The German School of Naval Thought and the Origins of the Tirpitz Plan 1875-1900

This study describes the origins of the German school of naval thought. Its approach to the theory of naval warfare differed significantly from that of the British "Blue Water" school and the French Jeune école. The Prussian professionalization of military education and Clausewitz,s theories were the most important formative influences on the early German school. In the first half of the 1890s Alfred Tirpitz honed its abstract strategic axioms on the realities of modern naval warfare and Germany's defence needs to produce precisely defined operational doctrines. During the second half of the decade these were in turn superseded by an ideology of sea power which provided a completely different interpretation of the tasks and capabilities of navies. This was chiefly derived from the works of Alfred Thayer Mahan, the third major formative influence on the German school. Out of that school grew the Tirpitz Plan, Germany's attempt to gain the status of a twentieth-century world power by building a fleet to rival Britain's

Fra kabinettskrigen til den totale krigen: Clausewitz-tolkninger fra Moltke til Aron

Teoriene til Carl von Clausewitz, den preussiske krigsfilosofen har vært gjenstand for mange forskjellige tolkninger over de siste 150 årene. De omfattes fortsatt med stor interesse, og det må vel kunne sies at hans innflytelse er større i dag enn noensinne. Denne studien er en oversikt over noen av de viktigste tolkningene av Clausewitz’ hovedverk, Om krigen. Den forsøker å analysere årsakene til at de kunne oppstå, og de historiske virkningene de har fått, Dette skjer innenfor en bred fortolkningsramme som innebefatter både politiske, kulturelle, teknologiske og institusjonelle endringer

RMA og transformation: En historisk-kritisk analyse av to sentrale begreper i nyere vestlig forsvarspolitikk

This study presents an historical critique of two concepts which have recently dominated US, and hence western, military thought: the “Revolution in Military Affairs” (RMA) and the “transformation” programme designed to prepare NATO forces to exploit the potential of the current RMA. It posits that the RMA concept is a product of a specific American strategic culture; furthermore, that two formative influences on this culture, the competitive environment of the think tanks and the influence of nationalism on American defence policy, are not sufficiently taken into account when the products of this strategic culture are analysed. A critical look at the use of historical illustrations in RMA literature shows that defense intellectuals often choose to ignore evidence and research which does not support their preferred theory. This is particularly true of their understanding of Blitzkrieg, which bears little resemblance to the interpretation established by military historians during the last fifteen years. The confusion of political, strategic and operational levels of analysis becomes even more evident in the RMA literature’s attempts to structure centuries of European military history round its central concept

Etter liberalismen kommer nasjonalismen: 1880-årene viser vei

publishedVersio

Universality of optimal measurements

We present optimal and minimal measurements on identical copies of an unknown state of a qubit when the quality of measuring strategies is quantified with the gain of information (Kullback of probability distributions). We also show that the maximal gain of information occurs, among isotropic priors, when the state is known to be pure. Universality of optimal measurements follows from our results: using the fidelity or the gain of information, two different figures of merits, leads to exactly the same conclusions. We finally investigate the optimal capacity of $N$ copies of an unknown state as a quantum channel of information.Comment: Revtex, 5 pages, no figure

Optimal estimation of two-qubit pure-state entanglement

We present optimal measuring strategies for the estimation of the entanglement of unknown two-qubit pure states and of the degree of mixing of unknown single-qubit mixed states, of which N identical copies are available. The most general measuring strategies are considered in both situations, to conclude in the first case that a local, although collective, measurement suffices to estimate entanglement, a non-local property, optimally.Comment: REVTEX, 9 pages, 1 figur

Intrapopulation Variability Shaping Isotope Discrimination and Turnover: Experimental Evidence in Arctic Foxes

Tissue-specific stable isotope signatures can provide insights into the trophic ecology of consumers and their roles in food webs. Two parameters are central for making valid inferences based on stable isotopes, isotopic discrimination (difference in isotopic ratio between consumer and its diet) and turnover time (renewal process of molecules in a given tissue usually measured when half of the tissue composition has changed). We investigated simultaneously the effects of age, sex, and diet types on the variation of discrimination and half-life in nitrogen and carbon stable isotopes (δ15N and δ13C, respectively) in five tissues (blood cells, plasma, muscle, liver, nail, and hair) of a top predator, the arctic fox Vulpes lagopus. We fed 40 farmed foxes (equal numbers of adults and yearlings of both sexes) with diet capturing the range of resources used by their wild counterparts. We found that, for a single species, six tissues, and three diet types, the range of discrimination values can be almost as large as what is known at the scale of the whole mammalian or avian class. Discrimination varied depending on sex, age, tissue, and diet types, ranging from 0.3‰ to 5.3‰ (mean = 2.6‰) for δ15N and from 0.2‰ to 2.9‰ (mean = 0.9‰) for δ13C. We also found an impact of population structure on δ15N half-life in blood cells. Varying across individuals, δ15N half-life in plasma (6 to 10 days) was also shorter than for δ13C (14 to 22 days), though δ15N and δ13C half-lives are usually considered as equal. Overall, our multi-factorial experiment revealed that at least six levels of isotopic variations could co-occur in the same population. Our experimental analysis provides a framework for quantifying multiple sources of variation in isotopic discrimination and half-life that needs to be taken into account when designing and analysing ecological field studies

