Thesis Media reflections on Czechoslovak Legions 1918-1939 analyzes period articles, theater plays and publications dedicated to the participants of the first resistance and describes how the Czechoslovak public was informed about legionaries based on the study of archival materials and the content of analysis. A scrapbook catalog of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the National Archives in Prague, that contains authentic collections of articles about legionaries and the activities of legionary organizations was used as a main source of information. The diploma thesis briefly summarizes the work of the Czechoslovak revolutionary army during the First World War and the development of the press in the Czech lands. A significant part is focused on the popular periodicals called Lidove noviny and Narodni osvobozeni and their articles. It describes the legionary cult and its symbolism. A large part of the thesis describes the person of J. J. Svec. It analyses the first great Czechoslovak film based on his story. Part of the work is based on christianlegion symbols in a time when the separation of the Church and the state was an eminent period topic. It documents how the story was presented to the readers by means of the period articles.

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo descrever o fenômeno da adesão nas igrejas neopentecostais a partir da psicologia social, mais especificamente, da teoria das representações sociais. Desta maneira, nós procuramos identificar os elementos constitutivos das práticas religiosas decorrentes de um determinado grupo religioso neopentecostal correlacionando-os àss representações sociais. Destarte, este trabalho identificou e analisou o processo de utilização do senso comum religioso pela comunidade neopentecostal Igreja Mundial do Poder de Deus, como instrumento gerador de adesão, considerando-se os fatores emocionais pertinentes ao senso comum do grupo como força motivadora de adesão à igreja referida. Deste modo, chegamos a quatro temas básicos que nos possibilitaram identificar as representações sociais construídas na interatividade da igreja. Os temas foram: oferta de milagres e feitos extraordinários; a singularidade da Igreja Mundial do Poder de Deus; a batalha entre o bem e o mal; o líder espiritual e sua relação com os adeptos de sua comunidade. As representações sociais identificadas foram: representação social da igreja como lugar de bênçãos e feitos extraordinários; representação social dos demônios; representação social do divino; representação social do ungido de Deus. Tendo em vista as representações identificadas e analisadas, o que se conclui é que, na igreja pesquisada, o senso comum - enquanto significações circulantes entre os membros desta igreja - aliado a fatores emocionais que lhe são pertinentes, se constitui como fator causativo de adesão, na medida em que os sujeitos percebem que as soluções para suas demandas e males são ofertadas, pela igreja, de maneira identificada com os significados já presentes neste senso comum. / The purpose of this thesis was to describe the phenomenon of adherence to the neo-pentecostal churches from the point of view of social psychology, and more specifically, of the theory of social representations. This way, our proposition was to identify the constitutive elements of a religious practice establishing a relationship with these social representations. Specifically, the research identified and analysed the process of utilization of the religious common sense by the neo-pentecostal commuty called Igreja Mundial do Poder de Deus [World Church of Gods Power], as a generative instrument of adherence, taking into consideration the emotional factors which are relevant to the common sense of the group, as the driving force motivating their attachment to this church. This way, we reach the four basic themes which allow us to identify the social representations built upon the interactivity of the church. The four themes are: miracle offerings and extraordinaty deeds; the singularity of the church; tha battle between Good and Evil; the spiritual leader and the people. The social representations identified were: the social representation of the church as a place for blessings and extraodinary deeds; the social representation of the demons; the social representation of the Divine and the social representation of the Gods Anointed. Having in mind the representations identified and analysed we came to the conclusion that, in the researched church, the common sense - while circulating significations among the church members - combined with emotional factors which are pertinent to them, constitutes the causative factor of the adherence, to the extent that the individuals realise that the solutions for their demands and misfortunes are offered by the church in an identified manner with the meaning already present in this common sense.

