From a cultural history and game theoretical perspective my work focuses on the relationship between the fantasy subculture, fantasy role-playing games and the daily life of their participants in the Netherlands. Main research themes are the construction of game/play space and identities. Within this context I elaborate in this paper on the usefulness of the term magic circle (Johan Huizinga). ...

It seems that facilitating conditions for knowledge sharing, like a shared understanding, a common language as well as the multifold and direct relations between are idiosyncrasies of a knowledge network. However, these facilitating conditions are limited if a high turn over rate is involved in a knowledge network. As a consequence, capability differences between knowledge network members will ...

the topheth (in ancient jerusalem), considered as a holly land in canaanites period, it was the altar of human sacrifice in honor of baal. the history of the ritual, human sacrifice and the ceremonies accompanied with, among jewish people returns back to when the land of canaan in jordan valley was occupied by the israelite people leading by joshua (ca.1426 b.c.). on these altars the new born c...

INTRODUCTION Ritual is intimately connected with the mask, either in the wearing that hides the true face, or in the adoption of a public face. The mask makes the disengagement from ordinary time and the connection to the ancient and repetitive, which is the heart of ritual, psychologically acceptable. Together, ritual and mask facilitate the apprehension of identity and its connections with pa...

OBJECTIVE Although serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) are approved for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), most OCD patients who have received an adequate SRI trial continue to have clinically significant OCD symptoms. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of augmenting SRIs with exposure and ritual prevention, an established cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)...

background: recognizing the importance of ritual pray as one of the most significant indicators of practical religion; this study examines the ritual pray among students. methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted at isfahan university of medical sciences in 2012 all freshman students by census were examined. entry criteria were being muslim and willingness to participate in the study. d...

Do human beings need rituals? Have they become an obsolete “evolutionary appendix” in the modern world, or are they an indispensable part of the human condition? Right at the start, I wish to adopt a clear stance with regard to this repeatedly controversial discussion in ritual studies: From the perspective of cultural anthropology, I assume that human beings need rituals, that they are an anth...

iii Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my parents, Bill and Barbara, my brother, Peter, sister-in-law, Sharon, my girlfriend, Sylvia, my cat, Oli, and all the other family and friends that have supported me in the pursuit of my dreams. iv Acknowledgement I am grateful to my thesis committee members, Aaron McNamee, Dan Rule and Kathy Rodriguez for all their help and guidance. I appreciate th...