The development of the British air weapon on the Western Front during the First World War represented a revolution in the way that national resources were employed in exploiting a technological opportunity to achieve tactical and operational advantage. Logistic competence was the precondition for air superiority and the 'modern style of warfare' — indirect, predicted artillery fire. The Royal Flying Corps' logistic staffs, led by Brigadier-General Robert Brooke-Popham, demonstrated considerable agility in meeting the demands of three-dimensional warfare. Sustaining adequate numbers of front-line aircraft required substantial numbers of skilled and semi-skilled personnel, located largely beyond the battle zone, operating at a continuously high tempo while coping with rapid technological change and high wastage. These elements formed a complex, dynamic and integrated network that was also partly self-sustaining, in the form of salvage and repair, with the ability to compensate for shortfalls in aircraft and aero-engine production as well as unpredictable demand. The logistic principles developed on the Western Front provided the foundation for Royal Air Force success in the Second World War and anticipated the management practices that underpin today's global supply chain - as well as demonstrating the enduring interdependence of logistics and air power.

O depósito do Morro dos Seis Lagos (DMSL) é o maior depósito de Nb até hoje encontrado. A mineralização é laterítica, ocorrendo associada ao corpo principal do Complexo Carbonatítico Seis Lagos (CCSL). Este trabalho apresenta resultados da datação U-Pb (por MC-ICP-MS com LASER acoplado) de zircões de sete amostras abrangendo todos os tipos litológicos conhecidos no CCSL/DMSL: rocha encaixante (gnaisse), veio de feldspato na encaixante, siderita carbonatito (3 amostras) e crostas ferruginosas mineralizadas em Nb (2 amostras). Os zircões do gnaisse e do veio de feldspato forneceram idades de, respectivamente, 1.826 ± 9 Ma e 1.839 ± 29 Ma, as quais mostram que a litofácies Tarsira do Complexo Cauaburi (o embasamento do Domínio Imeri na Província Rio Negro) é de 16 Ma a 29 Ma mais antiga do que o anteriormente suposto. Os zircões de duas amostras de carbonatito forneceram idades de 1.837 ± 8 Ma e 1.841 ± 7 Ma, as mais antigas encontradas no Domínio Imeri no Brasil, interpretadas como relacionadas a rochas profundas, cujos zircões foram capturados pelo magma carbonatitico durante sua ascensão A idade de 1.818 ± 8 Ma obtida em zircões da crosta pisolítica indica que o Complexo Cauaburi foi uma importante fonte para os clastos presentes nesta crosta. A idade de 1.873 ± 70 em zircões da crosta fragmentada pode indicar que rochas mais antigas, de outra provincia, também participaram como fonte de clastos para a cobertura laterítica do CCSL. Os zircões de uma amostra de carbonatito da parte central do corpo forneceram duas idades: 1.841 ± 7 Ma e 1.457 ± 71 Ma. Esta última idade é interpretada como a idade máxima do CCSL. Análises por microssonda eletrônica indicam que os zircões mesoproterozoicos têm alguma afinidade com carbonatito. A possibilidade do CCSL ter uma idade mesoproterozoica é discutida à luz do atual conhecimento da evolução geológica da Província Rio Negro, concluindo-se por uma relação com a evolução do Cinturão K’Mudku. / The Morro dos Seis Lagos deposit (MSLD) is the world’s largest Nb-deposit. The lateritic mineralization occurs associated to the major body of the Seis Lagos Carbonatite Complex (SLCC). This paper presents results of U-Pb dating (by MC-ICP-MS, coupled to LASER) of zircons from seven samples that cover all of the known lithotypes in the SLCC/MSLD: host rock (gneiss), feldspar/kaolin intercalation in the host rock, siderite carbonatite (3 samples), and ferriferous Nb-mineralized crust (2 samples). Zircons from the gneiss and the feldspathic vein provided ages of 1.826 ± 9 Ma and 1.839 ± 29 Ma, respectively, which implies that the lithofacies Tarsira of the Cauaburi Complex (the basement of the Imeri Domain in the Rio Negro Province) is 16 Ma to 29 Ma older than previously supposed. Zircons from two carbonatite samples provided ages of 1.837 ± 8 Ma and 1.841 ± 7 Ma which are interpreted as ages of deeper host rocks whose zircons were extracted by the rising carbonatitic magma The age of 1.818 ± 8 Ma obtained in zircons from the pisolitic crust indicate the Cauaburi Complex as the main source of clasts for this crust. The age of 1.873 ± 70 in zircons from the fragmented crust may indicate that rocks from another province older than the Rio Negro Province also contributed as source of clasts to the SLCC lateritic cover. The zircons of a carbonatite sample from the central part of the carbonatite body yield two ages: 1.841 ± 7 Ma and 1.457 ± 71 Ma. The late age is interpreted as the maximum age of the SLCC. Analysis by electron microprobe reveals some evidences that the mid-Proterozoic zircons could be carbonatite zircons. The possible age of 1.457 Ma for the SLCC is discussed in view of the present knowledge on the geology of the Rio Negro Province; a relation with the evolution of the K'Mudku Belt is prognosticated.

