After ISAF: partners and proxies in Afghanistan after 2014

The conclusion of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan at the end of 2014 has generated substantial uncertainty about the duration and level of international commitment to Afghanistan. The fate of local allies of international forces is therefore deeply in doubt. This article is of necessity speculative rather than empirical, but it attempts to draw on the history of previous intervention in Afghanistan as well as more general patterns of local and external alliance to sketch plausible scenarios for the fate of local allies. It proceeds in four parts. First, it draws distinctions between different types of local allies in Afghanistan based on position and relationship to the Afghan state and an external actor. Second, it examines the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan for relevant lessons for the fate of local allies. Third, it presents a scenario based on the foregoing that assumes there will be an ongoing small but significant international military presence and accompanying resources. Fourth, it presents a scenario that assumes there will be no or minimal international military presence and accompanying resources.     

Reforming the bras tendus? The Congolese National Police reforms, 2003–2016

The security sector reform (SSR) programme in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has failed, according to a former high-level member of the United Nations (UN) mission in the DRC, as a large section of the country remains outside government control, and the security institutions of the state continue to constitute one of the predominant sources of insecurity for the local population in a number of ways. Based on several field studies, this article critically scrutinises the SSR of the Congolese National Police (Police nationale congolaise; PNC) and the efforts to reform it between 2004 and 2016. It further attempts to explain why so little progress was made in the SSR of the PNC, despite extensive involvement from donors. The article shows that the instrumental and traditional approach to SSR is partly to blame, because in this case it failed to address the root problems and initiate the needed fundamental reform and reconstruction of the police force. It also shows that reforming local security institutions becomes even more difficult when the local authorities do not support the effort.     

LiDAR点云纹理特征提取方法

针对图像纹理应用于LiDAR点云分类过程中存在的多义性问题，提出点云纹理特征的概念。该特征属性反映了点与其邻域点的属性值分布情况，提取过程基于KD树数据检索结构和灰度共生矩阵算法。分析搜索邻域、移动步长和灰度等级等参数对点云纹理特征的影响，并利用支持向量机分类方法验证点云纹理特征，可以有效地辅助高程和强度信息以改善LiDAR点云的地物分类结果。实验还证明了相比于栅格格式的图像纹理特征，点云纹理特征约束的地物分类具有更高的分类精度，并且点云纹理特征在微小地物的甄别和水陆的区分方面具有突出的能力。该特征的这些优秀特性可以为海岸带机载LiDAR数据的精细化分类、海岸带高精度DEM构建和海岸线提取等工作发挥重要作用。     

Sharing the load: factors in supporting local armed groups in insurgencies

Most counterinsurgency campaigns have featured the use of some form of local defense forces. Such forces have had a somewhat mixed record, both in their usefulness in actually countering insurgents and in their longer-term impact on internal security. This article focuses on historical cases that provide lessons for the best operational and strategic uses of local defense forces and measures to control their activities.     

英汉委婉语的语用共性与差异

委婉语（Euphemism）是人类语言使用过程中的一种普遍现象。英汉两种语言都有大量的委婉语，它们在使用领域、语用功能及特点方面具有颇多相同之处。但因为它们分别属于不同的语系，以不同文化背景和历史传统为生存基础，所以在其使用方面又有很大不同，折射出明显的文化痕迹，主要表现在宗教信仰、历史传统和社会价值观三个方面。     

住宅小区消防给水设计问题探讨

住宅小区消防给水设计不同于城市给水设计,也有别于普通建筑给水设计,在一个住宅小区内可以考虑消防给水系统设施的共享,建立区域消防给水系统。以两个住宅小区的消防给水设计为例,从水泵结合器的设置,消防水泵、屋顶消防水箱以及自动喷洒给水系统的共用等方面对区域消防给水设计进行了讨论。     

用于三维点云表示的扩展点特征直方图算法

局部特征提取在点云相关应用中具有十分重要的作用,因此提出一种用于点云局部特征表示的扩展点特征直方图描述子。针对邻域点的两两点对提出一系列不变量;在特征点上构建一个局部参考坐标框架以获得特征描述子对旋转和平移的不变性;将关键点局部邻域划分成多个子空间,并依据每个子空间中的点对不变量构建一个直方图;将所有直方图串联起来得到扩展点特征直方图特征描述子。采用Bologna公共数据集对扩展点特征直方图特征描述子的性能进行测试,并与多个现有算法进行对比。结果表明,扩展点特征直方图特征描述子获得了良好的性能,其结果优于多个现有的特征描述子。     

对网络教学的几点思考

随着网络技术、多媒体技术的发展,网络教学已经成为一种重要的教学形式,如何正确把握网络教学的模式,抓住特点,准确定位教师在网络教学中的角色,上好每一堂课,应该是每一位老师考虑的问题。     

一类具有时滞的病毒动力学模型分析

研究一类具有时滞的病毒动力学模型。研究了系统解的有界性;讨论了各个非负平衡点的局部稳定性,应用比较定理得到了各非负平衡点全局渐近稳定的充分条件。     

Reclaiming the local in EU peacebuilding: Effectiveness,ownership, and resistance

ABSTRACT

Since the early 2000s, the “local turn” has thoroughly transformed the field of peacebuilding. The European Union (EU) policy discourse on peacebuilding has also aligned with this trend, with an increasing number of EU policy statements insisting on the importance of “the local.” However, most studies on EU peacebuilding still adopt a top-down approach and focus on institutions, capabilities, and decision-making at the EU level. This special issue contributes to the literature by focusing on bottom-up and local dynamics of EU peacebuilding. After outlining the rationale and the scope of the special issue, this article discusses the local turn in international peacebuilding and identifies several interrelated concepts relevant to theorizing the role of the local, specifically those of effectiveness, ownership, and resistance. In the conclusion, we summarize the key contributions of this special issue and suggest some avenues for further research.