Since its independence, the Latin America has been prone to unstable and military dominated politics. Mexico, however, has proven to be an exception. The purpose of this dissertation, therefore, is to explain Mexico's stability and civilian dominated polity. The dissertation draws upon personal interviews with Mexican and American military officers, Mexican military documents and secondary sources. From these sources four foci, professionalization, social background of military and civilian leaders, civilian political behavior, and extranational influences, appeared to offer the greatest amount of explanation for the Mexican case. Professionalization's impact appears to result from the low level of political efficacy generated by the Mexican military educational system and the inculcation of values encouraging loyalty to civilian institutions. The social background of Mexican officers appears to support the values and norms common to the military institution, including those conducive to civilian domination. The social disparity between the more humble family background of most officers and the higher family social background of civilian politicians also appears to be a factor. The civilians political party system appears to be critical. In a multiparty system, like Brazil, multiple civilian opposition groups, through co-optation, generate corresponding military support groups. Civilian opposition groups with military backing therefore will always be present and represent a potential threat. In a single party dominant system, like Mexico, though, military identification will always be with the government, rather than an opposition political group. Finally, the influences of the United States and Soviet Union do have an impact on Mexican civil-military relations. However, rather than the super powers' manipulating the Mexican military and causing coups supportive of super power foreign policy objectives, Mexico appears to use the super powers' resources and images to stabilize civil-military relations. The importance of this dissertation is that it offers explanations for the difference in behavior between the stable, civilian dominated Mexican model, and the military dominated models found throughout most of the Latin American region. The dissertation also presents new interpretations regarding the relationships between professionalization and political efficacy, and social background and social efficacy.

This thesis examines the spare parts mission scaling problem within the land environment of the Canadian Forces. A revision was done to the recently proposed Land Automated Scaling System, thus providing a readily implementable version of this model. This revised model determines the kit of spare parts for a first or second line unit to carry in order to maximize the operational availability of the deployed weapons systems, subject to a volume constraint. Bayesian methods and actual part demand data are used to revise the demand distribution to more accurately reflect the distribution of the number of parts required during a mission, taking into account the environmental conditions and usage mode of the equipment. The model is easy to use, requiring readily available and easily accessible input data. In addition, it can be operated on a Base minicomputer, thus allowing it to be used by the ordinance engineering and supply officers at the unit/formation level to produce and revise their parts scales as their situation requires.

No description available.

Environmental sustainability in regards to infrastructure and the built environment is a significant consideration for the Department of National Defence (DND). As the 2nd largest landowner in Canada, the DND is making great efforts to operate in a sustainable manner through the creation and implementation of sustainable building policies. Meeting the green/sustainable buildings requirements of the recent Federal Sustainable Development Strategy, and the 2006 DND Sustainable Development Strategy to achieve accreditation within generic green building systems, has proven to be extremely challenging given the mandate and the nature of Canadian Forces (CF) operations, both domestically and overseas. This line of research was conducted in order to identify the unique requirements and the sustainability factors/criteria that are applicable to the CF / DND and to investigate how to best align these requirements within the context of sustainable development strategies. Input data was obtained through an analysis of literature and relevant documents, as well as a series of interviews with individuals at all levels within the Federal Government. The result of this research undertaking was, in part, the creation of a Sustainable Development for DND based on a thorough, comprehensive and internationally-investigated factor selection process. These results illustrate the importance for the DND to consider implementing a department-specific sustainable building strategy; one that is more representative of the unique type of infrastructure DND owns and operates. The results of such an investigation can surely be used to assist with best practices and strategic policies within DND and to potentially influence policies at the Federal level of governance in this regard. The ultimate goal of this thesis was to establish the policy framework with a view for DND to develop and implement its own unique Sustainability Standard. / Thesis (Master, Environmental Studies) -- Queen's University, 2012-11-29 14:21:37.63

