The winds of change: the transition from armed forces for peace to new missions for the Bundeswehr and its impact on civil–military relations

The debate on the civil–military gap and especially the TISS findings are viewed with a focus on Germany. After outlining the historical development of civil–military relations, the question of a civil–military gap is explored with data from 2001. The study finds similarities and differences in the attitudes of the civilian and the military population on several issues. Overall, there is a broad overlap of attitudes, yet differences do exist, especially on issues of foreign policy and things military. It is argued that at the beginning of the twenty-first century, civil–military relations in Germany are largely uncontested, but will become more strained.     

Countering Insurgent-terrorism: Why Nato Chose The Wrong Historical Foundation For Cimic

History teaches that counterinsurgency and counterterrorism campaigns have never been won through purely military action. Defeating an opponent who avoids open battle, but who uses force to reach his goals, including terrorist action, requires a combination of police, administrative, economic and military measures. As a counterinsurgency campaign should pursue a comprehensive political objective, it requires high levels of civil–military cooperation. However, current NATO doctrine for Civil–Military Cooperation (CIMIC) as it emerged from the 1990s is founded in conventional war-fighting and outdated peacekeeping doctrine. CIMIC's focus is on supporting military objectives rather than enabling the military to make a coherent contribution to political objectives. This makes CIMIC unfit for the Alliance's main operational challenges that have expanded from peace operations on the Balkans to countering insurgent terrorism in Afghanistan. When developing CIMIC, the Alliance obviously neglected the historical lessons from counterinsurgency campaigns.     

Bayes假设检验及样本数量问题研究

针对Bayes方法在工程实践中未能得到广泛应用的实际情况分析了Bayes方法存在的问题,以正态总体期望为背景研究并改进了Bayes方法,进一步推导了Bayes假设检验样本数量确定方法。     

磨合预处理对有机钼添加剂摩擦学性能的影响

采用MMW-1万能摩擦磨损试验机,考察了磨合预处理工况(时间、载荷)对两种有机钼添加剂在CF-4 15W-40柴油机油中抗磨减摩性能的影响。采用扫描电子显微镜和能谱仪分析了磨斑表面形貌和表面元素组成。结果表明,适当的磨合预处理可有效增强有机钼添加剂在柴油机油中的抗磨减摩性能,且经过磨合预处理的磨斑表面形貌较没有处理时平整,添加剂主要功能元素在摩擦表面的质量分数增加。     

A generalized assignment model for dynamic supply chain capacity planning

We consider a generalization of the well‐known generalized assignment problem (GAP) over discrete time periods encompassed within a finite planning horizon. The resulting model, MultiGAP, addresses the assignment of tasks to agents within each time period, with the attendant single‐period assignment costs and agent‐capacity constraint requirements, in conjunction with transition costs arising between any two consecutive periods in which a task is reassigned to a different agent. As is the case for its single‐period antecedent, MultiGAP offers a robust tool for modeling a wide range of capacity planning problems occurring within supply chain management. We provide two formulations for MultiGAP and establish that the second (alternative) formulation provides a tighter bound. We define a Lagrangian relaxation‐based heuristic as well as a branch‐and‐bound algorithm for MultiGAP. Computational experience with the heuristic and branch‐and‐bound algorithm on over 2500 test problems is reported. The Lagrangian heuristic consistently generates high‐quality and in many cases near‐optimal solutions. The branch‐and‐bound algorithm is also seen to constitute an effective means for solving to optimality MultiGAP problems of reasonable size. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2012     

Modeling the operation of multireservoir systems using decomposition and stochastic dynamic programming

Stochastic dynamic programming models are attractive for multireservoir control problems because they allow non‐linear features to be incorporated and changes in hydrological conditions to be modeled as Markov processes. However, with the exception of the simplest cases, these models are computationally intractable because of the high dimension of the state and action spaces involved. This paper proposes a new method of determining an operating policy for a multireservoir control problem that uses stochastic dynamic programming, but is practical for systems with many reservoirs. Decomposition is first used to reduce the problem to a number of independent subproblems. Each subproblem is formulated as a low‐dimensional stochastic dynamic program and solved to determine the operating policy for one of the reservoirs in the system. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2006     

Northwest corner and banded matrix approximations to a Markov chain

In this paper, we consider approximations to discrete time Markov chains with countably infinite state spaces. We provide a simple, direct proof for the convergence of certain probabilistic quantities when one uses a northwest corner or a banded matrix approximation to the original probability transition matrix. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 46: 187–197, 1999     

A Cryptographic Escrow for Treaty Declarations and Step-by-Step Verification

The verification of arms-control and disarmament agreements requires states to provide declarations, including information on sensitive military sites and assets. There are important cases, however, in which negotiations of these agreements are impeded because states are reluctant to provide any such data, because of concerns about prematurely handing over militarily significant information. To address this challenge, we present a cryptographic escrow that allows a state to make a complete declaration of sites and assets at the outset and commit to its content, but only reveal the sensitive information therein sequentially. Combined with an inspection regime, our escrow allows for step-by-step verification of the correctness and completeness of the initial declaration so that the information release and inspections keep pace with parallel diplomatic and political processes. We apply this approach to the possible denuclearization of North Korea. Such approach can be applied, however, to any agreement requiring the sharing of sensitive information.     

Local perceptions of the EU’s role in peacebuilding: The case of security sector reform in Palestine

ABSTRACT

Perception research can make a valuable contribution to the study of the local dimension in EU peacebuilding. The conceptual framework developed in this article distinguishes between perceptions of the “legitimacy,” “effectiveness,” and “credibility” of EU peacebuilding practices, which are crucial factors for successful peacebuilding. Relying on the case of the EU’s support for security sector reform (SSR) in Palestine, this article shows that local stakeholders—which participate in various EU-sponsored training and capacity-building programs—display considerable support for liberal peacebuilding norms. Yet, perceived discrepancies between the EU’s peacebuilding rhetoric and its SSR activities have severely undermined the potential of the EU’s liberal peacebuilding model in the eyes of Palestinian stakeholders. Critical local perceptions are frequently articulated with reference to the EU’s own liberal peacebuilding discourse, pointing to a lack of inclusiveness of the SSR process and deficits in terms of democratic governance and the rule of law.     

On the design of a tandem queue with blocking: Modeling,analysis, and gradient estimation

We demonstrate here how recent advances in the study of discrete-event stochastic systems provide fruitful results for the modeling, analysis, and design of manufacturing systems. We consider a multistage make-to-stock system where outputs from the final stage are used to satisfy customer demands. We address the problem of finding the appropriate trade-off between reduced order waiting time and increased process speeds. Using the idea of infinitesimal perturbation analysis (IPA), we establish a simple procedure where sample-path derivatives can be obtained along an arbitrary sample path. Under suitable conditions, we demonstrate that these derivative estimators are unbiased and strongly consistent and can be used in a classical stochastic optimization scheme to solve the problem. The role of continuity and convexity on the validity of the estimator is also addressed. Although the focus of this article is not to solve for the optimal solution, we provide a theoretical justification for such a pursuit. The approach is appealing as it is numerically stable, easy to implement, and can be extended to other system performance measures. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.