<p>Scholars, journalists, and religious leaders in the twentieth century widely hailed The Christian Century as the most influential Protestant magazine in America. This dissertation investigates the meaning of such praise. In what ways, and upon whom, did the Century exercise influence? Answering this question directs attention not only to the Century's editorial content but also to the cultural role of magazines and the makeup of the Century's audience, an elite group of white American Protestants who had no collective name for the first half of the twentieth century but came to be called the Protestant mainline.</p><p>I focus on the editorial tenure of Charles Clayton Morrison, who bought an obscure Disciples of Christ periodical at a sheriff's sale in 1908 and transformed it, over the next 39 years, into the flagship magazine of liberal Protestantism. Attending to the Century's history as well as its rhetoric, I find that the magazine had a deep effect on its readers but a limited effect on American Protestantism as a whole. Most American Protestants never read the Century or accepted its theologically and politically liberal messages. The mainline, while certainly powerful, was never mainstream.</p><p>Studying the Century reveals how the mainline evolved in terms of membership levels, core emphases, and posture vis-à-vis other religious traditions. Likewise, the Century clarifies the role of the mainline as the dominant Protestant tradition in America. If dominance is understood to mean control of positions of power, a plausible case can be made for the dominance of both the mainline writ large and of the subset of this group who read The Christian Century. If dominance has anything to do with numerical preponderance, however, or with the ability to build consensus around key ideals, the supremacy of the mainline should be reexamined. </p><p>Lofty estimates of the Century's influence presuppose a transmission model of communication in which the primary role of a periodical is to convey information that alters readers' thinking. The Century did convey information to its readers, but the greatest service the magazine performed was to confirm readers' identity as central figures in the growth of what its editors deemed a vital, progressive, but by no means universally accepted form of Christianity. The Century spoke to its 35,000 readers more than it spoke for them, and those readers frequently felt like members of a beleaguered minority rather than a triumphal majority. </p><p>Throughout its upward climb, the Century's rhetoric ran ahead of its accomplishments. Without ever amassing a wide readership, it declared itself the rightful representative of American Protestantism. The Century's rhetoric of unified, progressive, and culturally dominant Protestantism proved compelling, but it obscured many complexities. Examining the Century's struggles to define itself and remain financially viable in its formative years brings to light the difficulties inherent in any attempt to lead America's fractious Protestants.</p> / Dissertation

We introduce and demonstrate a simple and efficient method for simulating mixtures of legacy and autonomous trains. The method generalises an earlier simulation that we developed for legacy-only operations, in which trains run according to fixed-block signalling rules. Autonomous trains, which use moving-block signalling rules, are incorporated into this framework by employing an overlapping set of short virtual fixed-blocks. Safe occupancy is then maintained by using shadowing rules that link the two sets of blocks. The paper gives relevant rail background, details of the proposed simulation rules, and demonstrates exemplar solution trajectories. The simulation technique is validated both in terms of maintaining safe occupancy and providing a close approximation of the true continuous-space dynamics of autonomous leader-follower pairs. At the Dresden meeting, a variety of interesting mixed-fleet capacity results will also be presented.

This thesis considers how religious diversification has shaped the roles of clergy and seminaries. The focus of this qualitative, interview-based study is seminaries and clergy affiliated with various denominations of Judaism and Protestant Christianity in greater London and New York City. Religiously diversifying societies in the US and England have brought forth new challenges for clergy and seminaries, prompting new questions about how or why a faith community should or should not engage with diversity in the public square. This study investigates how seminaries and individual members of the clergy, as sources of religious authority, are responding to religious diversification in different ways - the former sluggish to recognise the impact of religious diversification in curriculum and pedagogical structures and the latter seeing it as a resource for social action initiatives, local networks, and political activism. This has created a gap between training and practice whereby clergy have assumed greater religious authority in religious life. Beyond contributing to the field of sociology of religion, this thesis concludes by allowing the experience of clergy in interreligious engagement to inform appropriate pedagogies that could be employed by seminaries.

