This thesis is a historical study and evaluation of the form of church government practised by the Particular Baptists of the 17th and 18th centuries, from the years 1650 to 1750. This study is based on confessional statements, the ecclesiological literature, and the extant church books of the Particular Baptists. It is shown that the Particular Baptists practised a definitive form of church government known traditionally as Independency, similar to that expounded by John Owen, minus infant baptism. Under the principle of the autonomy of the church the Particular Baptists practised believer’s baptism, an explicit church membership, and upheld covenant theology. Under the principle of the headship of Christ, they practised the separation of church and state, upheld the divine right of the magistrate, and also believed in the liberty of conscience. Under the principle of rule by elders the majority of the Particular Baptists practised a plurality of elders in which there was a distinction made between the roles of the pastor or minister and the ruling elders, although they occupy the same basic office of rule. However, deviation from a plural eldership took place, leading to the singlepastor- and-multiple-deacons situation, accompanied by the disappearance of ruling elders and the practice of congregational democracy in governance. This arrangement is characteristic of modern Congregationalism. Under the principle of the communion of churches the regional associations of churches accomplished much good, while a number of issues remained unresolved, including open and closed communion, congregational hymn singing, and the training of ministers. In the final chapter, the study attempts to resolve some ecclesiological issues controverted among Reformed Baptists today by applying the lessons learned from the Particular Baptists. To the Particular Baptists, Independency was the jus divinum (divinely ordained) form of church government used by God as the vehicle to carry out the Great Commission with a view to establishing biblically ordered churches, which upheld the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. These three components of church life − mission-mindedness, biblical church order, and the 1689 Confession of Faith − arose from the thorough biblicism of the Particular Baptists. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Church and Dogma History))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

L’efficacité d’un système d’information se mesure à sa capacité à proposer une offre documentaire adéquate afin de susciter des usages. Notre travail a consisté à étudier les deux composantes principales de systèmes d’information pour la recherche en Education, l’offre et les usages, dans un contexte numérique et international, en comparant les situations française et britanniques. La mise en regard de nos analyses a révélé quelques incompatibilités de l’offre notamment en France entraînant surtout un non-usage de l’information numérique par de nombreux chercheurs. L’offre numérique dans les bibliothèques française est essentiellement anglophone sont destinées à des chercheurs dont la majorité ne maîtrise pas la langue anglaise. L’offre numérique francophone est insuffisante et ne concerne pas tous les domaines de l’Education. Au Royaume-Uni, la situation est inverse, l’offre numérique est riche quasiment pour l’ensemble des champs de la discipline, le problème de la langue ne se pose pas et son usage est de fait très important. Ainsi, nos résultats indiquent que la nature de l’offre influe sur les usages. Par ailleurs, il apparait que l’usage de la documentation numérique peut aussi être lié à la culture technique (culture informatique et documentaire) et l’âge. Enfin, la culture de la discipline est un autre facteur prépondérant influençant les pratiques informationnelles des chercheurs en Education, une analyse de domaine nous a permis d’en avoir une connaissance plus précise. Il explique pourquoi certaines ressources numériques, telles les archives ouvertes, connaissent un faible usage tant en Fance qu’au Royaume-Uni / An information system can be considered as being efficient if it offers adequate documentation in order to generate usage. Our work was to study the two major components of information systems for research in education, supply and use, in a digital environment comparing the French and British situations. The results confrontation revealed some inconsistencies in supply especially in France involving mainly non-use of digital information by many researchers. The digital resources proposed by French libraries are mainly in English and most researchers do not speak this language. There are French language digital resources but this offer is not that privileged by scholars and does not cover all their areas of Education. In the United Kingdom, the situation is reversed, the digital offer is rich in almost all fields of discipline, the language problem does not arise and its use is very important. Thus our results show that the nature of supply affects uses. Furthermore, it appears that the use of digital documentation may also be linked to computer and information literacy and age. Finally, the disciplinary culture in another factor influencing the information practices of researchers in education a domain analysis has allowed us to have more precise knowledge. It explains for example why some digital resources, such as open archives, have a limited use in France as well as in the United Kingdom

