Securitising humanitarian assistance and post-conflict reconstruction in Africa: A critical review of South Africa's new defence policy

The South African Defence Review 2014 is the country's new defence policy. The Review, which is expected to steer South African defence policymaking for the next few decades, discusses in detail the role of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in peace missions in Africa and proposes the direct involvement of the country's soldiers in both military and civilian tasks, from peacekeeping to humanitarian assistance, post-conflict reconstruction and development. This paper contains a critical review of the Review with regard to South Africa's envisaged contribution to regional and continental peace and stability. It is argued that humanitarian assistance and post-conflict reconstruction should not be securitised and that the SANDF should only be tasked with peacekeeping and the establishment of stability and security in fragile in-conflict and post-conflict settings. The humanitarian work should be left to humanitarian and aid agencies, while reconstruction and development should be left to organisations such as the New Partnership for Africa's Development, continental and international development organisations, and local actors.     

Dynamics in pastoral resource management and conflict in the Borana rangelands of southern Ethiopia

Based on primary and secondary data, this paper provides a qualitative account of current changes in the pattern of natural resource management as a result of resource degradation and conflict in the Borana rangelands of southern Ethiopia. Population pressure, recurrent drought and the depleted carrying capacity of pastoral resources, as well as the encroachment of neighbouring ethnic groups, present the Borana community with a significant challenge. The diminishing resilience of traditional politico-judicial institutions under the famous Gada system often result in the rise of new forms of land use such as farming and private enclosures, which compete with the traditional communal tenure system. The gradual collapse of traditional norms and value systems and the apparent inefficiency in the formal administrative structures have exacerbated the problems of resource degradation and conflict between multiple resource-users.     

Building peace from the margins in Somalia: The case for political settlement with Al-Shabaab

The prevailing discourse in Mogadishu among the federal government of Somalia and the international community is that Al-Shabaab is no longer relevant in contemporary Somali political landscape. In the language of the government, Al-Shabaab is like a lost crocodile thrown out from the river. In the lexicon of the international community, Al-Shabaab is gradually receding. In fact, Al-Shabaab is actually puissant and potent in terms of social, political and military capabilities; not just in Somalia, but also in the wider East Africa region. Why is Al-Shabaab resilient and resistant? Why is it even more effective than the federal government? To answer these questions, this article reveals how Al-Shabaab is increasingly more legitimate than the federal government. In conclusion, the article proposes that negotiated settlement with the insurgency movement could lead to peace in war-torn southern Somalia.     

论翻译中的文化依附

文化依附问题在翻译中至关重要。本文用若干有说服力的译例从文化偶合、文化并行、文化冲突、文化空缺四个方面介绍分析了在翻译过程中如何处理文化依附矛盾的问题。     

Designing a screening experiment for highly reliable products

Within a reasonable life‐testing time, how to improve the reliability of highly reliable products is one of the great challenges to today's manufacturers. By using a resolution III experiment together with degradation test, Tseng, Hamada, and Chiao (1995) presented an interesting case study of improving the reliability of fluorescent lamps. However, in conducting such an experiment, they did not address the problem of how to choose the optimal settings of variables, such as sample size, inspection frequency, and termination time for each run, which are influential to the correct identification of significant factors and the experimental cost. Assuming that the product's degradation paths satisfy Wiener processes, this paper proposes a systematic approach to the aforementioned problem. First, an intuitively appealing identification rule is proposed. Next, under the constraints of a minimum probability of correct decision and a maximum probability of incorrect decision of the proposed identification rule, the optimum test plan (including the determinations of inspection frequency, sample size, and termination time for each run) can be obtained by minimizing the total experimental cost. An example is provided to illustrate the proposed method. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 49: 514–526, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/nav.10024     

高频地波超视距雷达述评

高频(HF)地波超视距雷达(GW-OTHR)利用雷达波束绕地表面衍射作用,能探测视距外的舰船、低空飞机和巡航导弹,不仅覆盖面积大、费用低,能弥补常规微波雷达低空盲区和天波超视距雷达的近距盲区,也无需注意电离层的变化,且可反隐身、抗反辐射导弹(ARM),因而在许多国家的国民经济和国防领域中得到了广泛的应用。论述了地波沿海面传播的特性和探测能力,并对超视距雷达的发展和应用进行了介绍。     

频率步进雷达高分辨距离像解模糊方法研究

针对频率步进雷达中存在的高分辨距离像模糊现象,通过分析其本质原因--周期延拓引起循环移位,提出了一种等效混频解距离像模糊的新方法,并给出了等效混频本振频率的选择范围.通过仿真实验验证了该方法的有效性.     

线性核时频信号表示及其仿真

根据ｃｈｉｒｐ信号在模糊域的特点,本文提出了线性核时频表示方法。这种方法在提高分辨率、消除交叉项以及抑制噪声等方面都具有较高的性能。理论分析和实验结果都证实了这种方法的有效性     

一种适用于长基线的改进CIR算法

长基线下,受伪距多径和电离层残差影响,传统的CIR法解算载波相位宽巷模糊度时某些历元无法得到正确的结果,基础载波模糊度的搜索范围也较大。分析了CIR法的模糊度误差,提出了基于载波相位平滑伪距并且消除电离层时延的改进的CIR算法,分析了其误差方差,最后利用Compass系统实测数据对短基线和长基线两种情况下CIR法和改进CIR法的解算结果进行比较。实测数据表明,本文提出的算法能够单历元解算超宽巷模糊度和宽巷模糊度,并且能够大大缩小基础载波模糊度的搜索空间。     

Privatizing the struggle against Somali piracy

Pirate attacks against commercial vessels in the Western Indian Ocean and nearby seas reached an unprecedented level in 2011. Despite concerted efforts by the international community and shipping companies to address this threat by conducting naval patrols and equipping commercial vessels with non-lethal defenses, the frequency of pirate attacks continues to increase. The general ineffectiveness of existing anti-piracy measures has sparked interest in expanding the use of armed private security contractors to protect commercial vessels from pirate attacks. This article argues that armed private security contractors can, indeed, enhance the security of commercial vessels because these actors can provide onsite protection for commercial vessels, which should allow them to respond very quickly to pirate attacks, and because these actors are willing to use deadly force against pirates. However, this article also argues that expanding the use of these actors may increase the degree of violence used during pirate attacks, pose threats to the safety of innocent civilians, and violate a number of domestic and international laws.