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"The Origins of Left Behind Eschatology” examines the origins of the beliefs that undergird the popular Left Behind novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. How that system of belief arose has long been hotly debated. Using mainly non-fiction books and articles by authors with Left Behind views, I first seek to determine what those beliefs are. From that I draw out eight specific beliefs that are essential to Left Behind eschatology. I next conduct an examination of eschatology in certain eras of Church history, looking for the origins of each of these eight test criteria and seeking when they all first came together to form a system. I examine the early Church thoroughly, but briefly, noting that five of the test criteria were present in the first three hundred years of Christian history. However, no individual taught more than four of them. In addition, the four scholars in this period who each taught four of these beliefs also taught doctrines contrary to Left Behind. I then look at the period from the Reformation, with particular emphasis on the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. While teachings similar to two of the three remaining Left Behind concepts are found in the seventeenth century those two ideas do not properly emerge until the eighteenth century in a work by Morgan Edwards, a Welsh/American Baptist. The final criterion does not appear until the late 1820s in the thought of J.N. Darby of the Plymouth Brethren. Darby was also the first to draw all eight elements together in the early 1830s. I close with a look at how these beliefs became widely accepted and adapted in the remainder of the nineteenth century and in the twentieth.

"The Origins of Left Behind Eschatology” examines the origins of the beliefs that undergird the popular Left Behind novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. How that system of belief arose has long been hotly debated. Using mainly non-fiction books and articles by authors with Left Behind views, I first seek to determine what those beliefs are. From that I draw out eight specific beliefs that are essential to Left Behind eschatology. I next conduct an examination of eschatology in certain eras of Church history, looking for the origins of each of these eight test criteria and seeking when they all first came together to form a system. I examine the early Church thoroughly, but briefly, noting that five of the test criteria were present in the first three hundred years of Christian history. However, no individual taught more than four of them. In addition, the four scholars in this period who each taught four of these beliefs also taught doctrines contrary to Left Behind. I then look at the period from the Reformation, with particular emphasis on the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. While teachings similar to two of the three remaining Left Behind concepts are found in the seventeenth century those two ideas do not properly emerge until the eighteenth century in a work by Morgan Edwards, a Welsh/American Baptist. The final criterion does not appear until the late 1820s in the thought of J.N. Darby of the Plymouth Brethren. Darby was also the first to draw all eight elements together in the early 1830s. I close with a look at how these beliefs became widely accepted and adapted in the remainder of the nineteenth century and in the twentieth.

The broad aim of this study is to develop a greater understanding of modern British Town Planning by examining, in depth, its operation during the 1920s and early 1930s, i. e. the period of the Second Town Planning Act. Two main themes are explored; the ideology of town planning and, the practical achievements of the activity. These are studied in their national context and in several empirical studies of events on Teesside and in Hartlepool. The ideology of town planning is seen to be dominated by the notion of consensus. This is seen as part of a wider process in British political life. Such a notion fitted into the view of town planning as a non-political, technical activity. In practice, it is demonstrated that consensus was rarely achieved and dominant landowning forces usually achieved their ends in any conflict over land-use with the aid of the Ministry of Health. The practical achievements of town planning in this period are generally portrayed as weak and of little interest. This study demonstrates that although the scope of town planning was deliberately limited it was reasonably successful in meeting its objectives. The experience of town planning by growing numbers of local authorities in the 1920s and early 1930s helped to lay the foundation of modern town planning. Without this experience it is doubtful if the accomplishments of town planning in the 1940s and 1950s would have been possible. Whilst the experience of town planning between 1919 and 1933 is seen to be much richer and more important than commonly realised the scope and purpose of the activity is seen as limited from the outset by narrow political objectives.