Cette étude se propose d’étudier la réception de la nouvelle de la victoire de Lépante dans le grand-duché de Toscane sous le règne de Côme Ier et la transformation de l’événement d’actualité en objet historique, inscrit dans l’historiographie officielle médicéenne. La participation de la flotte toscane à la Sainte Ligue de Lépante en 1571 s’inscrit dans un contexte particulier de crise diplomatique avec le roi d’Espagne Philippe II de Habsbourg, dont la Toscane est un État vassal et dont l’autorité est de plus en plus contestée par les Médicis. Côme Ier de Médicis a vu aboutir les projets de son ambitieuse politique navale en 1560 avec la création de l’Ordre militaire marin de Santo Stefano, de sa politique dynastique en 1569 avec l’obtention, par le pape Pie V, du titre héréditaire grand-ducal, accompagné d’un contrat de collaboration militaire pour l’Ordre. La présence de la Toscane, sous la bannière pontificale, dans une coalition aussi prestigieuse que la Sainte Ligue, qui réunit Venise, l’Espagne et le pape, devrait constituer une occasion privilégiée de renforcer le discours de légitimation du principat médicéen. En effet, la victoire de Lépante constitue un événement au sens traditionnel du terme, c’est-à-dire un fait politico-militaire inattendu, éclatant, dont les représentations d’actualité cristallisent les enjeux diplomatiques du moment et dont les célébrations permettent de mettre en scène le pouvoir : plus que l’antagonisme, c’est la qualité de l’alliance qu’on lui oppose qui fait sens dans les récits et les images de Lépante. Pourtant, en Toscane, on n’assiste pas à une production aussi riche, féconde, variée et durable qu’ailleurs en Italie, notamment à Venise ou à Rome. Fidèle à sa tendance de fond qui préfère aux revendications ouvertes la discrétion et la prudence, le discours médicéen raconte une victoire de Lépante ambigüe, nuancée, comme une voix discordante au cœur du concert de célébrations qui suivent l’événement, dépassant le simple clivage des catégories de victoire et de défaite. Les représentations toscanes puisent leur matière même dans les correspondances militaires et diplomatiques des acteurs de la bataille : ils écrivent juste après l’avènement des faits, observent avec lucidité les graves disfonctionnements au sein de la Sainte Ligue, rendent compte de leur expérience concrète de la guerre et des lourdes pertes subies par l’Ordre au cours des combats. La nouvelle et les détails de la victoire se diffusent très largement grâce à une nouvelle forme éditoriale, les avvisi a stampa, des publications occasionnelles qui racontent et célèbrent la victoire. Celles qui sont publiées en Toscane révèlent des choix éditoriaux particuliers : l’imprimerie officielle grand-ducale semble vouloir ménager les susceptibilités en diffusant des versions canoniques pontificales ou espagnoles du déroulement des événements, qui ignorent la participation toscane, tandis que des récits plus favorables aux Toscans sont publiés par des typographes d’importance secondaire. Dans un troisième temps, l’événement s’inscrit dans l’historiographie officielle du régime grand-ducal ; la bataille de Lépante est traitée comme une « semi-victoire » dans un chapitre de l’Istoria de’ suoi tempi de Giovambattista Adriani, l’histoire officielle du règne de Côme ; en revanche, elle fait l’objet d’une célébration triomphale dans un cycle de fresques de Giorgio Vasari réalisé dans la Sala Regia du palais apostolique du Vatican. En effet, Côme renonce à faire représenter la victoire de Lépante à Florence, au Palazzo Vecchio, comme nombre de ses hauts faits militaires, pour envoyer l’artiste officiel de l’État opérer au service du pape, comme ambassadeur du prestige culturel de Florence : pour servir l’État , les arts seraient, en somme, bien plus efficaces que les armes. / This dissertation focuses on how the news of the victory of the battle of Lepanto was received and dealt with under the rule of Cosimo I de’ Medici in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. This approach will then highlight that, from piece of news to historical information, this event was in fact transformed and discussed by the official Medicean historiography. The Tuscan fleet joined the Holy League in 1571. This coincides with a diplomatic crisis which crystallized the Medici’s contesting the authority of King Philip II of Spain over the vassal state of Tuscany. Cosimo I de’ Medici’s ambitious naval policy led to the creation, in 1560, of the Sacred Military Order of St Stephen and when, in 1569, Pope Pius V granted him the title of Grand Duke on the grounds of hereditary right, along with a military agreement to support the Order, his dynastic policy was finally asserted. The papal banner acknowledged a prestigious alliance between the Republic of Venice, Spain and the Pope. Being part of this Holy League offered Tuscany an opportunity to legitimate the Medicean princedom. The Battle of Lepanto may be considered as an event, that is to say, an unexpected military and political fact. The representations of this brilliant victory epitomize the diplomatic stakes of the time and the way the event was celebrated highlights its power issues. In fact, in the narratives and images of the Battle, what prevails is the strength of the alliance and not what it stood up against. Yet, works dedicated to the Battle in Tuscany were not as diverse and lasting as in other parts of Italy such as Rome and Venice. Medicean historians and artists gave a nuanced version of the Battle, mirroring a general trend of discretion. Their voices thus disrupted the harmonious celebrations which came after the event and challenged the dichotomy of victory versus defeat. Tuscan representations of the event drew their inspiration from an archival material made of diplomatic and military letters. Just off the battlefield, the protagonists of the combat put their experience down into words. They exposed that the Holy League was seriously dysfunctional and gave a first-hand testimony of the war and of how heavy the losses were for the Order. The news of the victory, but also its details, quickly and widely spread thanks to avvisi a stampa, a new editorial practice consisting in occasional publications extolling the grandeur of the victory. This thesis contends that the publications in Tuscany were ruled by a particular editorialist choice. In fact, it appears that the grand-ducal official press remained neutral and published mainly canonical versions of the Battle, praising both the papal and Spanish roles, but which overlooked the Tuscan participation, whereas narratives extolling the Tuscan input in the battle were handled by minor typographers. Furthermore the event made its way into the official historiography of the grand dukedom. In a chapter from Giovambattista Adriani’s Istoria de’ suoi tempi, which relates the official history of Cosimo’s rule, the Battle of Lepanto is described as a "semi-victory". On the other hand, it was treated as a grand victory by Giorgio Vasari in the series of frescos he painted for the Sala Regia in the Vatican palace. As a matter of fact, Cosimo, instead of having the Battle, and many other of his military feats, commemorated in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, decided to send the official artist of the State to the Vatican as a cultural ambassador. Arts seemed a better way to serve the State than weapons.

