The Power of the NPT: International Norms and Ukraine's Nuclear Disarmament

ABSTRACT

There is a lingering disagreement among scholars on how the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) affects nonproliferation and disarmament outcomes. Drawing on constructivist scholarship on international norms, this article examines the extent of the NPT's effect in the case of Ukraine's nuclear disarmament. In the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse, Ukraine found itself host to the world's third largest nuclear arsenal. Despite Ukraine's initial commitment to become a non-nuclear state, it proceeded along a difficult path toward NPT accession. Most controversial and directly at odds with the NPT was Ukraine's claim to ownership of its nuclear inheritance as a successor state of the Soviet Union. This article argues that, while much domestic discourse about the fate of these nuclear weapons was embedded in the negotiation of Ukraine's new identity as a sovereign state vis-à-vis Russia and the West, the NPT played an important, structural role by outlining a separate normative space for nuclear weapons and providing the grammar of denuclearization with which Ukraine's decision makers had to grapple.     

Home-Grown Fighting: A Response to the Argument for a Byzantine Influence on MS I.33

Abstract

In an earlier issue, Dr. Timothy Dawson suggested that the fighting techniques found in Royal Armouries MS I.33 may have been influenced by earlier Byzantine sword and shield combat. For evidence, he cites a series of 9th-century ivory carvings depicting similar positions found in I.33. This article is a response to Dr. Dawson’s, in which it is argued that there is ample evidence for similar combat positions being found in Western Europe that both pre-date and are contemporary with I.33.     

Comparison between constant‐stress and step‐stress accelerated life tests under Time Constraint

By running life tests at higher stress levels than normal operating conditions, accelerated life testing (ALT) quickly yields information on the lifetime distribution of a test unit. The lifetime at the design stress is then estimated through extrapolation using a regression model. In constant‐stress testing, a unit is tested at a fixed stress level until failure or the termination time point of test, whereas step‐stress testing allows the experimenter to gradually increase the stress levels at some prefixed time points during the test. In this work, the optimal k‐level constant‐stress and step‐stress ALTs are compared for the exponential failure data under complete sampling and Type‐I censoring. The objective is to quantify the advantage of using the step‐stress testing relative to the constant‐stress one. Assuming a log‐linear life–stress relationship with the cumulative exposure model for the effect of changing stress in step‐stress testing, the optimal design points are determined under C/D/A‐optimality criteria. The efficiency of step‐stress testing to constant‐stress one is then discussed in terms of the ratio of optimal objective functions based on the information matrix. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 00: 000–000, 2013     

C4ISR中基于XML的标准化作战文书与数据库的映射

基于XML的标准化作战文书有利于C4ISR应用或仿真系统中作战文书的网络动态数据传输;而要实现C4ISR中作战文书自动化处理的其他功能,还需把XML文档和成熟的关系数据库的互补功能结合起来.通过对作战文书标准化系统整体流程的分析,提出了用标准化作战文书的DTD文档作为连接关系数据库和XML文档的中间件,并给出了XML文档结构和关系数据库结构相互之间的转换机制.     

基于信息论的C3I系统决策性能的评价

信息熵是描述信息系统的一种比较成功的方法.采用信息论的方法对决策系统进行描述,在考虑了决策者的有界合理性限制和达到满意性能指标的要求下,分析了单人指挥决策系统的系统性能,并在此基础上分析了多人指挥决策系统的系统性能,最后得出采用决策系统的误差概率P和相互一致性度量Q作为评价C3I系统决策性能标准的结论.     

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....     

基于VC++的坦克模拟车驾驶实时控制系统

坦克模拟车驾驶实时控制系统是坦克(分队)作战仿真系统的重要组成部分.结合科研实践,基于Visual C 语言,着重从系统设计原理、系统实现、系统评价等方面进行分析研究,完成代码编写与硬件接口的联接.实践证明,该系统能够实时准确地对驾驶过程中的数据进行采集和处理,且能够逼真地实现对坦克模拟车的驾驶模拟,系统中所创建的类经过重用,也可以在其他坦克模拟系统的开发和研究中使用,且具有较高的参考价值.     

C3I系统评价可信性分析方法

C3I系统评价结果的可信性分析是C3I系统理论研究中的一个重要问题.首先论述了C3I系统评价结果可信性分析的主要内容,然后提出了一种定性分析的主观确认法和定量分析的统计检验法相结合的可信性分析方法,并给出了系统评价结果的可信度的计算方法.     

C~3I系统试验评估方法

C3I系统试验评估是C3I系统外场试验中非常重要的一个环节.结合C3I系统外场试验的试验需求,建立了一套相对比较完整的、包含了C3I系统评估方法、评估指标体系和指标计算模型三要素在内的C3I系统试验评估体系.利用模糊的概念和变权评估方法,改进了传统的层次分析法,提出了一种变权模糊层次分析法作为C3I系统评估方法.最后,通过某防空情报指挥系统外场试验评估实例验证了该评估体系的正确性和科学性.所设计的C3I系统试验评估体系技术先进、科学实用,对C3I系统外场试验鉴定具有比较重要的指导意义.     

C~4ISR系统需求一致性开发方法

C~4ISR系统是复杂大系统,C~4ISR系统需求工程的建设需要建立一套完整的C~4ISR系统需求体系框架和开发方法论.对C~4ISR系统需求的开发方法进行了研究,按照C~4ISR系统需求的层次,结合系统体系结构的开发方法,提出C~4ISR系统需求的分析开发过程和基于UML的模型表述方法;为保证需求模型的一致性,提出C~4ISR系统需求开发的一致性策略.