Mimetic and normative isomorphism in the establishment and maintenance of independent air forces

Why do countries have air forces? Organizational alternatives, such as maintaining separate air arms for the army and navy, have become quite rare. The conventional narrative advanced by advocates of independent air forces stress that the primacy of airpower in modern warfare mandates centralized control of most military aviation. In this view, political–military uncertainty has driven mimetic isomorphism – pressure on national governments to organize as others organize so as to fight or deter war just as effectively. However, working from a set of 56 countries that were politically independent within a few years of the establishment of the first ever independent air force (the Royal Air Force) in 1918, and continuing through nearly the present, there is no clear pattern of external military pressure prompting this particular reorganization. Rather, from anecdotal evidence, the cause has more likely been normative isomorphism – a professional craving to look as others look to foster political or personal legitimacy. For whatever reason, though, choices of structures tend to lead to specific choices of policies. Thus, the result suggests that defense ministries looking for more effective or less costly organizational schemas may reasonably consider alternatives to the tripartite army–navy–air force structure.     

精密机床导轨的测量分析

本文提出了一个用于质量诊断的精密机床导轨分析系统。受控目标的质量评估是依据于对一个物体在选定区间内的测量形状与位置偏差来确定的。质量评估采用相关综合指标的形式:基本误差函数,综合不平行度。在对完整的支撑部件或导向部件作评估的时候,这套系统能对各部件的位置做校正。本文所描述的计算机系统能控制任何测量系统。目前的版本是控制一个测量平动与转动位移量的激光干涉仪。     

Finite Markov chain models skip-free in one direction

Finite Markov processes are considered, with bidimensional state space, such that transitions from state (n, i) to state (m, j) are possible only if m ≤ n + 1. The analysis leads to efficient computational algorithms, to determine the stationary probability distribution, and moments of first passage times.     

Learning and costs in airframe production: A multiple-output production function approach

This article examines the influence of both production rate and learning on airframe program costs. A dynamic multiple-output production model is developed and is used to observe the cost impact of changes in production rate and learning. Several simulations are performed to demonstrate the sensitivity of the optimal time path of cost to changes in the model parameters. The model is applied by estimating parameters from the F102 airframe program.     

Book reviews

British Naval Policy and Norwegian Security: Maritime Power in Transition, 1951-60.. By Mats Berdal. Forsvarsstudier No. 2/92, Institutt For Forsvarsstudier (IFS) Oslo, Norway, 1992, ISSN 0333-3981.

The European Security Order Recast: Scenarios for the Post-Cold War Era.. By Barry Buzan, Morten Kelstrup, Pierre Lemaitre, Elzbieta Tromer and OLE Waever. Pinter, London (1990), ISBN 086187143X, £30.00.

Mates and Muchachos: Unit Cohesion in the Falklands War.. By Nora Kinzer Stewart. Brassey's (US), Washington DC (1991), ISBN 008-037-4395, $20.

The Declining Hegemon: The United States and European Defense, 1960-1990.. By Joseph Lepgold. Praeger, New York (1990), ISBN 0-275-93657-0, $15.95 pb.

Inventing Accuracy: A Historical Sociology of Nuclear Missile Guidance.. By Donald Mackenzie. MIT Press, Cambridge MA, and London, England (1990), ISBN 262-132-583, £19.95.     

Interactive solution of bi-criteria mathematical programs

In this paper, we develop efficient interactive methods for the solution of bicriteria nonlinear programming problems. The methods do not require trade-off information from the decision maker, pose less cognitive burden and converge to the “best compromise solution” fast. Two methods, called the paired comparison method and comparative trade-off method, are presented with examples. A real application of the interactive method to a bicriteria problem that arose in the planning of the cardiovascular disease control program in the U.S. Air Force is also presented.     

One- and two-stage scheduling of two products with distributed inserted idle time: The benefits of a controllable production rate

Consider the problem of scheduling two products on a single machine or through two machines in series when demand is constant and there is a changeover cost between runs of different products on the same machine. As well as setting batch sizes, it is assumed that the production scheduler can choose the production rate for each product, provided an upper bound is not exceeded. This is equivalent to permitting distributed inserted idle time over the production run. It is shown that characteristic of the optimum schedule is that there is no idle time concentrated between runs; it is all distributed over the run. If the inventory charge is based on average inventory then one product is always produced at maximum rate on the bottleneck stage; however, if there is an inventory constraint based on maximum inventory then in the single-stage case it can occur that neither product is produced at maximum rate.     

A two-state system with partial availability in the failed state

A generalization of the alternating renewal model of a repairable system to permit partial availability in the failed state is introduced. It is shown how, by making use of an embedded alternating renewal process, we can readily derive expressions for various measures of system availability. Expressions for the point availability of the generalized process are presented.