The thesis summarizes conclusions of exegetical studies of all fourteen texts containing a word "treasury" (thesauros) according to concordance of the Greek New Testament, and furthermore in three instances substitutes for treasury, using lingual and textual analysis and accessible Czech and foreign language commentaries. As far as other terms are concerned, a term "talent/mina" is used in the Gospel of Mathew and Luke in The parable of the talent/minas, where "talent/mina" fulfills all internal and external attributes for "treasury". In the Gospel of John, where we find no term "treasury", there is chosen "ointment" in the story of Anointing in Bethany for its symbolic meaning and relation to the Easter, where John's version is compared with description of the story in the synoptic gospels. Classifying of concluding interpretational frames of all seventeen texts, we get several fundamental models characterizing the role of "treasury" in the New Testament from the point of view of substance, allegory, symbolism or connotation. The treasury is the image of something precious, strange to the world, something we have a very small experience with, because we usually have not opportunity to be confronted with it. Therefore we need to be led by the values, we have accepted by feeling of Holy Spirit as ours. The...

and key words The final thesis discuss idiomatic expressions, which includes words related to animal kingdom. An essential point of the whole thesis was creation of a list of all relevant Danish idioms. There was found their Danish definitions as well and subsequently also their Czech equivalent words. Equivalent degree was found by all words. The thesis is divided into theoretical part and practical part. The first one describes idiomacity and phraseology as a whole and compares Danish and Czech works on this topic. Other subjects, which is needed in the practical part, is discussed. Deep analysis of the list of the idioms is the content of the practical part of the thesis. Main topics is perception of animals in Czech and Danish, degree of their mutual equivalency and some other specific subjects related to animal idioms. Key words: animal kingdom, Czech, Danish, equivalency, etymology, phraseology

Diplomová práce Analýza španělského modelu asymetrického regionalismu ~ 1 ~ Summary The masterʼs degree thesis "Spanish Model of Asymmetric Regionalism: An Analysis" deals with the concept of political-administrative division of a state, which has been typical of the Kingdom of Spain. The masterʼs degree thesis aims to profoundly analyze all the substantial aspects of this unique type of inner arrangement of a state, namely in broader (above all in legal, in historical and in political) relations. When elaborating on the topic I drew on Czech and English monographic literature (this applies both to the theoretical and to the historical part of the thesis) and on topical wordings of Spanish legal regulations; I also made use of various sources, as e.g. of professional articles online, of relevant judicial decisions, or of notes I made in Spain at lectures on Spanish constitutional law. The thesis consists of three chapters which are further divided into subchapters. In the initial theoretical chapter attention is paid to the typology of states according to their inner arrangement. The concepts such as confederation, federation, unitary state or regional state are explained here. The second chapter provides the overview of historical development of Spain (or, more exactly, of Iberian Peninsula) from the first...

The debate concerning if United Kingdom should leave or stay in European Union is not entirely new. Due to political, economy and moral reasons have the debate been popular in the country. The purpose of this paper is to map the UK debate on the European Union. By using a Pro-Contrast analysis, this paper will also investigate arguments from Margaret Thatcher and David Cameron who have been prime minister for the country and party leader for the conservative party, Tories. Furthermore, the arguments will also be analyzed through theories of liberalism and realism. The debate for a European Union shows that arguments are based on liberalism and realism. The arguments also show that there here has been a change over two different times with two different political actors.

Aim: In recent years, research has concluded that social anxiety plays a key role in quality of life. The overall aim of this research was to evaluate social anxiety in adolescents with respect to determining how social anxiety affects quality of life. Method: This study was a cross-sectional study. A pilot study was conducted to cross-culturally adapt all scales by the recommended translated and back-translated method. The correlations of socio-demographic parameters with the SAS-A scores were examined. Data from a sample of 564 students (273 boys 48.4%, 291 girls 51.6%) were analysed. Adolescents from Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom were screened and compared. Confirmatory factor analysis was utilised to build the proposed model based on prior research and theoretical findings. Finding: No significant sex difference in the SAS-A total score, fear of negative evaluation and social avoidance were found. Comparing the boys and girls on SPIN scores, Fear, Avoidance and Authority Problems, the results showed that boys reported higher in SPIN total, fear and avoidance (except authority problem subscale score) than did girls. SAS-A scores were higher in those with a low socio-economic level. Moreover, social anxiety symptoms among Saudi adolescents were more severe in boys. Results showed that adolescents without social anxiety scored higher on quality of life and its subscales than adolescents with social anxiety as measured by ASA-A. No significant difference was found in psychical health. Adolescents without social anxiety scored higher on quality of life and its subscales than adolescents with social anxiety as measured by SIAS. Adolescents without social anxiety scored on Positive Individualism more than adolescents with social anxiety. No significant difference was found in Positive Relatedness. In the cross-cultural study, the results showed no significant difference on SIAS scores for Saudi adolescents and British adolescents. However, a marginally significant differences was found on BAI scores, where Saudi adolescents reported higher level of anxiety than British adolescents. The British sample reported higher on the fear of negative evaluation than the Saudi sample. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was utilised to test hypotheses on the links between scores on the study scales. The findings indicate that the overall fit of the SAS-A model was acceptable. Direct effects between the study variables and significant positive correlation between cognitive factors and social anxiety were found. Mediation effects of SAS-A and SPIN were investigated by reporting direct effects, indirect effects and total effects. Results indicte that social anxiety significantly mediated the relationships between subjective anxiety, positive individualism, and cognitive and environmental health. Conclusion: It is therefore imperative that socially anxious students be provided with appropriate consultations and treatment so that they can improve their quality of life through integrating better with social institutions. If untreated, the impairment caused by social phobia could lead to poor academic and professional outcomes, as well as poor psychosocial outcomes.

