Croatia's bitter harvest: Total National Defence's role in the Croatian War of Independence

Croatia's successful bid for independence was one of the defining moments of the immediate post-Cold War period. Nevertheless, the means that Croatia used to obtain independence remains relatively unexamined by academics. This article focuses on the early period of Croatia's bid for secession, and specifically the role that Yugoslavia's policy of Total National Defence played in facilitating its independence. Unlike in Slovenia, where the legacies of Total National Defence facilitated Slovenia's bid for secession, in Croatia the decision of its political leaders meant that the country largely neglected its positive legacies, resulting in a protracted four-year struggle.     

Baixa do Cassang: Ending the abuse of Portuguese Africans

On 4 January 1961 in Baixa do Cassange, in the north of Angola, the blacks who worked in the cotton fields began a strike. The army with air support was called to quell the rebellion, and the article emphasizes the importance of air support tethered to the ground forces, particularly in a remote and vast area of operations in the tropical rainy season. In this case, the support originally came in the form a squadron of Lockheed PV-2 Harpoons from Luanda, some 300 kilometers away. These open-ocean reconnaissance aircraft and their crews were ill-suited for the task. When this became apparent, four small Auster D5/160s were relocated from Negage to Malange, among the ground forces. The Austers flew reconnaissance missions over the troubled zones, dropped provisions and messages to the advancing ground forces, and served as a backup communications link. When the strike ceased after three weeks, the Austers assumed a humanitarian role in support of the starving population. The conclusion is that air support to ground forces is indispensable, must be properly tailored to the job, and must operate as an integral part of the ground forces.     

Why did Sudan Lose a small war in Southern Sudan?

ABSTRACT

When on the wrong end of an asymmetry in the projection of hard power, weaker sides countenance the grim arithmetic of avoiding direct and massed confrontations. Invariably, insurgents have over the ages tended to employ indirect tactical methods to render their stronger opponents ineffective. Ultimately – interest asymmetry, regime type, asymmetries of strategy, and external intervention – combine in a complex interplay and pattern, to militate against a strong side. In Sudan, these factors interacted throughout the civil wars to produce regional autonomy and finally an independent South Sudan in 2011. Similar strategic logic had confronted many large African states battling insurgencies in Ethiopia, Angola, Nigeria, Zaire, and apartheid-era South Africa. Oftentimes, weakening public resolve has caused these governments to accommodate, capitulate or withdraw even if they try not to blink. Notwithstanding the regime type, it can be concluded that the majority of strong actors are prone to fail in a protracted, asymmetric conflict. Hence, the notion of linking victory in counterinsurgency to the degree of openness (democratic polyarchies); or closeness (totalitarianism) – is still valid but highly contestable in the case of Africa’s large dysfunctional states.     

从王安石变法看政策执行的必备要素

政策的执行是一项系统性工作,其中领导者的综合素质、直达基层的领导骨干、及时高效的反馈机制、牢靠的群众基础以及周密配套的实施方案,都是政策执行的必备要素。讨论政策执行的必备要素,对于政策的执行乃至当前的改革,都具有非常重要的现实意义。     

Steady-state analysis of load balancing with Coxian-2 distributed service times

This paper studies load balancing for many-server (N servers) systems. Each server has a buffer of size b ? 1, and can have at most one job in service and b ? 1 jobs in the buffer. The service time of a job follows the Coxian-2 distribution. We focus on steady-state performance of load balancing policies in the heavy traffic regime such that the normalized load of system is λ = 1 ? N^?α for 0 < α < 0.5. We identify a set of policies that achieve asymptotic zero waiting. The set of policies include several classical policies such as join-the-shortest-queue (JSQ), join-the-idle-queue (JIQ), idle-one-first (I1F) and power-of-d-choices (Po d) with d = O(N^α log N). The proof of the main result is based on Stein's method and state space collapse. A key technical contribution of this paper is the iterative state space collapse approach that leads to a simple generator approximation when applying Stein's method.     

Investigation of the shock compression behaviors of Al/PTFE composites with experimental and a 3D mesoscale-model

The responses of AI/PTFE reactive materials (RMs) under shock compression were investigated by a single-stage gas gun.A 3D mesoscale-model was established based on micro-computed tomography(micro-CT) slice images and confirmed with experimental results.In the high-pressure stage,the com-posites reacted partially,whereas there were no deviations between the partially reacted Hugoniot and the inert simulation results.The simulation reveals that the Teflon matrix melting on the high shock pressure.Melts and decomposition of the PTFE accelerated the diffusion of the atoms.Thus,the reactions of the Al/PrFE composites are more like a combustion rather than a detonation.     

Investigating the Desirability of Navy Aircraft Service Life Extension Programs

Building on prior work on optimal replacement of aging aircraft, this paper presents three methodologies to evaluate prospective aviation Service Life Extension Programs (SLEPs) and applies these methodologies to US Navy F/A-18E/F data. While considerable uncertainty remains as to the values of key parameters (e.g. the cost of F/A-18E/F SLEPs), the preponderance of the evidence available at this juncture favors undertaking SLEPs on F/A-18E/Fs rather than replacing them with new Joint Strike Fighters.     

基于FEM/SPH算法的弹丸侵彻土体数值模拟

基于有限元法(FEM)和光滑粒子流体动力学(SPH)结合的算法,用数值模拟了钢质弹丸对钢筒约束土体的侵彻过程。基于ANSYS/LS-DYNA显式动力分析和LS-PrePost后处理软件,形象再现了钢质弹丸冲击作用下土体飞溅形成漏斗坑和直线通道的物理过程。侵彻深度计算结果与实验数据吻合较好,钢质弹丸的速度和加速度时程曲线图与理论分析一致,体现了FEM/SPH算法的精确性。研究结果表明FEM/SPH算法在模拟侵彻土体方面具有可行性和有效性。     

Theoretical study of an energetic material di-1H-1,3,4-triazole derivatives

Computations by density functional theory (DFT) method are performed on a series of di-1H-1,3,4-triazole derivatives with different substituents and linkages. The heat of formation (HOF) is predicted by the designed isodesmic reactions. The predicted results reveal that –N₃ and –NN– groups are effective structural units for increasing the HOF values of the di-1H-1,3,4-triazole derivatives. The HOMO–LUMO gap is affected by the substituents and linkage groups. Detonation performance is evaluated using the Kamlet–Jacobs approach based on the calculated density and HOF. The results indicate that –NO₂, –NF₂, –NH–, –NH–NH– and –NN– groups are helpful for enhancing the detonation properties of di-1H-1,3,4-triazole derivatives. The bond dissociation energy and bond order of the weakest bonds are analyzed to investigate their stability. It is observed that the –CH₂–, –CH₂–CH₂– and –CHCH– groups are effective structural units for improving the stabilities of these derivatives. Considering the detonation performance and the stability, five compounds are screened as the potential candidates for high energy density materials.     

N2O/C7H8单喷嘴燃气发生器试验研究

以基于N2O/C7H8的燃烧驱动混合型气动CO2激光器点火试验为研究背景,设计了液态N2O供应系统及N2O/C7H8单喷嘴燃气发生器.对液态N2O供应系统、N2O/C7H8的点火及燃烧性能进行了研究.试验结果表明:设计的N2O供应系统能够实现液态N2O的稳定供应;在设定的时序下,两个设计工况(余氧系数分别为0.3和0....