Thesis (M.A. in National Security Affairs)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2005. / Thesis Advisor(s): H. Lyman Miller. Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-72). Also available online.

Thesis (M.A.)--Cincinnati Christian Seminary, 1987. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [135]-146).

Using the Material Engagement Theory of Cognitive Archaeologist Lambros Malafouris as its framework, the thesis offers a unique synthesis of data from neuroscience, ethnography, linguistics, and archaeology to outline how number concepts are realized, manipulated, and elaborated. The process is described as an interactivity of psychological processes like numerosity, behaviors that manipulate objects into concept-generating stimuli, and material objects with semiotic qualities distinct from those of language and agency distinct from that of brains and bodies. The counting technologies of the Ancient Near East (ANE) are then analyzed through archaeological and textual evidence spanning the late Upper Paleolithic to the Bronze Age, from the first realization of number concepts in a pristine original condition to their elaboration into one of the ancient world's greatest mathematical traditions, a foundation for mathematical thinking today. Insights from the way numbers are realized through psychological-behavioral-material interactivity are used to challenge three dominant conceptualizations of ANE numbers: first, the idea that the ANE numerical lexicon would have counted only to very low numbers; second, that Neolithic tokens were the first counting technology; and third, that numbers were 'concrete' before they became 'abstract'. Considering archaeological evidence from the Epipaleolithic Levant and drawing on linguistic and ethnographic evidence to characterize the regional prehistory, the thesis suggests that the numerical lexicon would have included relatively high numbers prior to the Neolithic; that finger-counting (linguistically attested) and tallies (archaeologically attested) would have preceded tokens; and that numbers are 'abstract' concepts whose content changes in conjunction with the incorporation and use of different material forms. The evidence provided to support these alternatives implies that numbers may have originated in the late Upper Paleolithic and arithmetic early in the Neolithic, pushing the onset of these capabilities further back than is commonly held. In addition to tallies and tokens, the thesis explores fingers and numerical notations as material artifacts, enabling an analysis of how materiality might structure numerical concepts, influence a number system's capabilities, limitations, and elaboration potential, and affect brains and behavior over cultural spans of time. Insights generated by the case study are then applied to the role of materiality in cognition more generally, including how concepts become distributed across multiple material forms; the reasons why materiality might be transparent (or invisible) in cognition; and the differences between thinking through and thinking about materiality.

The 1958 crisis in Lebanon was a significant event in modern Middle Eastern and international history. Interpretations, however, overlook or subordinate the Lebanese dimensions and how the Lebanese interpreted crisis and causation, through the lens of established community mythologies. Lebanon contains different, confessionally-defined communities, with a long history of tensions and clashes between them. Examination of these enables the Lebanese dimensions to the 1958 crisis to be given due weight. While regional and international dimensions are of clear importance, the crisis resulted from internal Lebanese factors, long and short term, relating to the different communities, rather than to the impact of international issues such as Nasserism. Where such issues were significant it was because they were not imposed, but invoked by Lebanese elements in the name of Lebanese foreign policy, in order to further their own cause and agendas for Lebanon. The mythologies surrounding the 'historical' evolution of the communities helped shape the differing agendas for Lebanon. Of the communities, the Maronite community and its invocation of mythology has played a consistently significant role. The Druze and Sunni, were, at different times, of significance also, particularly in terms of relations with the Maronites. These groups used their interpretations of the 'history' of Lebanon to justify their agendas for the future of Lebanon, and in so doing, helped to precipitate a crisis. The political compromise set up to administer Lebanon was based on 'historical' assumptions and differences, and was consequently vulnerable. In this context, the role of Chamoun in escalating the ever-present level of intercommunal tension, in 1957 and 1958, is another major element in the study. The study uses a range of sources, including official and private papers, unpublished memoirs, oral evidence and newspapers, to map communal feelings and tensions leading to the crisis itself, and its resolution.

No description available.

International disputes over access to water resources can act as a catalyst for conflict or cooperation amongst nations. In the case of Israel and the occupied West Bank, water conflict further exacerbates preexisting political tension, and yet a peaceful and equitable solution between these countries could spark further negotiation. Within this context, the Palestinian Hydrology Group conducted a water questionnaire amongst Palestinian households in the occupied West Bank in 2001. The aim of the PHG’s survey was to investigate which water management system would be the most suitable in terms of equity, cost-recovery, and long-term development of the resource. Ultimately the water pricing system that was recommended was an increasing block-tariff system, which prioritizes the delivery of necessary amounts of water used for basic needs amongst all users before further allocating water to other uses. However, most of the work conducted by the PHG was qualitative and based entirely on descriptive statistics. Analysis regarding the relationships between water pricing, water consumption, and water needs, and how these relationships change over different scales, was not present in the final report. The purpose of this thesis to continue the research conducted by the PHG by analyzing the water questionnaire database as a means to further advise and direct water services within the occupied West Bank. In order to discern relationships between seasonal patterns of water pricing and consumption, an in-depth analysis of that data was conducted. In addition, perceived water needs were also examined. This analysis was performed at a variety of scales, including amongst districts, average monthly income levels, and connection/non-connection to a water network. Results indicate that some districts in the occupied West Bank are comparatively under-serviced. The economically poor district of Jenin seems to be in greatest need of stabilized and equitable water resources, followed by Hebron, Nablus and Ramallah. It was also observed that those within lower income brackets bear a disproportionate share of pricing fluctuations and, not surprisingly, low consumption levels. Connection/non-connection to a water network indicates that not only is consumption amongst non-connected households significantly low, but also that the difference between perceived water needs and water consumption is much greater than amongst connected households. This thesis supports the PHG’s recommendation for an increasing block-tariff system, since regression analysis indicates inequitable distribution and pricing amongst districts and income levels. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

