Scheduling with centralized and decentralized batching policies in concurrent open shops

This article considers batch scheduling with centralized and decentralized decisions. The context of our study is concurrent open shop scheduling where the jobs are to be processed on a set of independent dedicated machines, which process designated operations of the jobs in batches. The batching policy across the machines can be centralized or decentralized. We study such scheduling problems with the objectives of minimizing the maximum lateness, weighted number of tardy jobs, and total weighted completion time, when the job sequence is determined in advance. We present polynomial time dynamic programming algorithms for some cases of these problems and pseudo‐polynomial time algorithms for some problems that are NP‐hard in the ordinary sense. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 58: 17–27, 2011     

MIDDLE EAST NONPROLIFERATION

The Middle East is a crucial region for the global nonproliferation regime. In 2010, the state parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons proposed a conference on a Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction-Free Zone. The nuclear weapon-free zone model, on which this idea builds, has achieved important results in other regions, but faces especially stark challenges in the Middle East. However, the attempt to apply the boldly imaginative zone approach to the Middle East holds promise for building a more inclusive dialogue on nonproliferation and regional security.     

CIVIL CONTROL OF THE ZAMBIAN MILITARY SINCE INDEPENDENCE

Democratic rule requires, amongst other things, orderly civil-military relations. Zambia's military, with some exceptions, have generally remained under firm civilian control, unlike many forces in the region. Initially the military was based on the British colonial model but during the struggle for independence the force was indigenised. Instead of representing a colonial power, the military came to represent a specific political viewpoint: one party participatory democracy. President Kaunda, the leader of UNIP, was chiefly responsible for the politicisation of the military and ensuring its loyalty to the ruling party. Quasi-military institutions such as the Combined Cadet Force and the Home Guard Unit were useful links between civilian and military personnel. When Frederick Chiluba, leader of the MMD, took over in 1991 he tried to make the military more professional and curb its power over civilian affairs. A defence council and parliamentary regulation were instituted to avoid further military coups.     

Command and Control of India's Nuclear Forces

The Indian government has not made a public comment about the status of its nuclear weapon program since approving a nuclear doctrine in 2003. However, there is now enough information in the public domain to determine that the command-and-control system for the nuclear program has steadily matured in accordance with the intent of the approved nuclear doctrine. The Indian government has successfully mitigated many of the issues that plague the conventional military. The result is a basic command-and-control system that is focused only on the delivery, if ordered by the prime minister, of nuclear weapons. The system is not as robust as those of the United States and Russia, but is in place and ready as new Indian nuclear weapons enter into operation. The command-and-control system is developing to meet India's needs and political compulsions, but not necessarily as part of a more assertive nuclear policy.     

Scheduling to minimize the total compression and late costs

We consider a single-machine scheduling model in which the job processing times are controllable variables with linear costs. The objective is to minimize the sum of the cost incurred in compressing job processing times and the cost associated with the number of late jobs. The problem is shown to be NP-hard even when the due dates of all jobs are identical. We present a dynamic programming solution algorithm and a fully polynomial approximation scheme for the problem. Several efficient heuristics are proposed for solving the problem. Computational experiments demonstrate that the heuristics are capable of producing near-optimal solutions quickly. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 45: 67–82, 1998     

Arming China: Major powers’ arms transfers to the People’s Republic of China

The rise of China has been fuelled by a massive military modernisation programme relying, in large part, on the acquisition of foreign military equipment. The question of how the world’s major powers define their arms transfer policies towards China is therefore crucially important. This article makes two original contributions. First, drawing on neoclassical realism, it proposes an explanatory framework integrating international and domestic factors to explain variations in major powers’ arms transfers. Second, based on a large body of elite interviews and diplomatic cables, it offers the first comprehensive comparison of American, British, French and Russian arms transfer policies towards China since the end of the Cold War.     

Estimating the accuracy of the coverages of outer β-content tolerance intervals,which control both tails of the normal distribution

Tolerance limits which control both tails of the normal distribution so that there is no more than a proportion β₁ in one tail and no more than β₂ in the other tail with probability γ may be computed for any size sample. They are computed from X? - k₁S and X? - k₂S, where X? and S are the usual sample mean and standard deviation and k₁ and k₂ are constants previously tabulated in Odeh and Owen [3]. The question addressed is, “Just how accurate are the coverages of these intervals (– Infin;, X? – k₁S) and (X? + k₂S, ∞) for various size samples?” The question is answered in terms of how widely the coverage of each tail interval differs from the corresponding required content with a given confidence γ′.     

Some limiting distributions associated with sequences of multinomial trials

A series of independent trials is considered in which one of k ≥ 2 mutually exclusive and exhaustive outcomes occurs at each trial. The series terminates when m outcomes of any one type have occurred. The limiting distribution (as m → ∞) of the number of trials performed until termination is found with particular attention to the situation where a Dirichlet distribution is assigned to the k vector of probabilities for each outcome. Applications to series of races involving k runners and to spares problems in reliability modeling are discussed. The problem of selecting a stopping rule so that the probability of the series terminating on outcome i is k^?1 (i.e., a “fair” competition) is also studied. Two generalizations of the original asymptotic problem are addressed.