Variable Speed Limits (VSL) are often used to improve traffic conditions on congested motorways. VSL can be implemented as mandatory or advisory. The objective of the thesis isto study in detail the effectiveness of VSL. The focus is on both, design parameters and conditions under which VSL are most effective. The MCS system on the E4 motorway inStockholm is used as a case study. The evaluation was conducted using empirical methods (including aggregate data from microwave sensors and other sources, and disaggregate data from a mobile study), and microscopic traffic simulation. The empirical analysis is based on before and after VSL data, including evaluation of individual measures of performance, and multivariate analysis in the form of the fundamental diagram, and speed-density relationships. The results from the empirical study are mixed with an indication that driver behavior has a strong impact on the effectiveness of the system. The microscopic traffic simulation analysis included the development of a platform for testing VSL and more generally motorway control strategies. The simulation platform was calibrated and validated with the empirical data and includes in addition to VSL, and Automatic Incident Detection (AID) system, the ALINEA ramp metering algorithm. The test-platform allows the testing of different control strategies and various combinations of control strategies, under different scenarios and in a controlled environment. The results from the simulation study indicate that driver compliance is an important factor and VSL performance quickly deteriorates as compliance rate drops. Hence, VSL should be implemented as mandatory instead of advisory. In addition, mandatory VSL can be effective both, under incident and moderately congested conditions. A combined VSL and ramp metering strategy can be most effective in reducing travel time, improving traffic conditions on the motorway. Furthermore, the results indicate that such a strategy also has the least impact on the flows entering the motorway from the ramps. / QC20100630

This master's thesis deals with analysis and implementation of methods for BitTorrent monitoring focusing on the Mainline DHT protocol. The aim of the thesis was to create a system, that will be looking for BitTorrent peers that participe in the illegal file distribution. Another task of the system was to collect and analyze data for counting size of the BitTorrent network. That was achieved by taking over of existing method. The system was designed and implemented as a module for monitoring of cybernetic crime. It also defines an interface for storing and sharing data, that provides data evaluation, easy data manipulation and serves for possible future extensions.

This thesis is an historical analytical investigation and theological analysis of the fundamental trends of the ‘Third Wave’ Religious Right Movement and the growth of Zimbabwean Christianity. In an attempt to understand the appealing and growth factors of this religious movement in the Zimbabwean Church scene, the research focuses on the trends and behaviour of the Third Wave Religious Right Movement in Zimbabwe and the critical aspect of how this religious movement communicates the Christian faith to its audience. A critical thrust of the study is the question of whether the disciples of the charismatic movement are motivated by faith or economic factors which may ultimately not be the authentic summons of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The research addresses fears and suspicions of many Christians who are caught up between faith and fear response to the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by the New Religious Right Movements, particularly in Zimbabwe. The hypothetical statement of this work is that there seems to be a subtle reconstruction identity in the theology of the “Third Wave” Religious Right Movement as is clearly manifested through the maneuverings of Christians from the ‘traditional churches’ to these ‘newer charismatic churches in trends which reflect the changing religious geography and the face of African Christianity in general and Zimbabwean Christianity in particular. The research explores the nature, impact and significance of the post – modern ‘Third Wave’ Religious Right Movement in Zimbabwean society in particular. The identity and nature of the ‘Third Wave’ Religious Right Movement in its historical perspective discussed by means of identifying and analyzing the characteristics of this movement and its theological perspectives as well as discussing the factors that promote the growth of the movement in the context of Missio Dei (God’s Mission) and the society in general. Critical to this type of Christianity are the images of power and prosperity which are understood as signs of faith. The impact and effects of this type of faith expression in the socio-political landscape is fully explored. The primary methodology in this study is the historical critical method complimented by oral historiography. Both primary and secondary sources are utilized in this research in a holistic framework for analyzing the historical trends as they unfold in the context of religious declarations and transformations that are part of the phenomenon under investigation. The study observes the translation model of evangelization in the unfolding discourse of the ‘Third Wave’ Religious Right Movement. The study ultimately reveals how people’s economic fears and hopes in the midst of life’s challenges draw them toward religious movements which promise to positively promote a glorious life with practical results being realized “here and now”. This study has clearly exposed how religion, specifically charismatic Christianity, is seen as a package of an abundant life in the context of humanity’s needs and challenges. There is a clear obsession, in the charismatic New Religious Right Movement, with wealth and health as pedestals of salvation and a faithful Christian life. Surprisingly, there is very little reference to moral and ethical issues from the charismatic prophets who are the founders of these New Right Movements. The research notes that the interests of these newer right movements are in prosperity and health: “signs of being saved and blessed”. Lack of economic success is blamed on demons which also causes poor health hence the need to denounce the powers of Satan and engage on “the heavenly gear”. Such teachings have conditioned the prospective converts to seek after material benefits and values as critical aspects of the meaning of salvation and the mission of Christ. The study further reveals that the ‘Third Wave Religious Right Movement promotes a subtle way of making disciples instead of the traditional way of faith response to the gospel proclamation. But does this charismatic religious life have any relevance to our human situation today? The seven compelling chapters of this study have tackled this question and many others, pointing the way to an authentic Christian mission that is alive and relevant to the meaning of salvation in the context of orthodox Christianity. This study concludes that the Church is a catalyst which carries the keys of salvation to bring meaning and solutions to the varied human fears and failures that characterise the temporary nature of human existence. But in doing so; the Church must act in spirit of orthodox Christianity which is the sine qua non of salvation. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Church History and Church Policy / unrestricted