This study explores the content, context and contradictions in the making of United States' policy for the Indian Ocean region during the decade of the 1970's. In approaching this undertaking, the study will focus on the strategic dimension to policy from both an historical and an analytic perspective. The work explores three major themes: first, that the need to reverse a perceived decline in U. S. power constituted a common ground for U. S. administrations' during the 1970's; secondly, that the approach to this objective found a critical geopolitical focus in the Middle East and Northern Indian Ocean region; and thirdly, that the modalities of regional engagement redefined, in turn, the nature of regional multipolarity . The principal dilemma to be explored for U. S. policy concems the reconciliation of the rising importance of the region to the United States with diminishing U. S. leverage, in an era of diffusion of power and emergent strategic bipolarity. In methodological terms, the research design adapts the controlled comparison case study model developed by Alexander George amongst others. In this context, the class of events under scrutiny is policy - broadly defined - for the Indian Ocean region under differing strategic concepts, with a focus on bureaucratic interaction, organizational process, and military posture. The parallel analysis of macroscopic processes in world economics, inter-state relations and the central balance provides a conjunctural setting for a structured, focused, comparison of source material drawn from Congressional Hearings, policy documentation, reports, interviews and internal departmental and intelligence memoranda. For the source material itself, the research programme has accessed much material recently declassified under FOI legislation and on record in the National Archives, the National Security Archives and the Nixon Presidential library. The ordering of the work is as follows: for the six major chapters, chapter one locates the origins of United States' strategic interest in the Indian Ocean within a critical account of U. S. relations with the existing British power. Chapter's two and three commence the main historical part of the work in considering the Indian Ocean policy of the Nixon administration, in terms of the local application of the 'Nixon Doctrine'. Here, the objectives and restraints for U. S. policy are assessed with reference to two major themes of this study, great power strategic parity and regional multipolarity. These themes are referenced to signal historical developments in the region - the withdrawal of British forces, the changes in the world oil market and the 1971 India-Pakistan and 1973 Middle East wars. The emerging strategic focus on the Indian Ocean for the Ford administration is taken up in chapter four within the parallel perspectives of U. S. military posture and the evolving distribution of power in the region itself. This context leads into the Indian Ocean policies of the Carter administration. Chapter five provides an overview of the U. S. -Soviet naval arms limitation talks (NALT) of 1977-8, while chapter six undertakes a three part exposition of the 'Carter Doctrine'. In this, the emergence of the South West Asia/Indian Ocean region as the focus of great power competition is located within analysis of the Iranian revolution, the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan and the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war. Although aspects of U. S. regional policy have been subject to a substantial literature, the stance taken here combines an historical analysis with a parallel essay at synthesis -a perspective that locates the region within the overall cast of U. S. national security policy. The study posits a strategic determination for the Indian Ocean policy framework, one whose unifying process accentuated - pari passu - the differentiation of means - In these terms, it concludes that a differentiation of ends, and notably, those involving effective disengagement from the Indian Ocean, was displaced as a possible option.

No description available.

The end of the Cold War and the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe have been accompanied by the spread of democracy, advancement in respect for human rights, and the introduction of market reforms in different parts of the world. The Middle Eastern region has not been an exception to this trend, where, in response to the mounting economic crisis and domestic public pressure, several governments introduced democratic and economic reforms. This thesis investigates the trends in the distribution of political authority among the Middle Eastern countries and the progress that these countries have made on the path of democracy and respect of human rights. Also explored are the various processes of political liberalization in Middle East states, and explanations posed as to why certain types of regimes have allowed for conditions conducive for reform and others have not.

The objective of this thesis is to identify, isolate, and expound the concepts of sacred space and its ancillary doctrines and to show how they were expressed in ancient temple architecture and ritual. The fundamental concept of sacred space defined the nature of the holiness that pervaded the temple. The idea of sacred space included the ancient view of the temple as a mountain. Other subsets of the basic notion of sacred space include the role of the creation story in temple ritual, its status as an image of a heavenly temple and its location on the axis mundi, the temple as the site of the hieros gamos, the substantial role of the temple regarding kingship and coronation rites, the temple as a symbol of the Tree of Life, and the role played by water as a symbol of physical and spiritual blessings streaming forth from the temple. Temple ritual, architecture, and construction techniques expressed these concepts in various ways. These expressions, identified in the literary and archaeological records, were surprisingly consistent throughout the ancient Near East across large expanses of space and time. Under the general heading of Techniques of Construction and Decoration, this thesis examines the concept of the primordial mound and its application in temple architecture, the practice of foundation deposits, the purposes and functions of enclosure walls, principles of orientation, alignment, and measurement, and interior decorations. Under the rubric of General Temple Arrangement are explored the issues of the tripartite and other temple floor plans, the curious institution of the ziggurat, the meaning of temple pillars, the presence of sacred groves and the idea of the Tree of Life, and temple/palace symbiosis. The category Arrangement of Cultic Areas and Ritual Paraphernalia deals with areas such as elevated statues of the deity in the innermost sanctuary, sources of water for ablutions, the temple as a site for a cult of the dead, and altars and animal sacrifice. The concept of sacred space and its ancillary ideologies provided underlying justification and support for all the peculiar distinctions that characterised temple architecture in the ancient Near East. / Old Testament & Ancient Near Eastern Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Ancient Near Eastern Studies)