Learning to Fight and Fighting to Learn: Practitioners and the Role of Unit Publications in VIII Fighter Command 1943–1944

A military cannot hope to improve in wartime if it cannot learn. Ideally, in wartime, formal learning ceases and the application of knowledge begins. But this is optimistic. In 1942, USAAF Eighth Air Force assumed it had the means necessary for victory. In reality, its technique and technology were only potentially – rather than actually – effective. What remained was to create the practice of daylight bombing – to learn. This article (1) recovers a wartime learning process that created new knowledge, (2) tests existing tacit hypotheses in military adaptation research, and (3) offers additional theoretical foundation to explain how knowledge is created in wartime     

A continuous game of ambush

The article considers a two-person competitive problem in which a traveller wishes to choose a path across a rectangle from left to right in such a way as to avoid being ambushed by his adversary who has placed obstacles within the rectangle. Our results supplement those that have already been obtained by Ruckle and they indicate that, under certain conditions, the players need to adopt rather sophisticated strategies if they are to act optimally. This suggests that a complete solution to the problem could be difficult.     

Markovian multiechelon repairable inventory system

In this article we model a two-echelon (two levels of repair, one level of supply) repairable-item inventory system using continuous-time Markov processes. We analyze two models. In the first model we assume a system with a single base. In the second model we expand this model to include n bases. The Markov approach gives rise to multidimensional state spaces that are large even for relatively small problems. Because of this, we utilize aggregate/disaggregate techniques to develop a solution algorithm for finding the steady-state distribution. This algorithm is exact for the single-base model and is an approximation for the n-base model, in which case it is found to be very accurate and computationally very efficient.     

Bounds and properties of the expected value of sample information for a project-selection problem

In this article we extend the work of Mehrez and Stulman [5] on the expected value of perfect information (EVPI) to the expected value of sample information (EVSI) for a class of economic problems dealing with the decision to reject or accept an investment project. It is shown that shifting the mean of the underlying a priori distribution of X, the project's monetary value from zero in either direction will decrease the associated EVSI of Y, the random sampled information. A theorem is then presented which gives an upper bound on the EVSI over all distributions of Y, as well as the structure of the posterior mean E[X|Y] for which this upper bound is achieved. Finally, the case where E[X|Y] is linear in Y is discussed and its performance compared with that of the optimal case.     

Ethnic groups,political exclusion and domestic terrorism

This study examines whether the exclusion of ethnic groups from political power is an important contributing factor to domestic terrorism. To empirically test this question, we employ a negative binomial regression estimation on 130 countries during the period from 1981 to 2005. We find that countries in which certain ethnic populations are excluded from political power are significantly more likely to experience domestic terrorist attacks and to suffer from terrorist casualties; furthermore, ethnic group political exclusion is a more consistent and substantive predictor of domestic terrorist activity than general political repression or economic discrimination.     

Child Soldiering in Colombia: Does Poverty Matter?

Child soldiering remains a challenge for the international community, and non-state armed groups are the most persistent offenders, but its drivers are poorly understood. Recent contributions suggest that decisions by armed groups are the key to explain child soldiering and that contextual variables are less relevant. This article exploits the availability of subnational, longitudinal data on child soldiering in Colombia, where insurgents and private militias have recruited children at least since the 1990s. The analysis shows that child recruitment is more likely in poorer municipalities, with limited access to education, and where coca crops are grown.     

Military Spending and Growth: The Role of Institutions

Recent literature on whether military spending affects economic growth argues that the relationship may be a conditional one. We add to this literature by considering the role that ‘good institutions’ play in the effect of military spending on growth. Using data from a sample of over 100 countries from 1988 to 2010, our analysis suggests that the effect of military spending on growth is generally negative or zero at best, and this effect is mitigated in the presence of good economic and political institutions.     

Forecast horizons for the discounted dynamic lot-size problem allowing speculative motive

This article considers the dynamic lot-size problem under discounting, allowing speculative motive for holding inventory. A variable rolling-horizon procedure is presented, which, under certain regularity conditions, is guaranteed to generate an infinite-horizon optimal-production plan. We also discuss a fixed rolling-horizon procedure which provides a production plan that achieves an infinite-horizon cost within a user-specified tolerance ϵ of optimality. The fixed-horizon length T* needed in this procedure is given in terms of a closed-form formula that is independent of specific forecasted demands. We also present computational results for problems with a range of cost parameters and demand characteristics.