A game with distorted information

This article considers a two-person game in which the first player has access to certain information that is valuable but unknown to the second player. The first player can distort the information before it is passed on to the second player. The purpose in distorting the information is to render it as useless as possible to the second player. Based on the distorted information received, the second player then maximizes some given objective. In certain cases he may still be able to use the distorted information, but sometimes the information has been so badly distorted that it becomes completely useless to him. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

General models for the supplier's all-unit quantity discount policy

The purpose of this article is to investigate some managerial insights related to using the all-unit quantity discount policies under various conditions. The models developed here are general treatments that deal with four major issues: (a) one buyer or multiple buyers, (b) constant or price-elastic demand, (c) the relationship between the supplier's production schedule or ordering policy and the buyers' ordering sizes, and (d) the supplier either purchasing or manufacturing the item. The models are developed with two objectives: the supplier's profit improvement or the supplier's increased profit share analysis. Algorithms are developed to find optimal decision policies. Our analysis provides the supplier with both the optimal all-unit quantity discount policy and the optimal production (or ordering) strategy. Numerical examples are provided. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons. Inc.     

Sojourn times in G/M/1 fork‐join networks

We consider a processing network in which jobs arrive at a fork‐node according to a renewal process. Each job requires the completion of m tasks, which are instantaneously assigned by the fork‐node to m task‐processing nodes that operate like G/M/1 queueing stations. The job is completed when all of its m tasks are finished. The sojourn time (or response time) of a job in this G/M/1 fork‐join network is the total time it takes to complete the m tasks. Our main result is a closed‐form approximation of the sojourn‐time distribution of a job that arrives in equilibrium. This is obtained by the use of bounds, properties of D/M/1 and M/M/1 fork‐join networks, and exploratory simulations. Statistical tests show that our approximation distributions are good fits for the sojourn‐time distributions obtained from simulations. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2008     

Scheduling jobs with piecewise linear decreasing processing times

We study the problems of scheduling a set of nonpreemptive jobs on a single or multiple machines without idle times where the processing time of a job is a piecewise linear nonincreasing function of its start time. The objectives are the minimization of makespan and minimization of total job completion time. The single machine problems are proved to be NP‐hard, and some properties of their optimal solutions are established. A pseudopolynomial time algorithm is constructed for makespan minimization. Several heuristics are derived for both total completion time and makespan minimization. Computational experiments are conducted to evaluate their efficiency. NP‐hardness proofs and polynomial time algorithms are presented for some special cases of the parallel machine problems. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 50: 531–554, 2003     

A trajectory for homeland ballistic missile defense

The Ground-based Midcourse Defense system is intended to protect the US homeland against limited attacks from intermediate- and long-range ballistic missiles. It has succeeded in intercepting target missiles and can engage a threat launched from North Korea or the Middle East, targeting any point in the USA. Nevertheless, high-profile struggles and program changes related to homeland ballistic missile defense (BMD) continue to make headlines. The most significant struggle has been a string of three straight intercept test failures over five years, followed by the recent successful intercept test in June 2014. This article first briefly reviews the current threats of concern. It then examines homeland BMD policy objectives, followed by the current major technical issues in supporting these objectives and, then, the likelihood of negating a warhead. Finally, it highlights major considerations that should be part of the trajectory the US government takes moving forward.     

Preemptive parallel‐machine scheduling with a common server to minimize makespan

We consider parallel‐machine scheduling with a common server and job preemption to minimize the makespan. While the non‐preemptive version of the problem is strongly NP‐hard, the complexity status of the preemptive version has remained open. We show that the preemptive version is NP‐hard even if there is a fixed number of machines. We give a pseudo‐polynomial time algorithm to solve the case with two machines. We show that the case with an arbitrary number of machines is unary NP‐hard, analyze the performance ratios of some natural heuristic algorithms, and present several solvable special cases. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 64: 388–398, 2017     

The role and capabilities of major weapon systems transferred between 1950 and 2010: Empirical examinations of an arms transfer data set

Arms transfers provide exporters an avenue to provide security to other states while gaining economic benefits. Arms transfers provide importers an avenue to gain security without having to rely on alliances. Past research uses aggregate measures of the monetary or security value of major weapon system transfers without accounting for strategic differences in possible use in interstate and civil conflict. This article presents a data set on interstate transfers of major weapon systems between 1950 and 2010 building upon Stockholm Peach Research Institute’s Arms Trade Register with several improvements. First, it disaggregates land weapons and air weapons into categories reflecting their strategic capabilities. Second, model level characteristics (e.g. age, speed, and range) are drawn from Jane’s Defence sources. Additionally, the data set covers a larger range of time and states than previous data sets categorizing arms. To demonstrate the usefulness, this article first presents summary statistics of the data set and then replicates an earlier test to show that the effect of human rights and regime types on United States transfers differs across the categories of arms compared to alternative measures of arms transfers.     

Preserving defense technologies: A strategy for economic conversion†

This paper presents a model for converting legacy defense production facilities into private‐sector economic resources. Specifically, this paper will examine as a case study the first successful conversion of a former U.S. Department of Energy nuclear weapons production installation, including reasons for its success, its costs and benefits, and lessons for public policy. It is envisioned that this model may be useful for mitigating local economic hardship resulting from defense “downsizing” and for privatizing production capacities critical for national defense.     

Africa Watch

This is the first of a new series of articles in the African Security Review which will focus on specific current issues of importance in Africa. To make sense of events, it is necessary to include some background information in order to contextualise them. As countries are revisited in the series, the background information will become less extensive, and readers will be referred to earlier pieces. Apart from providing an explanatory narrative of emerging situations, an attempt will be made to identify the issues likely to attract attention in the near future, and account for their salience.