基于组合媒质通道模型的地下目标成像

由于电磁波在穿越不同介质时会出现折射现象,因此在地下目标成像过程中,电磁波信号穿越从雷达到地下目标的组合通道的路径不是直线而是折线,此时利用常规的自由空间中的合成孔径成像方法已经不能对目标进行成像。基于电磁波的传播规律和地层有耗媒质的特性,提出了电磁波传输的组合通道模型,并将其应用到地下目标成像中。通过仿真比较可以看出,使用组合通道模型对地下目标成像效果有明显的改善,组合通道模型适用于对分层土壤中的地下目标成像。     

基于小波变换的海面红外弱小目标检测中实时性研究

针对凝视型红外预警系统在复杂海面背景下对弱小信号检测的实时性问题,提出了压缩监测区域、危险度分级、舍弃小波变换后的低频分量部分和检测图像中的零信号4种优化型算法,减少了系统的运算量,提高了系统的运算速度,满足了系统实时性的要求,并且降低了系统的虚警率,保证了系统对强起伏背景的抑制效果。     

基于生物视觉原理的图像结构信息变化检测方法

为克服多时相遥感图像变化检测中照度差异和配准误差的影响,采用边缘结构信息进行变化检测。利用多方向Gabor函数从图像梯度强度图中提取边缘结构信息,称之为边缘标记(Edge Tag,ET),通过比较多时相遥感图像中ET的互相关系数实现变化检测。为减小差异较小的边缘对检测结果的影响,在相关系数的计算中引入抑制因子。仿真图像和真实图像的实验结果表明,该方法能克服图像照度差异和配准误差对变化检测的影响,取得了较好的检测效果。     

一种多级式带反馈的混合系统检测融合算法

为提高分布式检测系统的性能,提出了一种多级式带反馈的混合检测系统结构,系统第一级检测采用并行结构,第二级检测采取带反馈的串行结构。根据此系统结构,分析了在N-P准则下,各局部融合中心的融合规则和门限的确定,仿真结果表明,系统的检测性有明显改善。     

ECONOMIC GROWTH AND VIOLENT INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT: 1875–1999

This paper extends the joint product model of military alliances to apply to the new strategic doctrine adopted by NATO in the 1990s. In particular, a choice must be made between protecting one's own territory and pooling forces for an alliancewide rapid reaction force. This new model accounts for a host of externalities and their implications for burden sharing, full financing, and allocative efficiency. The Pigouvian taxes that adjust for force thinning and attack deflection are shown to finance optimal border‐protecting forces under a variety of circumstances. Second‐best considerations arise owing to the pure publicness of rapid reaction forces. The ideal toll arrangement does not currently characterize NATO financing, nor is it likely to do so.     

Traditional structures of crime control in Lagos,Nigeria

Notwithstanding the embrace of modern institutions of social control, traditional social control mechanisms still enjoy patronage in Nigeria. This paper examines the traditional structures of social control in Iraye-Oke, Lagos. In-depth interviews, key informant interviews and case studies were used to obtain data from participants. Findings established the functionality of traditional structures in checking crime and its preference over the use of modern social control structures. Traditional structures used include: traditional spiritualists who provide measures to reduce victimisation; the family courts where adjudication takes place involving elders and family chiefs; and the apex traditional court, presided over by the king, where cases like murder, land disputes, adultery and fornication are decided. Traditional extrajudicial measures involve the invocation of ancestral spirits at shrines.     

UNAMID: an African solution to a complex case of geopolitical dynamics

This article examines the geopolitical dynamics associated with the African Union (AU) and United Nations hybrid operation in Darfur (UNAMID) from the start of the Darfur conflict in 2003 until the time when UNAMID became fully operational in 2011. It provides an overview of the complex forces and geopolitical dynamics that affected the deployment of UNAMID and shaped its unique hybrid character. It mainly highlights those primary geopolitical factors that hindered the full deployment of UNAMID. It is concluded that this period was a showcase for the newly established AU and its support for its member states, as well as a new approach for the international community to maintain international peace and security in alliance with regional organisations.     

Nuclear weapons,existential threats,and the stability–instability paradox

Recent scholarship has largely ignored systematic differences in the existential threats that nuclear-weapon possessors pose to other states. This study theorizes that the capacity to pose existential threats shapes nuclear-armed states’ willingness to use military force against one another. We explore three hypotheses regarding how nuclear-based existential threats can deter conflict or encourage it, including under the conditions proposed by the stability–instability paradox. We rely on a statistical analysis of nuclear-armed dyads from 1950 to 2001 and employ the Nuclear Annihilation Threat (NAT) Index to capture variation in the existential threats nuclear-armed states pose to one another. We find that being able to pose an existential threat to another state emboldens potential initiators to use military force but does not deter attacks. The emboldening effects are particularly strong under the hypothesized conditions of the stability–instability paradox. Our study provides unique contributions to ongoing debates over the political effects of nuclear weapons.     

Proportional use of force in asymmetric military operation

This paper studies a strategic conflict between a state and a non-state military organization. The non-state military organization decides whether to attack or not to attack the state, while the state decides on its counter-measure. If the state uses a high level of violence against the non-state organization, it may be accused by the international community of ‘non-proportional’ use of force, and both sides of the conflict take this possibility into account. The model predicts that it may be rational for the non-state organization to attack the state, even if as a reaction the state will militarily destroy this organization, due to a positive probability the state will be punished by the international community for non-proportional use of violence.     

A critique of Paul Collier's ‘greed and grievance’ thesis of civil war

Paul Collier has produced a well-written and apparently plausible thesis on ‘greed and grievance’, evidenced in several published texts, which concludes unambiguously that greed, not grievance, is overwhelmingly the cause of conflict. However, Collier has based these findings upon narrowly defined quantitative measures–three defined indices of greed and four indices of grievance. Collier consciously omitted indices which he found difficult to measure, such as suppliers of armaments and opportunities for bureaucratic corruption. However, he appears to have unwittingly omitted some further factors, including governance, management mechanisms for natural resources and the influence that charismatic leadership can have on rebel groups. These omissions can be viewed as a major flaw in Collier's work. They also explain why Collier has diagnosed that civil wars are more likely to occur in some countries in the developing world without offering adequate explanation of why this may be so.