Optimal outbound dispatch policies: Modeling inventory and cargo capacity

In this paper, we present an optimization model for coordinating inventory and transportation decisions at an outbound distribution warehouse that serves a group of customers located in a given market area. For the practical problems which motivated this paper, the warehouse is operated by a third party logistics provider. However, the models developed here may be applicable in a more general context where outbound distribution is managed by another supply chain member, e.g., a manufacturer. We consider the case where the aggregate demand of the market area is constant and known per period (e.g., per day). Under an immediate delivery policy, an outbound shipment is released each time a demand is realized (e.g., on a daily basis). On the other hand, if these shipments are consolidated over time, then larger (hence more economical) outbound freight quantities can be dispatched. In this case, the physical inventory requirements at the third party warehouse (TPW) are determined by the consolidated freight quantities. Thus, stock replenishment and outbound shipment release policies should be coordinated. By optimizing inventory and freight consolidation decisions simultaneously, we compute the parameters of an integrated inventory/outbound transportation policy. These parameters determine: (i) how often to dispatch a truck so that transportation scale economies are realized and timely delivery requirements are met, and (ii) how often, and in what quantities, the stock should be replenished at the TPW. We prove that the optimal shipment release timing policy is nonstationary, and we present algorithms for computing the policy parameters for both the uncapacitated and finite cargo capacity problems. The model presented in this study is considerably different from the existing inventory/transportation models in the literature. The classical inventory literature assumes that demands should be satisfied as they arrive so that outbound shipment costs are sunk costs, or else these costs are covered by the customer. Hence, the classical literature does not model outbound transportation costs. However, if a freight consolidation policy is in place then the outbound transportation costs can no longer be ignored in optimization. Relying on this observation, this paper models outbound transportation costs, freight consolidation decisions, and cargo capacity constraints explicitly. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 49: 531–556, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/nav.10030     

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.     

The management of security incidents by private security

This article is about the management of security incidents in organisations and companies which are under the protection of private security personnel, whether in-house or contracted. Incidents can be defined as accidental or anecdotal (bird flies into a camera) to a violation of law or company policy. Managing security incidents is one of the key functions of a private security service provider. The purpose of this study is to explore the management of security incidents and the information related thereto, identify shortcomings and find solutions for managing these shortcomings. Interviews were used to gain insight from personnel within the private and government sectors which are served by the private security industry. It was found that security incidents are handled in a routine way by organisations from the different sectors. One major shortcoming is that security incidents and the information related thereto are not managed by security service providers according to an operational framework or model with the required infrastructure and resources. The significance of this study is for security incidents to be managed correctly, so that the information related thereto may be captured accurately, analysed and used proactively and reactively to improve physical protection systems, develop preventative strategies and provide actionable information products in order to reduce crime, increase detection rates and prevent losses.     

ALTERNATIVE NARRATIVES FOR ARMS CONTROL

The efforts of President Barack Obama and his administration to restore the United States as a driving force of multilateral arms control and nonproliferation negotiations are commendable, yet the lack of progress on such issues over the last eight years has ensured that U.S. policy has not kept pace with changes in the geostrategic environment and the evolving security agenda. Meanwhile, an alternative agenda has been articulated by non-Western countries. This article focuses on the arms control perspectives of Non-Aligned Movement states and others that have begun to embrace the idea of “disarmament as humanitarian action.” It explores this idea in the context of recent initiatives and argues that if the Obama administration wants to make progress on its arms control and nonproliferation priorities, it should consider a multifaceted approach that incorporates this emerging alternative agenda.     

INTEGRATING NUCLEAR WEAPONS STOCKPILE MANAGEMENT AND NUCLEAR ARMS CONTROL OBJECTIVES TO ENABLE SIGNIFICANT STOCKPILE REDUCTIONS

In his 2009 Prague speech and the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review, President Barack Obama committed the United States to take concrete steps toward nuclear disarmament while maintaining a safe, secure, and effective nuclear deterrent. There is an inherent tension between these two goals that is best addressed through improved integration of nuclear weapons objectives with nuclear arms control objectives. This article reviews historical examples of the interaction between the two sets of objectives, develops a framework for analyzing opportunities for future integration, and suggests specific ideas that could benefit the nuclear weapons enterprise as it undergoes transformation and that could make the future enterprise compatible with a variety of arms control futures.     

