MONEY IN SOUTHERN AFRICAN POLITICS

“Lack of money is the root of all evil”

George Bernard Shaw

In a environment where party financing, private funding in particular, is generally a laissez-faire business, as in most Southern African countries, there is the real risk that interest groups and wealthy individuals will buy influence in political parties and in so doing erode public confidence in the political system. Because they are neither open to public scrutiny nor subject to any legislative restraints, huge private donations can, and often do, come with strings attached. This lack of transparency and openness, as well as mechanisms to prevent it, provides ample ground for influence peddling, where those who pay the piper call the tune. Left unchecked, this party funding scenario will continue to be a serious indictment of the region's democratisation projects, crippling democracy and stunting economic development. This article consid     

The Towton Battle — A Reinterpretation

The paper re-interprets the implement known as the ‘Towton Battle Axe’ allegedly found in the river which borders the Towton Battlefield (1461), Yorkshire, England, and which now resides in Alnwick Castle, Northumberland. The paper provides parallels, in the form of comparisons with other weapons, in order that the Towton implement can be shown to be a modified former halberd dating from the early sixteenth century. It is, therefore, highly unlikely that the implement was used in the famous battle.     

基于Rényi信息增量的机动目标协同跟踪算法

针对基于多传感器组网进行机动目标跟踪的传感器管理问题,提出了一种基于Rényi信息增量的机动目标协同跟踪算法。首先结合"当前"统计模型和交互式多模型不敏卡尔曼滤波算法设计了一种变结构多模型算法,来进行机动目标的状态估计;然后以Rényi信息增量为评价准则,选择使Rényi信息增量最大的单个传感器进行目标跟踪;最后利用得到的最优加速度估计进行网格划分,更新变结构多模型中的模型集合。在一般机动及强机动场景下进行了算法性能分析,仿真结果表明,该算法能够合理地选择传感器,提高了对机动目标的跟踪精度。     

Air power in humanitarian intervention: Kosovo and Libya in comparative perspective

It would be hard to overstate the importance of air power in humanitarian intervention (HI) and the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). Yet, the role of air power in HI and R2P has been understudied. This article seeks to remedy the lack of systematic investigation. It does so by developing a framework for assessing the effectiveness of air power during military operations in HI and R2P and applies it to NATO’s air campaigns in Kosovo (Operation Allied Force) and Libya (Operation Unified Protector). Upon examination NATO is revealed to have fared better in Libya than Kosovo in positively accomplishing its stated humanitarian objectives, minimizing collateral damage and reducing the costs for the interveners, all of which are aspects considered by the model. The relative effectiveness of Operations Unified Protector is generally attributed to geography, diplomacy and technology. It is argued that better ground support, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and burden sharing are needed to enhance the utility of air power in HI and R2P even further.     

关于实施2＋6工程推进防消结合的思考

从消防安全“两个能力”建设和灭火救援“六熟悉”工作入手,积极探索防火、灭火工作的互动、结合,形成建设“2 6”工程、推进防消结合的工作构想。着重就“2 6”工程的内涵、意义以及实施“2 6”工程的基本设想进行详细阐述,主要目的是通过分析实施“2 6”工程的必要性、可行性,评估工程效果,为实施“2 6”工程提供依据。     

航天遥感监测信息态势感知能力分析

针对遥感监测信息的效用评估问题,提出了一种态势感知能力定量分析的新方法。首先利用NIIRS等级尺度和GIQE模型建立了遥感图像与地面目标检测率之间的联系,由此得到这些目标在监视区域出现的概率分布。然后,以地面目标在监视区域的实际分布表示使用者信息需求,并利用信息理论中的Kullback Leibler距离来度量不确定性分布和信息需求之间的差异,从而得到不同遥感侦察与监视系统态势感知能力曲线,给出了传输处理时延对态势感知能力曲线的影响。     

测量控制隧道开挖断面技术应用研究

介绍了毛洞断面测量系统的组成及原理,阐述了利用TC(R)1101全站仪构架的断面测量控制系统在地下隧道施工中的应用,包括准备工作、断面测量、搬移测站以及内业整理,并对测量控制隧道开挖断面技术的应用效果及效益进行了详细分析。该技术在控制断面超欠挖,提高光面爆破水平效果明显。     

Exact analysis of (R,s, S) inventory control systems with lost sales and zero lead time

We study an (R, s, S) inventory control policy with stochastic demand, lost sales, zero lead‐time and a target service level to be satisfied. The system is modeled as a discrete time Markov chain for which we present a novel approach to derive exact closed‐form solutions for the limiting distribution of the on‐hand inventory level at the end of a review period, given the reorder level (s) and order‐up‐to level (S). We then establish a relationship between the limiting distributions for adjacent values of the reorder point that is used in an efficient recursive algorithm to determine the optimal parameter values of the (R, s, S) replenishment policy. The algorithm is easy to implement and entails less effort than solving the steady‐state equations for the corresponding Markov model. Point‐of‐use hospital inventory systems share the essential characteristics of the inventory system we model, and a case study using real data from such a system shows that with our approach, optimal policies with significant savings in inventory management effort are easily obtained for a large family of items.     

The Race that wasn't

ABSTRACT

Graham Farmelo's new book on the early British nuclear weapon program assembles a fascinating cast of characters in a gripping narrative. It particularly succeeds at illustrating the importance of “atomic energy” imagery in the United Kingdom well before the discovery of fission, and provides nuanced insights into Churchill's handling of issues relating to the atomic bomb and scientific expertise. However, in arguing that the British had a “lead” on the manufacture of atomic bombs that was “lost” to the United States during the early Manhattan Project, the book overstates its case, and in the process misunderstands what it took to make the bomb.     

含运动副间隙舵机执行机构的动态特性研究

为了研究运动副间隙对空间4R机构动态特性的影响,间隙处的接触碰撞模型和摩擦的建立分别采用非线性弹簧阻尼模型和修正的库伦摩擦模型。在Solidworks中建立空间4R机构模型,导入ADAMS中进行动力学仿真分析。对比含间隙和不含间隙时系统动力学仿真结果的异同,分析间隙大小和最佳间隙量对空间4R机构动态特性的影响,为机构的设计提供了重要的参考依据,有利于工程实际应用。