This thesis focuses on investigating inter-departmental Electronic Information Sharing (EIS) through Inter-organisational Systems (IOS) in the context of Local Government Authorities (LGAs) in England and Wales. There is an increasing demand to involve LGA departments in sharing information electronically in order to reduce the cost of storing and managing data, increase the level of data accuracy and timeliness and improve the accountability of the authority. During the last decades, several LGAs in the United Kingdom have started to employ IOSs to support information sharing and networked collaboration within their departments in order to meet a diverse range of citizen needs including housing services, social care services and education services. However, reaching a great level of crossdepartmental collaboration is not easy and requires additional time and effort. Normative literature proposed various models and frameworks that examine various issues and factors influencing the effort of EIS in the private and public domain. However, the applicability and validity of those models in the context of LGAs is arguable. Therefore, this research proposes and validates a novel conceptual framework that can be used as a tool for decision-making while sharing information electronically. The framework consists of four main levels: (a) investigation and presentation of factors influencing Electronic Information Sharing in LGAs based on external environment, organisational capacity, technology environment, EIS characteristics and inter-departmental environment, (b) investigation and presentation of the phases that departments adopt while participating in the EIS effort, (c) mapping of the influential factors onto the participation phases and (d) prioritisation of the factors influencing EIS in LGAs in relation to different phases. By validating the conceptual framework through using a qualitative, interpretive, multiple case study research strategy, this thesis attempts to contribute to the theoretical, methodological and practical aspects of inter-departmental EIS. Despite the results of the cases cannot be generalised, yetthey can allow others to relate their views with the onesreported in this thesis.