An entity capable of assessing its and others action capabilities possess the power to predict how the involved entities may change their world. Through this knowledge and higher level of situation awareness, the assessing entity may choose the actions that have the most suitable effect, resulting in that entity’s desired world state. This thesis covers aspects and concepts of an arbitrary planning system and presents a threat analyzer architecture built on the novel planning system Goal-Oriented Action Planning (GOAP). This planning system has been suggested for an application for improved missile route planning and targeting, as well as being applied in contemporary computer games such as F.E.A.R. – First Encounter Assault Recon and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. The GOAP architecture realized in this project is utilized by two agents that perform action planning to reach their desired world states. One of the agents employs a modified GOAP planner used as a threat analyzer in order to determine what threat level the adversary agent constitutes. This project does also introduce a conceptual schema of a general planning system that considers orders, doctrine and style; as well as a schema depicting an agent system using a blackboard in conjunction with the OODA-loop.

Dès le déclenchement de la mobilisation générale, le 2 septembre 1939, des centaines de détachements prévôtaux sont affectés aux unités françaises et aux armées alliées. Ils sont chargés, pendant les dix mois de la campagne de 1939-1940, du maintien de l’ordre sur les deux fronts métropolitains de la zone des armées : le Nord-Est et le front des Alpes. Incluse dans le système de contrainte qui pèse sur les cinq millions de mobilisés français, la gendarmerie prévôtale est appelée à remplir plusieurs missions. Elle traque les réfractaires à la mobilisation en lutant contre la désertion, les absences illégales et les violences des militaires. Elle assure également la gestion des prisons militaires tout en effectuant les transfèrements de détenus. Comme auxiliaire du commandement militaire, la prévôté veille à l’application des mesures organisant la nation en temps de guerre. Elle régule et discipline ainsi la circulation des militaires, surveille et restreint celle des civils afin de permettre la fluidité sur les routes empruntées par les troupes. La crainte d’une action subversive aux armées, amène aussi les prévôtés à prévenir et à contrecarrer les menées défaitistes. Le déclenchement des opérations actives, le 10 mai 1940, met la gendarmerie prévôtale à l’épreuve de la guerre de mouvement. Après le choc des Ardennes et la déroute des armées du Nord, elle se réorganise pour répondre aux tâches les plus urgentes : aiguiller la retraite des troupes, enrayer la panique et lutter contre les pillage. L’objectif est double : remplir une mission « ingrate » et mettre fin à la « légende noire » des prévôtés, héritée de la Première Guerre mondiale. / From the launching of general mobilization, on september 2nd 1939, hundreds of provost detachments are appointed to french units and to allied armies. They are loaded, during the ten months of the campaign of 1939-1940, the maintaining of order in the two fronts of the zone of armies: the North-East and the Alps. Included in the system of constraint which weighs on the five millions French mobilized, the provost gendarmerie is called to complete several missions. It tracks down recalcitrant to the mobilization and it struggles against desertion, irregular absences and soldiers violence. She also assures the management of the military prisons and prisoners' transferences. As assistant helper of the military command, the provost gendarmerie watches in the application of measurements organizing the nation in times of war. It regulates and disciplines the circulation of the soldiers, watches and restrains that of the civilians to allow fluidity on roads borrowed by troops. The fear of a subversive action in armies, also leads provost gendarmerie to warn and to prevent led defeatists. The launching of active operations, on may 10th, 1940, puts the provost gendarmerie in the test of the war of movement. After the shock of Ardennes and the crushing defeat of the armies of the North, it reorganizes itself to answer the most urgent tasks: direct the retirement of troops, check panic and struggle against depredation. Objective is double: commit a "ungrateful" mission and put an end to the «black legend » of the provost gendarmes, inherited from the First World war.

