No / Foodcrusts, the charred surface deposits on pottery vessel surfaces, provide a rich source of data regarding container function. This article reviews recent applications focusing on the detection of aquatic resources (marine and freshwater) in pottery vessels using a range of analytical approaches including bulk isotope measurements of carbon and nitrogen, lipid biomarker analysis, and compound-specific carbon isotope determinations. Such data can help to evaluate the presence of reservoir effects when undertaking radiocarbon dating of foodcrust samples. In particular, molecular and isotopic analysis can aid in the selection of suitable candidates for C-14 where it can be demonstrated that aquatic resources are unlikely to contribute to the residue. Prospects for compound-specific C-14 analysis of lipids in foodcrusts and ceramic-absorbed residues are also discussed.

This thesis addresses integrated challenges within the global supply chain and intercontinental rail freight transport, establishing the foundation for a new research area. First, this thesis focuses on the development of unified SCOR-Rail Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for intercontinental rail freight transport, as well as initial analysis on Eurasian rail freight. It also proposes various rail supply chain strategies to differentiate rail services, including efficient, continuous replenishment, and responsive rail supply chain strategies that support market segmentation and service differentiation. The proposed Integrated Tactical Planning Method (ITPM) is a supply chain-oriented planning approach for intercontinental rail freight transport. It considers the intercontinental rail freight network's complexities, such as multiple border crossings and transshipments at border crossing terminals, the unique characteristics of different train lengths across different rail systems, as well as multiple stakeholders such as terminals, railway undertakings, infrastructure providers, and shippers and forwarders. ITPM offers optimization models (I-FSND and I-SSND) that simultaneously account for both the supply chain and rail system sides. Both models simulate the complexities of intercontinental rail freight operations. The I-FSND model calculates the train service frequency on each route during the planning period, whereas the I-SSND model considers the synchronization of each order at border-crossing terminals across different rail systems. Furthermore, both models include a rejection mechanism and consider transit time differences on the same arc for the main transit, with the I-SSND model determining the duration time of each order at terminals. In the I-FSND model, a weighted goal programming method optimizes resource allocation, balancing service quality, profit, total number of accepted containers through the network, and border crossing terminals' capacity deficiency. The potential capacity deficiencies—information is useful when making future investment decisions. The ITPM is a powerful tool for intercontinental rail freight planners, the proposed optimization models I-FSND and I-SSND ensure more efficient utilization of resources while simultaneously satisfying heterogeneous transport service requirements of the supply chain. Rail planners can employ the I-FSND model for network capacity analysis across various scenarios, especially when the specific timetable of train services is not a primary concern, while I-SSND model could be used to more operational analysis. Furthermore, ITPM is not only applicable to intercontinental rail freight, but also to rail freight transport networks with multiple border crossings, such as the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN). The initial application of these models in Eurasian rail freight shows promising potential for broader implementation in intercontinental rail freight transport, particularly in creating new business opportunities to meet the diverse transport demands of the supply chain.:1 Intercontinental rail freight transport 1 1.1 Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.1.1 Development of intercontinental rail freight transport . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.1.2 Need for a supply chain-oriented planning method for intercontinental rail freight transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.2 Intercontinental rail freight planning problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1.2.1 Limitations of current rail planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1.2.2 Intercontinental rail freight transport in supply chain planning . . . . . . 9 1.2.3 Scientific gaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 1.3 Main contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 1.4 Thesis outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 1.5 Collaborations in the thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 2 Service quality assessment of intercontinental rail transport 20 2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 2.2 Existing research in international freight rail transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 2.2.1 Stakeholders and processes of international rail transport . . . . . . . . 23 2.2.2 International rail services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 2.2.3 Current performance measurement of rail transport . . . . . . . . . . . 26 2.2.4 Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 2.3 Development of SCOR-Rail KPIs for international rail services . . . . . . . . . . . 28 2.3.1 Reliability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 2.3.2 Responsiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 2.3.3 Flexibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 2.3.4 Cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 2.3.5 Asset efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 2.4 Initial assessment of Eurasian rail transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 2.4.1 Reliability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 2.4.2 Responsiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 2.4.3 Flexibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 2.4.4 Asset efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 2.4.5 Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 2.5 Improvement measures of current Eurasian rail transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 2.5.1 Service differentiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 2.5.2 Priority rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 2.6 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 3 Heterogeneous rail supply chain strategies 48 3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 3.2 Existing research on rail service differentiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 3.3 Development of railway supply chain strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 3.3.1 Efficient RSC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 3.3.2 Continuous replenishment RSC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 3.3.3 Responsive RSC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 3.4 International rail service differentiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 3.5 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 3.6 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 4 Integrated tactical planning method 62 4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 4.2 Existing research on information integration in rail transport . . . . . . . . . . . 65 4.3 Information integration in international rail freight transport . . . . . . . . . . . 67 4.3.1 Information quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 4.3.2 Information integration phases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 4.3.3 Information evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 4.4 Hierarchical information integration in rail planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 4.5 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 4.6 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 5 Integrated planning of intercontinental rail freight transport with I-FSND model 77 5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 5.2 Literature review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 5.2.1 Basics of rail planning and SND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 5.2.2 SND in freight transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 5.2.3 Research gaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 5.2.4 Our contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 5.3 Problem Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 5.4 Mathematical Modelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 5.4.1 Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 5.4.2 I-FSND model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 5.4.3 Weighted goal programming method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 5.5 Case study: Eurasian rail freight transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 5.5.1 Experimental setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 5.5.2 Scenarios generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 5.6 Results and discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 5.6.1 Single goal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 5.6.2 Multiple goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 5.6.3 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 5.7 Conclusion and future directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 6 Scheduled service network design for intercontinental rail freight transport 109 6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 6.2 Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 6.2.1 Intercontinental freight transport-Eurasian rail freight transport . . . . . 113 6.2.2 SSND in freight transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 6.2.3 Research gaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 6.3 Mathematical modelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 6.3.1 Problem description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 6.3.2 Generation of the time-space network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 6.3.3 Mathematical formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 6.4 Computational Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 6.4.1 Construction of test instances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 6.4.2 Synchronization of orders at border crossing terminals . . . . . . . . . . 127 6.4.3 Effects of differentiating train services during main transit . . . . . . . . 129 6.4.4 Effects of delay tolerance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 6.4.5 Impact of border crossing time of European borders . . . . . . . . . . . 134 6.5 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 6.6 Conclusion and future directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 7 Conclusion and future directions 140 7.1 Main conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 7.2 Recommendations for practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 7.3 Further Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Bibliography 148 Summary 168