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Scientific narratives are pervasive in international policy, in part, due to the increasing degree to which technological considerations enter modern thinking. These narratives are particularly visible in the chemical weapon prevention regime, which must accommodate changes in science and technology to ensure that they do not result in the application of new utilities for toxic chemicals as weapons. The dissertation investigates the function of technical experts, and the perceptions of their role, in the procedures of the chemical weapon prevention regime that address technical change. It explores expert involvement in three elements of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC): its negotiation; the Scientific Advisory Board; and in national policy formulation. Ethnography – from an extended placement within the Convention's monitoring body, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) – as well as interviews and documentary sources provide the methodological basis for the research. The dissertation finds that science is often made political within the international policy setting, and shows how science is employed to support political aims whether it is in accelerating or slowing policy formulation, or in deflecting the policy agenda. It argues that whilst the role of experts and their capacity to influence policy vary with the forums in which they are placed, their effectiveness depends also upon other factors, including institutional support. The dissertation also holds that national approaches to expert advice are reflected in state relationships with experts advising at the international level. The research supports much of the Science and Technology Studies (STS) literature on experts in national settings and has substantial implications for a concept popular in International Relations (IR) literature, namely, ‘epistemic communities'. A case for reframing ‘epistemic communities' is developed which incorporates notions drawn from STS, such as the important role of ‘boundary organisations'. These are applied to the CWC, and policy recommendations for the OPCW and its member states are presented.

Práce je rozdělena do dvou částí. První část se zabývá marketingem, jeho aplikací v hotelnictví a cestovním ruchem 21.století. Druhá, praktická část, mapuje součastnou situaci Hotelu U Kata, jeho charakteristiku a součastný marketingový mix. Práce definuje žádaného klienta a možnosti hotelu jak tuto klientelu získat. V závěru práce je vytvořen nový marketingový mix hotelu. Tento mix vychází z budoucí, tak i současné analýzy konkurence a ze SWOT analýzy.