O crescimento do pentecostalismo no mundo constitui uma das principais mudanças religiosas do Século XX e a América Latina possui um papel importante nessa expansão. Naquela região, houve uma acelerada redução na proporção de católicos e crescimento dos protestantes nas últimas décadas, com forte participação de igrejas pentecostais. Os pentecostais brasileiros diferem dos católicos em várias dimensões em relação às suas atitudes e visões do mundo, sendo no geral religiosamente mais ativos e mais conservadores em questões sociais como aborto, casamento entre pessoas do mesmo sexo, meios contraceptivos artificiais, sexo fora do casamento, divórcio e consumo de álcool; eles também são mais propensos a acreditar que os líderes religiosos devem ter influência na política. Nesta tese, contribuímos para o entendimento da expansão pentecostal no Brasil focando em uma das maiores denominações pentecostais, a Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus (IURD). Examinamos, em dois estudos, o impacto de duas estratégias principais de expansão da IURD, cobrindo um ramo ainda pouco explorado na literatura econômica sobre religião e procurando entender como cada uma delas contribuiu para a expansão dessa igreja desde sua fundação. No primeiro estudo, examinamos os impactos das redes de rádio e televisão ligadas à IURD (a Rede Aleluia e Record TV) sobre suas afiliações, explorando uma variação possivelmente exógena na qualidade do sinal daquelas redes devido aos acidentes geográficos entre as antenas transmissora e as áreas receptoras. Com dados da Anatel e modelos técnicos de densidade de sinal, analisamos os efeitos da cobertura das mídias nas áreas de ponderação do Censo Demográfico de 2010 (IBGE). Nossos resultados de benchmark mostram que a Rede Aleluia tem um impacto de cerca de 13% do número médio de afiliações no interior dos estados (fora das capitais e Regiões Metropolitanas), enquanto a Record TV tem um impacto geral de 26%. Esses efeitos são mais fortes para grupos que são descritos na literatura como mais propensos a frequentar a igreja. A robustez dos resultados é verificada com teste de placebo com uma rede de rádio não religiosa. Encontramos evidências de que a competição entre veículos de mídia pode ter um papel importante nos efeitos da mídia religiosa e da existência de complementaridade entre templos e mídias religiosas em áreas rurais. Além disso, encontramos efeito positivo da Rede Aleluia sobre empreendedorismo, impacto negativo da mídia religiosa sobre a fertilidade, o que é consistente com a posição da IURD sobre o aborto e o uso de métodos contraceptivos, e impacto positivo na proporção de votos para o Partido Republicano Brasileiro, com o qual a IURD possui uma forte ligação. No segundo estudo, estimamos o efeito da presença de templos da IURD sobre as afiliações. Exploramos a diferença no tempo de entrada e nos anos de permanência dos templos nos municípios brasileiros entre 1991 e 2010, com uma especificação de diferenças-em-diferenças e dados do CNPJ (Receita Federal) e dos Censos Demográficos (IBGE). A presença de templos da IURD aumenta os adeptos dessa denominação em 15%, comparando com a média da amostra, e esse efeito é devido ao interior dos estados. Nossos resultados também mostram que leva alguns anos para os templos da IURD começarem a ter impacto positivo depois que entram. Testamos a robustez de nossos resultados usando dados de outra fonte, a Relação Anual de Informações Sociais, e com um teste de falsificação no momento da entrada da IURD no município. / The growth of Pentecostalism in the world is one of the major religious changes of the 20th Century and Latin America plays an important role in this expansion. In that region, there has been an accelerated reduction in the proportion of Catholics and a Protestant growth in the last decades, with strong participation of Pentecostal churches. Brazilian Pentecostals differ from Catholics in various dimensions regarding their attitudes and views of the world, being generally more religiously observant and more conservative on social issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage, artificial contraceptive methods, sex outside marriage, divorce and alcohol consumption; they are also more likely to believe that religious leaders should have influence in politics. In this thesis, we contribute to the understanding of the Pentecostal expansion in Brazil focusing on one of the largest Pentecostal denominations, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG). We have examined the impact of two major strategies of expansion of the UCKG, covering a branch still little explored in the economic literature on religion and trying to understand how each of them contributed to the expansion of this church since its foundation, in two studies. In the first study, we examined the impacts of the radio and television networks linked to UCKG (Aleluia Network and Record TV) on its affiliations, exploring a possibly exogenous variation in the signal quality of those networks due to geographical accidents between the transmitting antennas and the receiving areas. With data from Anatel and technical models of signal density, we analyzed the effects of media coverage on the weighting areas of the 2010 Demographic Census (IBGE). Our benchmark results show that Aleluia Network has an impact of about 13% of the average number of affiliations on the countryside (outside state capitals and Metropolitan Regions), while Record TV has an overall impact of 26%. These effects are stronger for groups who are described in the literature as more likely to attend church. The robustness of the results is verified with placebo test with a non-religious radio network. We find evidence that competition among media vehicles can play a significant role in the effects of religious media and evidence of complementarity between temples and religious media in rural areas. In addition, we find a positive effect of Aleluia Network on entrepreneurship, a negative impact of religious media on fertility, which is consistent with UCKG\'s position on abortion and the use of contraceptive methods, and a positive impact on the vote share of the Brazilian Republican Party, with which UCKG has a strong connection. In the second study, we estimated the effect of the presence of UCKG temples on affiliations. We explored the difference in time of entry and in the years of residence of UCKG temples in Brazilian municipalities between 1991 and 2010, with a specification of differences-in-differences on CNPJ (Federal Revenue Office) and Demographic Censuses (IBGE) data. The presence of temples of UCKG increases the adepts of this denomination by 15%, compared to the average of the sample, and these effects due to the countryside. Our results also show that it takes a few years for the UCKG temples to start having a positive impact after their entry. We tested the robustness of our results using data from another source, the Annual Social Information Report, and with a falsification test at the time of UCKG\'s entry into the municipality.