The thesis of this study is that both Pentecostal and non-Pentecostal churches can grow at a time when only the Pentecostal churches have grown. The stagnation that has occurred in many ''mainline" churches.need not be allowed to increase or continue. In Venda (Northern Province) both the Lutherans and the Pentecostals have enjoyed visible growth. Chapter 1 introduces the thesis, the choice of the study area, the objectives of the study, and the typology, methodology and relevance of the study. Chapter 2 looks at the history and socio-economic backgrowtd of the Vhavenda. Chapter 3 describes traditional Vhavenda beliefs and rituals. The Vhavenda world-view is different from that of the West but closer to that of the East and the Bible. Chapter 4 concentrates on missionary Christianity in Venda and briefly discusses the missionary methods adopted by the Berlin Missionary Society. Chapter 5 discusses the coming of Pentecostalism to South Africa and Venda. Chapter 6 examines how the Lutherans and the Apostolic Faith Mission church conducted their mission during the "maturation of Apartheid'' in Venda. Major events in the collision between apartheid and the Vhavenda are highlighted. Chapter 7 discusses the unfinished work of the church in Venda. Chapter 8 examines the challenge for Christian mission in the twenty-first century. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th (Missiology)

The thesis of this study is that both Pentecostal and non-Pentecostal churches can grow at a time when only the Pentecostal churches have grown. The stagnation that has occurred in many ''mainline" churches.need not be allowed to increase or continue. In Venda (Northern Province) both the Lutherans and the Pentecostals have enjoyed visible growth. Chapter 1 introduces the thesis, the choice of the study area, the objectives of the study, and the typology, methodology and relevance of the study. Chapter 2 looks at the history and socio-economic backgrowtd of the Vhavenda. Chapter 3 describes traditional Vhavenda beliefs and rituals. The Vhavenda world-view is different from that of the West but closer to that of the East and the Bible. Chapter 4 concentrates on missionary Christianity in Venda and briefly discusses the missionary methods adopted by the Berlin Missionary Society. Chapter 5 discusses the coming of Pentecostalism to South Africa and Venda. Chapter 6 examines how the Lutherans and the Apostolic Faith Mission church conducted their mission during the "maturation of Apartheid'' in Venda. Major events in the collision between apartheid and the Vhavenda are highlighted. Chapter 7 discusses the unfinished work of the church in Venda. Chapter 8 examines the challenge for Christian mission in the twenty-first century. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th (Missiology)