For ancient Romans, a trip to the public baths was one of the central events of daily life. The copious physical remains of these buildings have been studied in detail by archaeologists and art historians, but many facets of their history and functioning remain unclear or disputed. This dissertation attempts to fill some of the gaps in our knowledge of this core institution in Roman community life. Three aspects are selected for close study: the origins of the baths; the growth of their popularity; and some social aspects of their daily operation. To date these questions have been respectively not satisfactorily addressed, glossed over, or treated only in the most general terms. The approach taken in the first section, unlike previous studies, is to emphasize the human side of the baths' origins: what drove the Romans (or, more precisely, the Carnpanians) to create their distinctive bathing facilities? Previous theories, mostly based on archaeological evidence, are examined in detail and found to be unsatisfactory. The admittedly sparse literary and epigraphic evidence is subjected to close critical scrutiny. All three types of primary source are then combined to form a new hypothesis which better fits all the evidence than the often fanciful proposals which still carry currency among Roman balneologists. Section two is concerned with tracing and explaining the growth in the baths' popularity in the 1st centuries BC and AD. Again, archaeological and written evidence is combined to determine the main periods of growth. In searching for an explanation for the phenomenon, it is suggested that the medical teachings of the famous doctor Asclepiades of Bithynia may have played an important, if not precisely quantifiable, role in the spread of the bathing habit in the city. The main basis for section three is the tabulated epigraphic evidence, a largely untapped source for the study of the baths. Using these data (as well as material drawn from other sources) an investigation is conducted into the identities, motives, and social statuses of bathbuilders and rnaintainers. In addition, an attempt is made to reconstruct from available evidence the social environment to be found at the baths. In the course of the inquiry, some consequences for broader topics in Roman social history are highlighted. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The key to the RNA world hypothesis is the ribozyme, an information and catalytic agent that preceded proteins and DNA. Prior to ribozymes the sequences of RNA needed to build up to a length that could potentially be a ribozyme. This research focuses on computational modelling of hydrolysis, polymerization, and template-directed ligation to determine sequence patterns and characteristics that may have emerged due to these simple processes. A model containing L- and D-chirality monomers is used that incorporates the advantage of being a uniform chirality to achieve chiral symmetry breaking. Another chirality model is used where being uniform provides no advantage and a symmetry breaking still occurs. Beyond chirality we look at nucleobase models where we use a two letter alphabet containing adenine and uracil to determine symmetry breaking in sequence space. This results in self-complementary sequences dominating this model at all ligation rates but under certain initial conditions including high concentration, other types of sequences can be dominant. If a third base, guanine is added to this model a wobble base is created. In these models the self-complementary sequences containing uracil are the most prevalent due to uracil’s ability to pair with both adenine and guanine. Finally, upon adding a fourth base to the model guanine also becomes a wobble pair and the sequences containing uracil and guanine dominate the system for low ligation rates but at higher rates the uniform uracil and guanine sequences dominate. For each model a version is run with the templating reaction scaling linearly with the number of binding sites and without, where all templates are equally good. Generally, the scaling causes symmetry breakings at lower ligation values for each model. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / The origin of life on Earth is a long-debated question that has been asked by nearly every civilization to have existed. This research addresses the origin of life in the context of the RNA World theory, which proposes that the first kind of replicating molecules were RNA strands, specifically, catalytic RNA sequences, called ribozymes. We carry out computer simulations of the formation and break-up of short RNA strands. Strands can grow by joining together randomly, or due to the action of template strands. We find that, if this process occurs repeatedly, the RNA strands in the mixture move towards states in which groups of sequences that are good templates for one another occur together at high concentrations. By studying the possible states that arise in this reaction mixture, we hope to learn about the first replicating RNA strands that lead to the origin of life.

By designing a school for 'La Tarantella', I sought to explore how architecture could meaningfully surround the circular movements of the dancers while imagining how elements of the building could also express energy, rhythm, balance, and harmony. The body/column analogy, the question of cultural and architectural origins, and the myth of the Ancient Cretan labyrinth led me to the creation of a modern labyrinth. / Master of Architecture

<p>As its central purpose, the thesis outlines the Buddhist conception of human omniscience as developed by the philosophers of later Vijnanavada Buddhism, i.e., DharmakIrti, Prajnakaragupta Santarakita and Kamalasila. It attempts to show how those philosophers dialectically established the possibility of human omniscience and the omniscience of the Buddha. The concept of human omniscience was introduced into Indian philosophy because of the religious controversies between Heterodox (Nastika) schools, such as Jainism and Buddhism, and Orthodox (Astika) schools, especially Nyaya-Vaiseika, Sankhya-Yoga, Mimamsa and Vedanta. The Mimamsakas began the argument with claims for the omniscience of the Vedas; the Naiyayikas followed with the attribution of omniscience to God. When the Buddhists, in turn, maintained the omniscience of the Buddha, the Mimamsakas raised objections to the concept of human omniscience, the omniscience of the Buddha, of God, and of any human religious teacher. In order to refute these objections and to assert once again the superiority of the Buddha and his teachings of Dharma, the later Buddhist philosophers sought to dialectically established the concept of human omniscience. The Buddhist argument was the product of constant interaction and debate with other Indian religious and philosophical schools, and it is clear that omniscience was and continues to be one of the pivotal topics for all schools of Indian philosophy. The Buddhists have used logical arguments to support the concept of human omniscience. They have established the omniscience of the Buddha using the logical methods of presumption and inference. They have provided the answers from the Buddhist point of view to the Mimamsakas' objections against the concepts of human omniscience and the omniscience of the Buddha. The Buddhists maintain that an omniscient person perceives all objects of the world simultaneously in a single cognitive moment. They have also argued that only an omniscient person can teach Dharma. The aim of the Buddhists was to prove the superiority of Buddhism among all religions, because it is based on the teachings of an omniscient being. In brief, this thesis outlines the development of the concept of omniscience, which the Buddhists hold to be the necessary and sufficient condition for perception of supersensuous truths such as Dhatma.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)