This study aimed to evaluate otter predation on stocked trout and grayling. The diet composition of piscivorous Eurasian otters (Lutra lutra) was studied on the stream Chotýšanka in central Bohemia using spraint (otter faeces) analysis during one winter period (90 days). Stocking took place mostly in the second half of 2005. Around 5000 hatchery-reared brown trouts (Salmo trutta m. fario) of size about 10 cm, 600 graylings (Thymallus thymallus) of the same size and 480 rainbow trouts (Oncorhynchus mykiss) of size about 30 cm were stocked into the stream. Spraints were collected in December 2005 and January 2006. We found and identified 1531 fish in the spraints. The primary food source of otters was fish (almost 85 % of biomass). The main fish prey was small - sized, below 20 g in weight and 13 cm in length. The bulk of otter's diet consisted of less - valued species, especially the gudgeon (Gobio gobio). Other frequently consumed fish species were the European chub (Squalius cephalus), the common carp (Cyprinus carpio), the European perch (Perca fluviatilis), the brown trout and the rainbow trout. Consumption of stocked brown trout was 1,80 %, while cosumption of stocked rainbow trout was 10,90 % of biomass. Otters in this area consumed about 723 - 1446 brown trouts and 72 - 144 rainbow trouts...

Aim of this study was to assess distribution and abundance of common synanthropic species of birds (House sparrow, Tree sparrow, Eurasian collared dove and Blackbird) in area of the city České Budějovice in the Czech Republic in autumn and winter. Habitat preferences of these species were analysed. Study also determined influence of the certain characteristics of urban vegetation on their occupation by both species of sparrows.

Diploma thesis analyzes the viability of the selected species populations in the Czech Republic. The thesis is divided into two main parts. The first part contains a stochastic model simulating possible scenarios of the Eurasian lynx population size in the Czech Republic. For this model program Vortex was used. The second part is focused on Time series analysis of the Grey Partridge and the Common Kingfisher population, where data was obtained from the Czech Society for Ornithology. This analysis aims on identification of factors that may affect the viability of the two bird species.

