All Together Now? Questioning WMDs as a Useful Analytical Unit for Understanding Chemical and Biological Weapons Proliferation

ABSTRACT

The popular use of the term “weapons of mass destruction” (WMD) can be understood to imply a relationship between nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons proliferation insofar as it assumes that the separate weapons technologies can be usefully grouped into a single analytic category. This article explores whether WMD is actually a useful construct. It begins by reviewing the literature on nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons proliferation, including a recent study that sought to estimate the relationship between the pursuit and acquisition of these different weapons. It then explores some policy inferences that academics and policy makers may be tempted to draw from these studies, particularly regarding the Barack Obama administration's pursuit of deep nuclear reductions. It argues that many of these policy inferences are premature at best and misleading at worst. It concludes with a call for additional research into the causes and consequences of chemical and biological weapons proliferation, and a call for scholars to remain cautious in their desire to draw premature policy implications from their studies in order to be “policy relevant.”     

ALBANIA'S CHEMICAL WEAPONS CON

In 2003, the Albanian government declared that in late 2002 it had discovered a heretofore unknown cache of 16 tons of chemical weapons. Tirana requested and received assistance from the West in securing and destroying the materials, a task completed in 2007. Albania has been lauded for its responsible handling of the discovery and for being the first nation to complete the destruction of its chemical weapons under the terms of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). This article argues that the Albanian government has always knowingly possessed the weapons, keeping them a secret until a post-September 11, 2001 international focus on weapons of mass destruction made it politically worthwhile for Tirana to declare and destroy them. The likelihood that the governments of the West turned a willful blind eye to this chain of events is troubling for the credibility of the CWC and confidence in nonproliferation measures in general. Finally, the author recommends measures to avoid and address similar situations in the future.     

乳化餐饮废水的化学破乳条件优化

为了有效地解决餐饮废水中乳化油分离处理这个技术难题,采用化学破乳法对餐饮废水进行研究,得到不同化学试剂的最佳质量浓度,并通过复配实验总结出最佳复配组合.结果表明:小分子醇类的质量浓度越大,醇类单链越长,则破乳作用越显著,加入正丁醇至总体积分数为4%有较好破乳效果;少量添加有机絮凝剂阳离子聚丙烯酰胺可以提高除油效果,但用量过高反而会起到反作用,质量浓度为100~200 mg/L较为适宜;金属离子所带的正电荷越高,破乳效果越好,选择质量浓度为200 mg/L的CaCl2较为适宜.根据复配实验可知,同时加入正丁醇至总体积分数为4%和CaCl2质量浓度为150 mg/L,可以取得更好的组合破乳效果.     

U型钢板桩施工的滑坡动态勘察技术及数值模拟

为节省边(滑)坡灾害的应急加固时间,提高边(滑)坡处置的效率和质量,针对边(滑)坡在勘察阶段提出了基于U型钢板桩施工的动态勘察技术,即在静压植桩机压入U型钢板桩的同时,利用与其配套的压入管理系统设备与软件对压桩数据进行监测和分析,从而反馈出地层强度等信息。数值模拟中,为了能利用工程中所得压桩阻力图谱来反推地层信息,归纳总结了不同土体在桩压入时的应力云图和压桩阻力规律。结果表明:压桩阻力规律与地层信息之间存在对应关系,据此可判断地层强度特征等信息,数值模拟也为后续的现场试验研究提供了依据。     

嵌入式在线航空摄影测量方法

为满足空间数据实时处理的需求,提高航空摄影测量系统在线处理能力,研究一种在线摄影测量的理论与方法,运用嵌入式架构设计一种在线摄影测量系统,使用可编程门阵列(FPGA)方法、高级精简指令集机器组合数字信号处理器(ARM+DSP)方法等嵌入式计算技术建立专门的硬件运行环境,移植并优化现有算法到嵌入式系统中,实现摄影测量数据的在线处理。机载航摄实验结果表明,该方法能够实现对摄影测量数据进行快速稳定的在线处理,验证了运用嵌入式架构的在线摄影测量的可行性,把摄影测量的处理效率提高到了一个更高的水平,同时也进一步拓宽了摄影测量技术的应用领域。     

基于有限状态机的作战实体模型行为规则可视化建模研究

为提升仿真模型开发效率,降低仿真模型的维护成本,本文从模型规则可视化建模需求入手,提出了基于有限状态机的实体模型行为规则形式化表达模型,并对基于有限状态机的模型规则可视化建模工具框架进行了设计,对模型规则可视化建模的工程实现进行了理论上的探索。     

装备虚拟训练操作过程监控系统的设计

针对在面向操作训练的装备虚拟训练系统开发中遇到的对受训者操作监控的问题,为实现对装备操作过程的详尽描述和对受训者操作逻辑性的监控,提出了一种基于IDEF3的装备操作过程概念建模方法和基于有限状态机、浅层专家知识数据库的操作过程监控系统的设计方案。建立了监控系统的结构框架,并详细介绍了系统三个组成部分的设计方案：浅层专家知识数据库、操作过程状态机和通用操作监控引擎。基于此设计方案的操作过程监控系统已成功的应用于某装备虚拟训练平台,解决了对受训者的操作监控问题,提高了训练效果。     

抢险救灾工程破碎机械保障效能评估

破碎作业是抢险救灾工程保障的重要内容.以抗震救灾工程机械抢险作业理论与实践为基础,运用层次分析法构建了工程破碎机械保障效能评价指标体系,探索了相应的评价方法,并应用于工程保障实践.实践表明,该方法有利于抢险救灾科学决策,对合理选配工程机械,提高突发事件工程保障效能具有积极的促进作用.     

火箭尾气扰动电离层及其应用研究

大型火箭二次点火时,排放出的尾气中含有大量的化学物质(主要成分是CO2和H2O),可以显著改变电离层密度,进而影响电波的传播,因此具有现实的应用价值.讨论了火箭尾气在电离层高度的扩散过程和相应的离子化学过程,理论计算了火箭尾气排放后电离层电子密度的响应过程.结果表明,火箭所排放的尾气能够使得电离层F区的电子密度显著减少,进而形成"电子空洞".最后在此现象的启发下,简单论述了空间人工释放化学物质扰动电离层技术在军事方面的应用前景.     

Single machine parallel batch scheduling subject to precedence constraints

We consider the single machine parallel batch scheduling problems to minimize makespan and total completion time, respectively, under precedence relations. The complexities of these two problems are reported as open in the literature. In this paper, we settle these open questions by showing that both problems are strongly NP‐hard, even when the precedence relations are chains. When the processing times of jobs are directly agreeable or inversely agreeable with the precedence relations, there is an O(n²) time algorithm to minimize the makespan. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2004