L'art de l'Ancien Empire, ayant mis en place le canon dit « classique » du corps égyptien, est souvent décrit comme uniforme, fondé sur la répétition de la même image parfaite sur les murs des tombes. Pourtant, certains personnages se distinguent par leurs caractères physiques inhabituels, allant du détail corporel atypique à une infirmité évidente. Ainsi, des aveugles, boiteux, chauves, malades, bossus, nains ou encore obèses se dissimulent parmi leurs congénères dans les registres des programmes décoratifs. Une étude minutieuse des parois révèle une profusion de ces figures qui se distinguent par l'emplacement, la fonction, le rôle social, les attributs ou la nature de l'altération. Si certains groupes ont été largement étudiés ces dernières années comme les nains, d'autres demeurent moins connus voire à peine signalés dans les publications. Pourtant, ces images parfois crues et disgracieuses révèlent bien la volonté des artisans-artistes de cette époque de souligner un contexte spécifique et d'ajouter du sens à la scène. En rassemblant tous ces personnages en hors norme, en les comparant et en analysant leur iconographie, il est possible de tendre vers une vision plus proche de la réalité égyptienne, et notamment de la façon dont était perçue cette catégorie de population. D'autre part, la présence du handicap dans l'art égyptien pose une question essentielle : pourquoi avoir recréé sur les murs des tombeaux un univers fonctionnel non pas peuplé de sujets parfaits, mais parsemé d'êtres imparfaits ?Dans un champ d'investigation chronologiquement délimité (du Prédynastique au milieu du Moyen Empire), nous avons choisi d'analyser ces figures et leur apport à notre connaissance de la société égyptienne, et plus généralement à l'histoire et à la représentation du handicap dans l'art. Afin de mieux comprendre la perception du corps altéré chez les anciens Égyptiens, seront étudiés les mots qui les désignent, les causes médicales possibles, le développement et les innovations iconographiques qui ont pu se répandre dans toutes les nécropoles du pays. Le rôle de ses figures, les sens qu'elles recouvrent, ainsi que leur rapport avec les constatations médicales sur les restes humains nous en apprendront davantage sur la société égyptienne au temps des pyramides. Certaines figures, comme le bouvier émacié ou le notable replet, sont devenues les symboles d'une classe sociale particulière et ont connu une longévité dans l'art et la littérature. La reprise de certains motifs d'une sépulture à une autre, parfois distantes de centaines de kilomètres, révèlent également une stratégie fondée sur la référence et la citation.Ainsi, loin d'être un monde uniforme et régulier, les décors des tombeaux se révèlent finalement bien plus complexes et étoffés qu'une simple évocation de l'idéal égyptien. / The art of the Old Kingdom, having set up the so-called "classical" canon of the Egyptian body, is often described as monotonous, with the repetition of the same perfect image on the walls of the tombs. But some characters are distinguished by their unusual physical characteristics, ranging from atypical body detail to obvious disability. Thus, blind or lame people, bald men, sick characters, hunchbacks, dwarves or fat people hid among their congeners in the registers of decorative programs. A study of the walls reveals a profusion of these figures, which are distinguished by the location, function, social role, attributes or nature of their alteration. While some groups have been widely studied in recent years as dwarves, others remain less known or barely reported in publications. However, these images sometimes raw reveal the will of the artists to emphasize a specific context and add some meaning to the scene. By bringing all these characters together, comparing them and analyzing their iconography, it is possible to reach a closer vision of the Egyptian reality, and in particular the perception of disabled people. On the other hand, the presence of disability in Egyptian art poses an important question: why did they choose to recreate on the walls of the tombs a functional universe not with perfect subjects, but strewn with imperfect beings?From Predynastic to the Middle Kingdom, we chose to analyze these figures and their contribution to our knowledge of Egyptian society, and more generally to the history and representation of disability in art. In order to better understand the perception of the altered body among the ancient Egyptians, we will study the words that designated them, the possible medical causes, the development and the iconographic innovations that may have spread to all the necropolises in the country. The role of these figures, their meanings and their relationships to the medical findings on human remains will tell us more about Egyptian society. Some characters, such as the emaciated herdsman or the fat nobleman, have become symbols of a particular social class and had a longevity in art and literature. The reuse of images from one tomb to another, sometimes hundreds of kilometers apart, also reveals a strategy based on reference and quotation.Thus, far from being a uniform and regular world, the decorations of the tombs reveal to be far more complex and elaborated than a simple evocation of the Egyptian ideal.