Trophic relationships of zooplankton in the eastern Mediterranean based on stable isotope measurements

Abundance and stable isotope composition of large and small mesozooplankton were analyzed in samples taken with 333 and 100 μm nets, respectively, at four sites in the eastern Mediterranean down to 4200 m depth in October 2001. Large mesozooplankton (333 μm nets) was sieved into five size fractions, and the δ13C and δ15N values of the fractions were measured as well as the δ15N values of total small mesozooplankton (100 μm nets) and specific mesozooplankton taxa. These measurements allow insights into the source of the diet and the trophic level relative to sinking and suspended particulate organic matter. Overall, biomass and abundance of zooplankton was low, reflecting the oligotrophic character of the eastern Mediterranean. Stable nitrogen isotope values of mesozooplankton were low (1–4‰) and close to zero in suspended particles at the surface. This indicates that the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen probably contributes to the N-pool in the eastern Mediterranean. Such low values were also found in sinking particles in deep waters and in most zooplankton size classes. However, suspended particles and mesozooplankton in the size class 0.5–1 mm, which was primarily composed of the deep-sea species Lucicutia longiserrata, showed higher values at depths below 1000 m. There is some indication that L. longiserrata was able to utilize the suspended particle pool in the deep eastern Mediterranean

Autism as a disorder of neural information processing: directions for research and targets for therapy

The broad variation in phenotypes and severities within autism spectrum disorders suggests the involvement of multiple predisposing factors, interacting in complex ways with normal developmental courses and gradients. Identification of these factors, and the common developmental path into which theyfeed, is hampered bythe large degrees of convergence from causal factors to altered brain development, and divergence from abnormal brain development into altered cognition and behaviour. Genetic, neurochemical, neuroimaging and behavioural findings on autism, as well as studies of normal development and of genetic syndromes that share symptoms with autism, offer hypotheses as to the nature of causal factors and their possible effects on the structure and dynamics of neural systems. Such alterations in neural properties may in turn perturb activity-dependent development, giving rise to a complex behavioural syndrome many steps removed from the root causes. Animal models based on genetic, neurochemical, neurophysiological, and behavioural manipulations offer the possibility of exploring these developmental processes in detail, as do human studies addressing endophenotypes beyond the diagnosis itself

Broadening the horizon – level 2.5 of the HUPO-PSI format for molecular interactions

BACKGROUND: Molecular interaction Information is a key resource in modern biomedical research. Publicly available data have previously been provided in a broad array of diverse formats, making access to this very difficult. The publication and wide implementation of the Human Proteome Organisation Proteomics Standards Initiative Molecular Interactions (HUPO PSI-MI) format in 2004 was a major step towards the establishment of a single, unified format by which molecular interactions should be presented, but focused purely on protein-protein interactions. RESULTS: The HUPO-PSI has further developed the PSI-MI XML schema to enable the description of interactions between a wider range of molecular types, for example nucleic acids, chemical entities, and molecular complexes. Extensive details about each supported molecular interaction can now be captured, including the biological role of each molecule within that interaction, detailed description of interacting domains, and the kinetic parameters of the interaction. The format is supported by data management and analysis tools and has been adopted by major interaction data providers. Additionally, a simpler, tab-delimited format MITAB2.5 has been developed for the benefit of users who require only minimal information in an easy to access configuration. CONCLUSION: The PSI-MI XML2.5 and MITAB2.5 formats have been jointly developed by interaction data producers and providers from both the academic and commercial sector, and are already widely implemented and well supported by an active development community. PSI-MI XML2.5 enables the description of highly detailed molecular interaction data and facilitates data exchange between databases and users without loss of information. MITAB2.5 is a simpler format appropriate for fast Perl parsing or loading into Microsoft Excel