Tsunamis are among the most terrifying and complex physical phenomena potentially affecting almost all coastal regions of the Earth. Tsunami waves propagate in the ocean over thousands of kilometres away from their generating source at considerable speeds. Among several other tsunamis that occurred during the past decade, the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami in Japan, considered to be the deadliest and costliest natural disasters in the history of mankind, respectively, have hit wide stretches of densely populated coastal areas. During these major events, severe destruction of inland structures resulted from the action of extreme hydrodynamic forces induced by tsunami flooding. Subsequent field surveys in which researchers from the University of Ottawa participated ultimately revealed that, in contrast to seismic forces, such hydrodynamic forces are not taken into proper consideration when designing buildings for tsunami prone areas. In view of these limitations, a novel interdisciplinary hydraulic-structural engineering research program was initiated at the University of Ottawa, in cooperation with the Canadian Hydraulic Centre of the National Research Council, to help develop guidelines for the sound design of nearshore structures located in such areas. The present study aims to simulate the physical laboratory experiments performed within the aforementioned research program using a single-phase three-dimensional weakly compressible Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) numerical model. These experiments consist in the violent impact of rapidly advancing tsunami-like hydraulic bores with individual slender structural elements. Such bores are emulated based on the classic dam-break problem. The quantitatively compared measurements include the time-history of the net base horizontal force and of the pressure distribution acting on columns of square and circular cross-sections, as well as flow characteristics such as bore-front velocity and water surface elevation. Good agreement was obtained. Results show that the magnitude and duration of the impulsive force at initial bore impact depend on the degree of entrapped air in the bore-front. The latter was found to increase considerably if the bed of the experimental flume is covered with a thin water layer of even just a few millimetres. In order to avoid large fluctuations in the pressure field and to obtain accurate simulations of the hydrodynamic forces, a Riemann solver-based formulation of the SPH method is utilized. However, this formulation induces excessive numerical diffusion, as sudden and large water surface deformations, such as splashing at initial bore impact, are less accurately reproduced. To investigate this particular issue, the small-scale physical experiment of Kleefsman et al. (2005) is also considered and modeled. Lastly, taking full advantage of the validated numerical model to better understand the underlying flow dynamics, the influence of the experimental test geometry and of the bed condition (i.e. dry vs. wet) is investigated. Numerical results show that when a bore propagates over a wet bed, its front is both deeper and steeper and it also has a lower velocity compared to when it propagates over a dry bed. These differences significantly affect the pressure distributions and resulting hydrodynamic forces acting on impacted structures.

The objective of the thesis was to evaluate the quality of diabetes care in the Canadian Forces by determining the extent to which physicians adhere to recommendations outlined in the 2008 Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA) clinical practice guidelines. In addition, the effect of patient age, sex, rank and size of base on quality of care was assessed and the accuracy of a diagnosis of diabetes in an extract of the electronic medical record (EMR) was evaluated. Fourteen bases within the Canadian Forces were selected for investigation, representing roughly half of the Canadian Forces population. Cases of diabetes were ascertained based on laboratory criteria following a chart review. Twenty-one CDA guideline recommendations were considered. The Canadian Forces demonstrated greater than 75% adherence with each of 9 recommendations, 50-75% adherence with each of 7 recommendations and less than 50% adherence with each of 5 recommendations. The overall adherence with all applicable recommendations per patient was 60.3% (SE 0.66). Age, sex, rank and size of base were not important factors influencing guideline adherence. The sensitivity of a diabetes diagnosis in an extract of the EMR was 84.5%, the specificity was 99.8%, the positive predictive value was 85.1% and the negative predictive value was 99.8%. This is similar to the performance of provincial and national diabetes registries. The quality of diabetes care in the Canadian Forces compared favourably with that of the civilian population within Canada and internationally. The creation of a diabetes registry is expected to lead to further improvements in diabetes care.

This thesis explores why gender hierarchy remains resilient and entrenched in contemporary political life, despite efforts to challenge and transform it. I approach this question by focussing on the reproduction of gendered subjects, which I argue is integral to the reproduction of what I term ‘gender orders’. This reproduction is interrogated through an analysis of the reproduction of homosexuality in the contemporary British armed forces. A review of the literature in feminist International Relations (IR) shows feminists have engaged with poststructural thought to develop sophisticated analyses of the subject as an effect of power. I argue that there might be further resources in post structural thought which could be mobilised to expose the incompleteness and failure of all attempts to reproduce subjectivity which might open up new ways to intervene and subvert gender. Drawing on the thought of Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida and Judith Butler I develop a critical methodology for analysing the reproduction of gendered subjects in the contemporary British armed forces. I argue that the military gender order is traditionally sustained through the segregation of women and the exclusion of homosexuals. As such it is pervasively heteronormative. For this reason I argue that the potential ‘integration’ of homosexuals did pose a significant threat to the gender order. However I will argue the threat posed by the integration of LGBT personnel has been neutralised by a series of responses which ‘re-inscribe’ them into the gender order, although these responses are always unstable. I demonstrate that gender often fails to guarantee the intelligibility it promises, and attempts to order gender necessarily break down. However I will argue that this cannot be exploited instrumentally in order to subvert gender because the gender order is better characterised as being in perpetual crisis, and any attempt to reproduce gender differently will also be unstable and prone to crisis. Consequently critique then becomes a relentless call to question, undermine and deconstruct all attempts to secure political orders, with no guarantees. Ultimately the thesis demonstrates that gender orders are complex, mobile and resilient and argues that modes of feminist critique need to be similarly mobile and responsive to a constantly shifting discursive terrain.

