Experimental investigation for machinability aspects of graphene oxide/carbon fiber reinforced polymer nanocomposites and predictive modeling using hybrid approach

This article explores the drilling behavior of polymer nanocomposites reinforced by Graphene oxide/Carbon fiber using a hybrid method of Grey theory and Principal component analysis (GR-PCA). An online digital dynamometer was employed for the evaluation of Thrust Force and Torque. The image processing technique computes the delamination. Response surface methodology (RSM) considers the parameters, namely, drilling speed (S), feed rate (F), Graphene Oxide wt.% (G) in designing the experimentation array. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to tackle the response priority weight during the combination of multiple functions. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) scrutinized the influence of parameters and intended the regression models to predict the response. GR-PCA evaluated the optimal parametric setting and remarked that feed rate acts as the most predominant factor. The higher feed rate and wt.% of G is responsible for surface damages like fiber pull-out, fiber fracture and cracks. A significant improvement in drilling responses has been obtained and also validates through confirmatory test and microstructure investigations.     

‘Restoring normalcy’: The evolution of the Indian army's counterinsurgency doctrine

The Indian Army has a uniquely political approach to counterinsurgency that has had great success. This essay examines the development of this doctrine over the last five decades, and the political and operational factors that influenced its development. The most important of these factors was, and remains, the Army's positional‐war orientation, which puts great emphasis on the need to prepare for conventional war. Though the doctrine has undergone some evolution, such changes have been constrained by the positional‐war orientation.     

Trajectory predictions of new lift separation sabots

This paper presents a modified analytical model to evaluate the trajectories of various lift separation sabot configurations. The aerodynamic forces acting on the sabot surfaces during a supersonic flight are modeled in the present analytical model by incorporating the pressures on the windward side of the sabot due to the detached/attached shock and its reflections and then integrated using the 3-DoF dynamical equations. The trajectory and the aerodynamic coefficients were obtained for these config-urations at a projectile Mach number of 3. The sabot configurations, which include two new designs, are compared with each other and with the conventional free flight trajectory data of the conventional sabots. The mechanical interaction between the sabot and projectile is also addressed in the present work. The comparison shows that the new designs with the aerodynamic surfaces close to the center of gravity, lift-off from the projectile with minimal mechanical interaction compared to a conventional sabot.     

On the effectiveness of top‐down strategy for forecasting autoregressive demands

We investigate the relative effectiveness of top‐down versus bottom‐up strategies for forecasting the demand of an item that belongs to a product family. The demand for each item in the family is assumed to follow a first‐order univariate autoregressive process. Under the top‐down strategy, the aggregate demand is forecasted by using the historical data of the family demand. The demand forecast for the items is then derived by proportional allocation of the aggregate forecast. Under the bottom‐up strategy, the demand forecast for each item is directly obtained by using the historical demand data of the particular item. In both strategies, the forecasting technique used is exponential smoothing. We analytically evaluate the condition under which one forecasting strategy is preferred over the other when the lag‐1 autocorrelation of the demand time series for all the items is identical. We show that when the lag‐1 autocorrelation is smaller than or equal to 1/3, the maximum difference in the performance of the two forecasting strategies is only 1%. However, if the lag‐1 autocorrelation of the demand for at least one of the items is greater than 1/3, then the bottom‐up strategy consistently outperforms the top‐down strategy, irrespective of the items' proportion in the family and the coefficient of correlation between the item demands. A simulation study reveals that the analytical findings hold even when the lag‐1 autocorrelation of the demand processes is not identical. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2007.     

India’s emerging space assets and nuclear-weapons capabilities

ABSTRACT

Over the last five decades, India’s nuclear and space programs have gone through several phases, from collaboration to divorce to supportive. An interplay of two factors determined the nature of the relationship. One was the state of India’s nuclear-weapon program. The second was international conditions, especially India’s relationship with the nuclear-nonproliferation regime. In the early decades, because of the rudimentary nature of India’s nuclear and space programs, the relationship was collaborative, since the rocket technology being developed was a necessary adjunct to the nuclear-weapon program. Subsequently, as India’s rocketry capabilities and nuclear-weapon program began to mature and concerns about international sanctions under the non-proliferation regime began to grow, the two programs were separated. The Indian rocketry program was also divided, with the civilian-space and ballistic-missile programs clearly demarcated. After India declared itself a nuclear-weapon state in 1998 and the programs matured, the relationship has become more supportive. As the two programs mature further, this relationship is likely to deepen, as the nuclear-weapon program requires space assets to build a robust and survivable nuclear deterrent force.