One of the most important compositional theories of Alexander Tcherepnin (1899-1977), Russian-American composer and pianist, is the Eurasian ideology, which was a result of the influence of Eastern culture. Inspired by this theory, Tcherepnin not only extricated himself from his own compositional techniques, but also intensified his search for musical folklore. In April, 1934, he began a world tour which was to include China, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines, Egypt, and Palestine, to search for "musical folklore." He became so fascinated with the culture of ancient China that he cancelled the rest of his arrangements, and, except for visits to Japan, he remained in China for three years, until the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in July, 1937. During his three-year stay in China, Tcherepnin was greatly attracted to Chinese culture, and as a result, Chinese culture influenced his music to a significant degree. This essay examines the manner in which Tcherepnin's music was influenced by his experiences in China. In order to precisely analyze the close affiliation between Chinese musical elements and Tcherepnin's "Chinese Mikrokosmos," many original Chinese sources proved indispensable in this study. These sources include Chinese folk music, theater music, instrumental music, religious music, and Chinese periodicals and newspapers that reported Tcherepnin's activities in China (1934-7). The organization of this dissertation as follows: Chapter I provides a brief biographical sketch of Tcherepnin, traces his activities in China, and introduces one of his greatest "Chinese" compositions, "Chinese Mikrokosmos," which represents the fruits of his labors to scrutinize and absorb Chinese musical language. Chapters II and III are devoted to exploring how Chinese folk and instrumental music inspired Tcherepnin's "Chinese Mikrokosmos." Chapter IV summarizes this study.

One of the best ways how hosts may defend their clutch against brood parasitism is recognition and rejection of parasitic eggs. It has been documented that ability to percept UV light in birds affects their behaviour. By using a spectrophotometer we found that Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) eggs and Common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) eggs differ mainly in brightness but also in UV hue. We investigated the influence of birds' UV vision on recognition and rejection of parasitic eggs. Therefore we performed three experiments to reveal the role of eggshell UV reflectance on egg rejection in this host. In the first experiment, we parasitized clutches with artificial white eggs differing only in UV reflectance (UV- and UV+). In the other two, we experimentally reduced UV reflectance from conspecific and host own eggs. We used a UV light blocker, which did not influence the reflectance shape in the other parts of spectra. As a control we used a group of conspecific and own eggs coated in Vaseline, which did not affect eggshell reflectance. In each experiment, we monitored host response to parasitic eggs. Because the Reed Warbler's eggs reflect UV radiation themselves, we expected that white UV- eggs would be rejected as well as the eggs coated in UV blocker at a higher rate than white UV+ eggs and...

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Armenia is going to join the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia (the Eurasian Customs Union) in the coming months. The author uses partial-equilibrium model to investigate and calculate trade diversion, trade creation and net welfare effects of accession on the Armenian economy. The thesis concludes that the membership in the customs union would lead to welfare losses and negative static effects. The main reason is the pure trade diversion effect on Armenia resulting from the increased external tariff rate. Adopting the common external tariff of the Eurasian Customs Union would raise the prices of those imported goods which flow from outside the customs union. As the majority of Armenian imports come from outside the Eurasian Customs Union, the increase in import prices would carry high social costs for the Armenian consumers. In addition, the absence of shared border with the customs union member-states substantially diminishes the potential benefits from possible non-tariff barrier facilitation. Therefore, the thesis strongly recommends against the accession.

Anglo-Indians, a designation acquired in the 1911 Indian Census, had previously been known as Eurasians, East Indians, Indo-Britons and half-castes. ‘Anglo-Indian’ had previously denoted, and among some scholars continues to denote, Britons long resident in India. We will define Anglo-Indians as a particular mixed race Indo-European population arising out of the European trading and imperial presence in India, and one of several constructed categories by which transient Britons sought to demarcate racial difference within the Raj’s socio-racial hierarchy. Anglo-Indians were placed in an intermediary (and differentially remunerated) position between Indians and Domiciled Europeans (another category excluded from fully ‘white’ status), who in turn were placed below imported British superiors. The domiciled community (of Anglo-Indians and Domiciled Europeans, treated as a single socio-economic class by Britons) were relied upon as loyal buttressing agents of British rule who could be deployed to help run the Raj’s strategically sensitive transport and communication infrastructure, and who were made as a term of their service to serve in auxiliary military forces which could help to ensure the internal security of the Raj and respond to strikes, civil disobedience or crises arising from international conflict. The thesis reveals how calls for Indianisation of state and railway employment by Indian nationalists in the assemblies inaugurated by the 1919 Government of India Act threatened, through opening up their reserved intermediary positions to competitive entry and examination by Indians, to undermine the economic base of domiciled employment. Anglo-Indian leaders responded with varying strategies. Foremost was the definition of Anglo-Indians as an Indian minority community which demanded political representation through successive phases of constitutional change and statutory safeguards for their existing employment. This study explores various strategies including: deployment of multiple identities; widespread racial passing by individuals and families; agricultural colonisation schemes; and calls for individual, familial or collective migration.