This thesis examines the experience of Malawian soldiers serving in Britain's colonial army between 1891 and 1964. Until recently, the experience of East African colonial soldiers in particular has been largely overlooked, and African soldiers in general have been perceived either as collaborators in the machinery of colonial oppression or, conversely, as victims at the hands of the military authorities. However, little attempt has been made to unify these two views of military service. Using Malawi as a case study, this thesis investigates social relations within the colonial army and examines perceptions of their often-violent role within wider colonial society. Developing and expanding upon previous scholarship, this thesis provides the first sustained and unified study of the colonial army in Malawi. The project is based principally upon archival sources in Britain and Malawi, but also draws upon interviews with British and Malawian veterans. Chapter one provides an overview of the institutional history of the Malawian forces. Chapter two outlines the development of recruitment policy, with special reference to the concept of 'martial races', and examines the motivations behind Malawian enlistment. Chapters three and four investigate the reactions of African soldiers to the formal military environment and to barrack life. Chapter five examines perceptions of soldiers' roles in warfare and internal security, and contrasts this with the place of soldiers in their own communities. The thesis highlights the extent to which Malawian soldiers were successfully co-opted by the military authorities, but also stresses the capacity of soldiers to influence the conditions under which they served. This, combined with the unusually long association which many Malawians had with the army, fed into a growing perception of the colonial army as a Malawian institution.

Approved for public release; distribution in unlimited. / The thesis studies the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) transformation in the context of the U.S. military transformation. The thesis argues that the uniqueness of the U.S. military transformation does not prevent other militaries from applying the relevant concepts and considers the IDF as a good candidate for such a demonstration. Therefore, the thesis explores the U.S. military transformation as a model to be benefited in the IDF's continuing transformation. The thesis also studies IDF from many perspectives to identify the transformational imperatives and the relevance of the current IDF transformational efforts. Main areas of interest are the Israeli security environment, societal transformation, and the features of the IDF's transformational efforts. During the analysis, the thesis discovers weak points concerning, both, the U.S. military transformation and the IDF's current organization. The examination of the IDF's transformation in relation to the U.S. transformation reveals similarities between the two transformations and comes up with recommendations, primarily for the IDF, but to a lesser extent for the U.S. military. / First Lieutenant, Turkish Army

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / The unwillingness to correct deficiencies in current COIN Doctrine or to follow the correct methods within current doctrine will lead to continued instability and possible failure of counterinsurgency operations and governments in states with large Islamic populations. The conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq is insurgent in nature, therefore requires a Counterinsurgent strategy. Current US Army Doctrine focuses entirely on the Counterguerilla aspect of an insurgency, rather than viewing the insurgency in its entirety. Therefore, not only is the COIN doctrine is inadequate, it also requires an overall governing strategy which must include the engagements of both the populace, and the infrastructure of the insurgency, as well as counterforce operations against the guerillas. The entire hierarchy of COIN Doctrine is skewed in favor of the conventional units who write it. Currently all COIN operations fall under Support and Stability Operations, as do Counterguerrilla Operations in doctrinal hierarchy that is written by the US Army Infantry Branch. However, US Army Special Forces Branch writes Insurgency and Foreign Internal Defense Doctrine (COIN falls under FID for all Internal Defense and Development [IDAD] Programs). The unique qualifications of Special Forces units make them ideal for creating, developing, instituting, and commanding these operations. Special Forces soldiers are language and culturally trained to operate within these nations, and normally have habitual associations previously developed with the people and militaries of these nations. / Major, United States Army