It is widely acknowledged that the phenomenon of prophecy was not restricted only to ancient Israel, but is well attested throughout the ancient Near East, not least but in the textual material retrieved from the Mesopotamian capitals of Mari and Nineveh. A number of recent studies have utilized these sources to discuss the literary history and rhetorical content of Hebrew prophecy. The following thesis differs from these by undertaking to examine and compare the institution of prophecy as it occurs in the Mari, Neo-Assyrian, and Hebrew sources. -Prophecy‖ is considered to be a mode of non-inductive divination, separate from dreams, that, ideally, is denoted by the active intermediation of allegedly divine messages to a human audience. Thus, texts that record the direct speech of a deity and are communicated to an audience by a human intermediary-without recourse to dreams or technical divination-may potentially reflect prophecy in the Mari and Neo-Assyrian sources. Along with a selection of preexilic Hebrew oracular sources, the image of prophecy in all three corpora is independently examined along seven lines: Prompting Prophecy, Prophets, Prophetic Deities, Venues, Means of Delivery, Content of Oracles, and the Responses to Prophecy. Observations gleaned from this analysis are then compared and contrasted with one another to derive a more nuanced understanding of the phenomenon of prophecy in each source. Among other conclusions, it is observed that it is insufficient to simply silhouette Hebrew prophecy against its Mesopotamian counterparts, as if the images of prophecy in Mari and Neo-Assyrian sources themselves represent indistinguishable phenomena. Indeed, despite considerable overlap, they are not completely consistent. This result, it is argued, places in context some of the more glaring discrepancies between these sources and the image of prophecy in the Hebrew sources.

This thesis explains the evolution of US ballistic missile defence (BMD) policy between 1989 and 2010, by moving beyond the political rhetoric and intellectual obfuscation that surrounds the policy in the literature. By developing an explanatory framework to rigorously and systematically analyse the impact of different dynamics on policy, it explains the rhythms of day-to-day policy in particular context; explains the medium term shifts in the domestic political space within which day-to-day policy debate occurred, and explains the long term move towards acceptance and the gradual normalisation of BMD in American security policy. The primary argument of the thesis is that the particular configuration of domestic political institutions and party political pressures at any given time has been far more important in shaping BMD policy during each presidential administration since the end of the Cold War than has previously been acknowledged. Secondly, it argues that developments in the international system and technology have gradually altered the context within which this domestic political debate has occurred. Finally, it shows that domestic political influences, and the gradual shift in the contours of the domestic debate are the key reasons why BMD has gone from being one of the most divisive, zero-sum political issues in American national security thinking, to something that has largely become normalised, with debate now only occurring at the margins.

Dans l’étude de la diagenèse des formations silico-clastiques ou carbonatées, il est souvent difficile de contraindre la température et l’âge des différents épisodes de cimentation ou de recristallisation. Le premier objectif de ce travail de thèse était de tester le potentiel de deux outils isotopiques récents (le géothermomètre des « clumpedisotopes » Δ47 et le géochronomètre U-Pb par analyse ponctuelle sur lame mince) dans le cadre de l’étude de la diagenèse des carbonates. Le deuxième objectif était de préciser l’histoire diagénétique, thermique, ethydrogéologique des réservoirs carbonatés du bassin de Paris. Pour atteindre ces deux objectifs, nous avons étudié des ciments de calcite et dolomite collectés dans les calcaires du Jurassique Moyen du dépocentre du bassin de Paris. La bonne caractérisation pétrographique et sédimentologique de ces échantillons, et le couplage entre les géothermomètres Δ47 et inclusions fluides, nous ont permis d’accéder à plusieurs informations de premier ordre. Premièrement, nous montrons que le Δ47 permet de reconstruire simultanément et précisément la température de formation des ciments diagénétiques dans la gamme 60-100°C (avec une précision de ~3-5°C) et la composition isotopique en oxygène des fluides (δ18Owater) à partir desquels ces ciments ont précipités (avec une précision de ~ 1‰). Deuxièmement, nous présentons une amélioration des connaissances de l’histoire thermique et des périodes de paléo-circulation des fluides à l’échelle régionale dans le bassin de Paris. Notamment, le croisement du géothermomètre Δ47 avec la méthode de datation U-Pb nous a permis pour la première fois de poser des contraintes thermo-chronologiques absolues sur l’ensemble des phases de circulations de fluides étudiées. Plus largement, ce couplage Δ47 /(U-Pb) inédit dévoile un champ d’application nouveau en thermo-chronologie de basse température (10-100°C). Nous anticipons que ce travail initie de nombreuses applications pour l’étude des histoires thermiques des bassins sédimentaires, via l’analyse de la diagenèse des carbonates / Diagenesis studies of both siliciclastic and carbonate rock units face the difficulty of constraining the temperature and age of the successive episodes of mineral crystallization. The first objective of this PhD work was to test the potential of two recent isotopic tools (the "clumped isotopes" Æ47 geothermometer and the laser ablation U-Pb geochronometer ) to integrate conventional carbonate diagenesis studies. The second objective was to reconstruct the diagenetic, thermal, and hydrogeological histories of the Middle Jurassic carbonate reservoirs of the Paris Basin. To achieve these goals, we studied calcite and dolomite cements mostly collected in the basin subsurface (exploration cores). The good petrographical and sedimentological characterization of the studied samples, together with the analysis of fluid inclusions and ?47 thermometry for determining the temperature and the chemical and isotopic compositions of the mineralizing fluids, allowed us to reach several first-order information. First, we show that Æ47 allows to simultaneously and precisely reconstruct the formation temperature of diagenetic cements in the range 60-100 ¡C (with an accuracy of ~ 3-5 ¡C) and the oxygen isotopic composition of the parent fluids (d18Owater) with a precision of ~ 1 ä. Secondly, this work improves our knowledge on the thermal history and past fluid-flows occurring at the basin scale. In particular, the coupling of the Æ47 thermometer with the U-Pb chronometer permitted for the first time to set absolute thermo-chronological constraints on every fluid-flow episodes investigated. More broadly, this unprecedented Æ47/(U-Pb) coupling reveals a new field of application in the low-temperature thermo-chronology field (10-100 ¡C). We anticipate that this pioneer thermo-chronological approach will induce many future applications in the study of sedimentary basins via carbonate diagenesis studies