Die verhandeling begin met 'n beknopte oorsig oor die plek en aard van plaaslike geskiedenis in Westerse en Suid-Afrikaanse historiografie. Machadodorp se geografiese ligging, sowel as fisiese faktore soos geografie en klimaat was bepalend tydens die vroeë vestigingsgeskiedenis. Uit argeologiese navorsing wat in die groter streek gedoen is, is vasgestel dat Steentydperkmense, Ystertydperkmense en swart gemeenskappe soos die Koni, Pedi en Swazi van die vroegste inwoners van die gebied was. Gedurende die laaste helfte van die negentiende eeu het die eerste wit setlaars die gebied binnegekom. Die bou van die hoofspoorlyn, die Oosterlijn, na die Portugese hawe Delagoabaai was belangrik vir die behoud van die politieke en ekonomiese onafhanklikheid van die ZAR. Die geskiedenis van die opmeet, bou en ontwikkeling van hierdie spoorlyn en die ontstaansgeskiedenis van Machadodorp is nou verweef. Aanvanklik was albei nedersettings, Machadodorp en Carolina, deel van die Lydenburglanddrosdistrik. Toe Carolina in 1893 tot onafhanklike landdrosdistrik geproklameer is, moes die ZAR-regering uitsluitsel gee tot watter distrik Machadodorp sou hoort. Die uiteindelike besluit dat dit deel van die Lydenburg-landdrosdistrik moes bly, sou vir Machadodorp en omgewing langdurende administratiewe gevolge inhou. Die Anglo-Boereoorlog was die mees ingrypende gebeurtenis in Machadodorp se geskiedenis voor 1904. Nadat Pretoria, die hoofstad van die ZAR, deur die Britse magte beset is, het Machadodorp die tydelike regeringsetel van die ZAR geword (5 Junie 1900 tot 27 Augustus 1900). Die Britse troepe het Machadodorp op 28 Augustus 1900 beset en op 1 September 1900 het lord Roberts, die opperbevelhebber van die Britse troepe in suider-Afrika, die Transvaal as deel van die Britse ryk geproklameer. Britse troepe was op die dorp tot na die vredesluiting in 1902. Die verhandeling word afgesluit met 'n bespreking van die administratiewe proses waarvolgens Machadodorp tot dorp geproklameer is. Hierdie proses, wat deur die uitbreek van die oorlog onderbreek is, is tydens die koloniale tydperk voltooi. Op 30 Desember 1904 is Machadodorp tot dorp geproklameer en het die eerste fase in die dorp se ontwikkelingsgeskiedenis tot 'n einde gekom. ENGLISH : The dissertation begins with a brief review of the nature and status of local history in Western and South African historiography. The geographic location of Machadodorp as well as physical factors, such as geology and climate, determined early settlement patterns. From archaeological research in the area it was determined that the earliest inhabitants of the greater Machadodorp area were Stone Age people, Iron Age people and black communities, such as the Koni, Pedi and Swazi. During the last half of the nineteenth century the first whites settled in the region of Machadodorp. To retain their political and economic independence the ZAR had to obtain a non- British route to the outside world. This idea could only be realized if a railway line, the Oosterlijn, was built to the Portuguese harbour of Delgoa Bay. There is a very close link between the surveying, planning, building and development of this railway line and the history of the establishment of Machadodorp. Initially, the two settlements, Machadodorp and Carolina were part of the Lydenburg magisterial district. When Carolina was proclaimed an independent magisterial district in 1893, the ZAR government had to make a decision regarding the district to which Machadodorp would belong. The eventual decision that Machadodorp should remain part of the Lydenburg magisterial district resulted in long term administrative consequences for the Machadodorp area. The Anglo Boer War was the most influential event in the history of Machadodorp prior to 1904. After Pretoria, the capital of the ZAR was occupied by the British forces Machadodorp became the temporary seat of the ZAR government (5 June 1900 – 27 August 1900). On 28 August 1900 the town was occupied by the British troops and on 1 September 1900 Lord Roberts, Commander-in-chief of the British troops in Southern Africa, proclaimed the Transvaal as part of the British Empire. The British troops remained in Machadodorp until after the peace negotiations in 1902. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of the process by which Machadodorp was proclaimed a town. This process which started before the outbreak of the war was disrupted by the war and was only completed after the war. On 30 December 1904 Machadodorp was proclaimed a town, whereby the first phase in Machadodorp’s developmental history was concluded. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Historical and Heritage Studies / unrestricted