Limiting cyberwarfare: applying arms-control models to an emerging technology

ABSTRACT

An arms race in cyberspace is underway. US and Western government efforts to control this process have largely been limited to deterrence and norm development. This article examines an alternative policy option: arms control. To gauge whether arms-control models offer useful lessons for addressing cyber capabilities, this article compiles a new dataset of predominantly twentieth-century arms-control agreements. It also evaluates two case studies of negotiated agreements that regulate dual-use technologies, the 1928 Geneva Protocol prohibiting chemical- and biological-weapon use and the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation. The analysis underscores the limits of norm development for emerging technologies with both civilian and military applications. It finds lessons for developing verifiable, international cooperation mechanisms for cyberwarfare in the regulatory model of international aviation. Conventionally, arms-control agreements take advantage of transparent tests or estimates of arms. To restrict cyberwarfare activities, experts and policy makers must adapt arms-control models to a difficult-to-measure technology at an advanced stage of development and use. Further investigation of international regulatory schemes for dual-use technology of similar diffusion and development to the internet, such as international civil aviation, is needed.     

THE EXERCISE OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY

Skeptics of the Bush administration have castigated its strong aversion to formal international agreements in responding to the threat of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), citing unilateral actions as the default alternative. Yet this critique misses the growing emergence of a conscious framework guiding the administration's actions: an emphasis on the exercise of national sovereignty and the corollary principle of sovereign responsibility. Rejecting the paradigm of arms control as the answer to WMD proliferation, the current administration instead advocates a toolkit of alternative mechanisms based on the full exercise by individual nation, states of their domestic authorities and rights under international law, acting in their capacities as responsible citizens of the global community. This paper will examine that philosophical approach and its concrete application through the following policies: (1) the Proliferation Security Initiative; (2) enforcement of national laws and regulations as exemplified by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 and the U.S. proposals for consideration by Biological Weapons Convention signatories; and (3) preemptive warfare to disarm the WMD programs of a threatening state.     

飞机飞行控制律多目标优化设计研究

针对传统飞行控制律参数单目标优化设计不能同时满足多控制指标要求,且与飞行品质要求缺乏相关性,物理意义不明确等缺点,提出了一种基于改进NSGA-II算法的飞行控制律多目标优化设计方法。在该算法中提出了一种分化进化策略,使得进化搜索过程中染色体群可以自适应分化为数量和构成动态调整的子群,避免了多染色体子群对局部最优区域的重复搜索,维持染色体的多样性,有效抑制了早熟收敛现象发生。最后,使用改进的NSGA-II算法对某型飞机横航向控制律设计进行数值仿真,结果显示提出算法有效提高控制律优化调参效率,结果满足期望的飞行品质要求。     

导弹俯仰通道制导控制一体化设计

根据弹目相对运动关系及导弹系统模型,建立了导弹俯仰通道制导控制一体化模型。利用反馈线性化方法将该模型转化成为可控线性系统,基于自适应反演控制方法设计了控制器对转换后的系统进行控制。仿真结果表明,制导控制一体化设计能够有效减小导弹脱靶量,缩短导弹系统响应时间。     

机载相控阵雷达搜索模式辐射能量控制方法

机载相控阵雷达过高的辐射能量威胁了战斗机的生存能力。为了减少相控阵雷达搜索模式辐射能量,提出了基于辐射能量控制的搜索模型。将总能量消耗函数和检测概率相对误差作为目标函数,以平均功率、波束宽度、积累脉冲数以及脉冲重复间隔作为优化变量,选取非支配遗传排序算法对此模型进行优化。仿真结果表明,在同样检测概率情况下,提出的搜索方法可以有效控制雷达辐射能量,具有更好的射频隐身性能。