In this thesis, we study the Fisher's zeros in lattice gauge theory. The analysis of singularities in the complex coupling plane is an important tool to understand the critical phenomena of statistical models. The Fisher's zero structure characterizes the scaling properties of the underlying models and has a strong influence on the complex renormalization group transformation flows in the region away from both the strong and weak coupling regimes. By reconstructing the density of states, we try to develop a systematical method to investigate these singularities and we apply the method to SU(2) and U(1) lattice gauge models with a Wilson action in the fundamental representation. We first take the perturbative approach. By using the saddle point approximation, we construct the series expansions of the density of states in both of the strong and weak regimes from the strong and weak coupling expansions of the free energy density. We analyze the SU(2) and U(1) models. The expansions in the strong and weak regimes for the two models indicate both possess finite radii of convergence, suggesting the existence of complex singularities. We then perform the numerical calculations. We use Monte Carlo simulations to construct the numerical density of states of the SU(2) and U(1) models. We also discuss the convergence of the Ferrenberg-Swendsen's method which we use for the SU(2) model and propose a practical method to find the initial values that improve the convergence of the iterations. The strong and weak series expansions are in good agreement with the numerical results in their respective limits. The numerical calculations also enable the discussion of the finite volume effects which are important to the weak expansion. We calculate the Fisher's zeros of the SU(2) and U(1) models at various volumes using the numerical entropy density functions. We compare different methods of locating the zeros. By the assumption of validity of the saddle point approximation, we find that the roots of the second derivative of the entropy density function have an interesting relation with the actual zeros and may possibly reveal the scaling property of the zeros. Using the analytic approximation of the numerical density of states, we are able to locate the Fisher's zeros of the SU(2) and U(1) models. The zeros of the SU(2) stabilize at a distance from the real axis, which is compatible with the scenario that a crossover instead of a phase transition is expected in the infinite volume limit. In contrast, with the precise determination of the locations of Fisher's zeros for the U(1) model at smaller lattice sizes L=4, 6 and 8, we show that the imaginary parts of the zeros decrease with a power law of L-3.07 and pinch the real axis at β= 1.01134, which agrees with results using other methods. Preliminary results at larger volumes indicate a first-order transition in the infinite volume limit.