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<p>Contest outcomes often involve some mix of skill and chance.  In three essays, I vary the sources of noise and show how player actions either influence, or are influenced by, noise.  I begin with a classic multi-battle contest, the Colonel Blotto game.  Due to his disadvantage in resources, the weak player in this contest stochastically distributes resources to a subset of battlefields while neglecting all others in an attempt to achieve a positive payoff.  In contrast, the strong player evenly distributes his resources in order to defend all battlefields, while randomly assigning extra resources to some.  Because the weak player benefits from randomizing over larger numbers of battlefields, a strong player has incentive to decrease the range over which the weak player can randomize.  When battlefields are exogenously partitioned into subsets, or \textit{fronts}, he is able to do this by decentralizing his forces to each front in a stage prior to the distribution of forces to battlefields and actual conflict.  These allocations are permanent, and each subset of battlefields effectively becomes its own, independent Blotto subgame.  I show that there exist parameter regions in which the strong player's unique equilibrium payoffs with decentralization are strictly higher than the unique equilibrium payoffs without decentralization.</p> <p><br></p> <p>In my second paper, I show how sources of exogenous noise, what Clausewitz referred to as the ``fog of war," obscure developments on the battlefield from the view of a military leader, while individual inexperience and lack of expertise in a particular situation influence his decisionmaking.  I model both forms of uncertainty using the decentralized Colonel Blotto game from the first chapter.  To do so, I first test the robustness of allocation-stage subgame perfect equilibria by changing the contest success function to a lottery, then I find the players' quantal response equilibria (QRE) to show how individual decision-making is impacted by bounded rationality and noisy best responses, represented by a range of psi values in the logit QRE.  I find that player actions rely significantly less on decentralization strategies under the lottery CSF compared to the case of the all-pay auction, owing mainly to the increased exogenous noise.  Moreover, agent QRE and heterogeneous QRE approximate subgame perfect equilibria for high values of psi in the case of an all-pay auction, but under the lottery CSF, QRE is largely unresponsive to changes in psi due to the increase in exogenous noise.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Finally, I examine a potential method for introducing noise into the all-pay auction (APA) contest success function (CSF) utilized in the Colonel Blotto games of the first two chapters.  Many contests are fundamentally structured as APA, yet there is a tendency in the empirical literature to utilize a lottery CSF when stochastic outcomes are possible or the tractability of pure strategy equilibria is desired.  However, previous literature has shown that using a lottery CSF sacrifices multiple distinguishing characteristics of the APA, such as the mixed strategy equilibria described by Baye, Kovenock, and de Vries (1996), the exclusion principle of Baye, Kovenock, and de Vries (1993), and the caps on lobbying principle of Che and Gale (1998).  I overcome this by formulating an APA that incorporates noise and retains the defining characteristics of an auction by forming a convex combination of the APA and fair lottery with the risk parameter lambda.  I prove that equilibria hold by following the proofs of Baye et al. (1996, 1993) and Che and Gale (1998), and I show the new CSF satisfies the axioms of Skaperdas (1996).  While player and auctioneer actions, payments, and revenues in the noisy APA adhere closely to the those of the APA for low levels of noise, the effect of discounted expected payoffs results in lower aggregate payments and payoffs when noise is high.  Finally, I show the noisy APA is only noise equivalent to the lottery CSF when lambda = 0, i.e., the fair lottery.</p>

While the world is urbanising at an exponential rate, so does the conflicts. The common environment for a conventional military force has changed from the open fields normally dominated by tanks and artillery, to narrow streets and buildings in a city. While the actors and environment for combat changes, the tactics doesn’t seem to. Maneuver warfare was mainly developed from the lessons learned from WW2 and was focused on warfare with large units using firepower and movement. But since the last two decades most of the fighting has taken part in urban areas against another type of enemy, which won’t allow for the full extent of the maneuvering and firepower due to structures and other obstructions in a city. This study will analyse how western militaries utilised the principles of maneuver warfare in urban combat. The goal is to measure how well the principles of maneuver warfare applicable in an urban environment against the ever-increasing irregular threat. The purpose is to indicate the complexity the urban environment brings to military units when planning and conducting operations.  The results find that maneuver warfare relates well but can’t fully explain military success in urban warfare.

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