against the direct finite element method).</p><p>The influence of blade-to-blade coupling and rotation speedon the sensitivity of bladed disks to mistuning is thenstudied. A transonic fan is considered with part span shroudsand without shrouds, respectively, constituting a high and alow blade-to-blade coupling case. For both cases, computationsare performed at rest as well as at various rotation speeds.Mistuning sensitivity is modelled as the dependence ofamplitude magnification on the standard deviation of bladestiffnesses. The finite element reduction technique based onclassical modal analysis is employed for the structuralanalysis. This reduced order model is solved for sets of randomblade stiffnesses with various standard deviations, i.e. MonteCarlo simulations. In order to reduce the sample size, thestatistical data is fitted to a Weibull (type III) parametermodel. Three different parameter estimation techniques areapplied and compared. The key role of blade-to-blade coupling,as well as the ratio of mistuning to coupling, is demonstratedfor the two cases. It is observed that mistuning sensitivityvaries significantly with rotation speed for both fans due toan associated variation in blade-to-blade coupling strength.Focusing on the effect of one specific engine order on themistuned response of the first bending modes, it is observedthat the mistuning sensitivity behaviour of the fan withoutshrouds is unaffected by rotation at its resonant condition,due to insignificant changes in coupling strength at thisspeed. The fan with shrouds, on the other hand, shows asignificantly different behaviour at rest and resonant speed,due to increased coupling under rotation. Comparing the twocases at resonant rotor speeds, the fan without shrouds is lessor equally sensitive to mistuning than the fan with shrouds inthe entire range of mistuning strengths considered.</p><p>This thesis’scientific contribution centres on themistuning sensitivity study, where the effects of shrouds androtation speed are quantified for realistic bladed diskgeometries. However, also the validation of two finite elementreduction techniques against experimental measurementsconstitutes an important contribution.</p>

Based on the concept of covalent capture of supramolecular assemblies, the idea of mechanical encapsulation is exploited for the protection and delivery of peptidebased molecules. This thesis aims to establish a general method for the encapsulation of peptides within a rotaxane structure, as well as studying their mode of release under specific stimuli. The synthesis of such structures, relying on the elongation of short peptido[2]rotaxanes, is applied to the design of rotaxane peptide carriers whose function is to protect against biological degradation and release peptides under a biological stimulus. These molecules are composed of a rotaxane-encapsulated peptide bearing a biodegradable stopper, the enzyme-specific cleavage of which triggers peptide release, via ‘dethreading’. The synthesis and in vitro assessment of rotaxane carriers as agents for anti-cancer therapy will be described in detail. The future challenges and potential applications of the proposed systems will be addressed.

My doctoral thesis examines the intellectual and political relationship between England and the general councils of the Church from the Council of Pisa until the Council of Trent. It illuminates the hitherto unexplored features of the revolution that was the end of universal papal authority. With the transfer of spiritual authority to Henry VIII, the heads of England’s Protestant regimes inherited the papacy’s distrust of the general council, which had the potential to interfere with the course of the reformation in England. At the same time, the thesis examines the changing nature of public commitment to universal decision-making in the Church in the face of resistance by hierarchs (papal or royal). It finds a widespread support for the general council over the period, but also a plurality of views about how conciliar government could be reconciled with monarchical rule in the Church. In the fifteenth century, conciliarism had to contend with the suspicions of those who wished to shore up the Church hierarchy against Wycliffite attacks. In the sixteenth century, there was still competition between the establishment’s defence of an hierarchical Church, directed by the monarchy, and theories which stressed the importance of conciliar government. These arguments took different shapes when used by popular rebels in favour of traditional religion grounded on conciliar consent, or by Protestants in favour of synodal government by the godly. But they were both outcomes of enduring instabilities in the ideology of Church government, which had their roots in the fifteenth century.

Comme son nom l'indique, le tolérancement flexible a pour objectif de tenir compte de la souplesse des pièces dans un processus de tolérancement. Il permet d'évaluer les défauts géométriques admissibles par des critères aussi bien géométriques que mécaniques. Ces travaux abordent en premier lieu l'élaboration de modèles adéquats permettant de prédire le comportement mécanique d'un assemblage de grandes pièces relativement souples lorsqu'elles sont sujettes à des défauts géométriques issues du procédé de fabrication. Une méthode a alors été proposée pour y implémenter des variations géométriques aléatoires réalistes vis-à-vis de ces hypothétiques défauts géométriques. Pour simuler les opérations d'assemblage, le phénomène de contact unilatéral et les variations de rigidité dues aux variabilités géométriques ont été prises en compte. En fonction de ces hypothèses, les stratégies d'analyse de tolérance avec Monte Carlo ou la méthode des coefficients d'influence ont été comparées afin de choisir celle minimisant les coûts de calcul tout en conservant la justesse des résultats. Finalement, ces travaux s'achèvent sur une étude de cas industriel : un treillis supportant des équipements sous le plancher du fuselage d'un Airbus A350. / As indicated by its name, the purpose of flexible tolerancing is to take into account the flexibility of the parts in a tolerancing process. It allows to evaluate the permissibles geometrical defects by both geometrical and mechanical criteria. These works deal first with the elaboration of a model able to predict the mechanical behaviour of an assembly of larges and flexibles parts which are suject to geometrical defects induced by their manufacturing process. A method has thus been suggested in order to implement geometrical variations which are realistic according to these hypothetical geometrical defects. To simulate the assembling process, the unilateral contact phenomenon and the stiffness variations induced by the geometrical variability have been taken into account. Depending on these assumptions, some strategies of tolerance analysis with Monte Carlo or the method of influence coefficients have been compared in order to choose the one minimizing the computational costs while maintaining the accuracy of the results. Finally, these works are completed with an industrial study case: a truss supporting equipments and hanging under the fuselage floor of an Airbus A350.

Internet-based distance education (IDE) continues to grow in popularity and ubiquity. Acceptance of IDE among Christian higher education institutions has also increased. However, these institutions seek assistance. Such was the case with the nineteen institutions endorsed by the Assemblies of God (AG). The AG's oversight organization (The Alliance for Assemblies of God Higher Education, Alliance) was asked by member institutions for IDE aid, resources, and direction. To understand the current environment of IDE within AG higher education, an organizational discovery case study reviewed the historical IDE trends within AG higher education, surveyed institutional faculty members and administrators as to their IDE beliefs and situations, and analyzed the data collected. From the research findings, the Alliance gained a better understanding of the needs and intentions of its member institutions. It also realized the aid and resources to offer its endorsed institutions, what endorsement requirements were needed for spiritual development in an online distance education setting, and an overall IDE direction that the organization could provide or facilitate. To aid the organizational discovery, a research framework was created that the Alliance could reuse and share with similar organizations for their own internal discovery.