William and John Pickering and the garniture made for the Prince of Brunswick under their supervision at the Royal ‘Almain’ Armoury at Greenwich, 1610 to 1612

Abstract

The princely garniture ‘commanded’ to be made by Prince Henry Frederick for his cousin, Prince Friedrich Ulrich, later Duke of Brunswick, from the Royal ‘Almain’ Armoury at Greenwich, during the stewardship of the Master Armourer, William Pickering, his son, John, and the men of the Greenwich workshop, is described, illustrated and discussed. Accounts are presented of the lives and work of the Pickerings and the evidence is reviewed for the manufacture of this last decorated garniture of the Greenwich School.     

Military Power: A Reply

This article argues that the prewar planning process for postwar Iraq was plagued by myriad problems, including a dysfunctional interagency process, overly optimistic assumptions, and a lack of contingency planning for alternative outcomes. These problems were compounded by a lack of civilian capacity during the occupation period, which led to a complicated and often uncoordinated relationship with the military authorities who found themselves taking the lead in many reconstruction activities. Taken together, these mistakes meant that US success on the battlefield was merely a prelude to a postwar insurgency whose outcome remains very much in doubt more than three years later.     

Inequality‐based reliability estimates for complex systems

Full‐system testing for large‐scale systems is often infeasible or very costly. Thus, when estimating system reliability, it is desirable to use a method that uses subsystem tests, which are often less expensive and more feasible. This article presents a method for bounding full‐system reliabilities based on subsystem tests and, if available, full‐system tests. The method does not require that subsystems be independent. It accounts for dependencies through the use of certain probability inequalities. The inequalities provide the basis for valid reliability calculations while not requiring independent subsystems or full‐system tests. The inequalities allow for test information on pairwise subsystem failure modes to be incorporated, thereby improving the bound on system reliability. We illustrate some of the properties of the estimates via an example application. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2013     

Notes on contributors

In 1897 and 1898, Winston Churchill participated in what late Victorian Britain termed ‘small wars’, first on India's northwest frontier and then in the vast wasteland of the Sudan. Churchill chronicled his experiences in these conflicts in personal letters, dispatches to newspapers, and in his first two books, The Story of the Malakand Field Force and The River War. These writings provide a snapshot of a particular period in the formative years of the great statesman, demonstrating through Churchill's eloquent analyses many of the contradictions concerning the conduct of small wars that have emerged in the present era.     

PXI计算机在一体化多模式发控系统中的应用

针对一体化火控系统的特殊性,提出了基于PXI计算机的发控技术,介绍了PXI总线计算机在一体化火控系统中的设计理念及其在一体化火控系统中的功能实现.应用表明,PXI计算机在火控系统测控领域具有广阔的应用前景.     

装备保障资源确定技术研究与需求分析系统开发

维修资源是实施装备维修工作的物质基础和重要保证,无论是平时训练还是战时抢修,维修资源都占据着十分重要的地位,不仅影响着装备的寿命周期费用(Life Cycle Costs,LCC),还直接影响着装备的战备完好率以及部队战斗力的保持和恢复.应用更加科学高效的方法确定保障资源,是维修决策面临的重要问题之一.据此,着眼于部队装备维修保障现状需求,将维修任务分配与保障资源需求紧密结合,提出了保障资源确定分析流程,并对分析过程中的关键技术进行了相应的研究,建立了典型的维修决策模型,优化了保障资源配置.最后开发了计算机辅助决策分析系统,为维修资源的优化配置起到了很好的辅助决策作用.     

鱼雷外形参数化建模平台研究

鱼雷外形建模是鱼雷设计过程中非常重要的一项工作环节.传统的鱼雷外形建模方法仅仅是利用了CAD绘图软件进行手动建模,但是在鱼雷外形初步设计过程阶段,往往需要对设计参数进行多次调整,这就造成了参数一旦调整就要重新建模,既降低了效率,也浪费了大量的人力和时间.采用了基于Java环境开发的参数输入界面,同时与UG/OPEN二次开发技术相结合,完成鱼雷外形参数化建模平台的搭建,开发出了较为简单方便的鱼雷外形参数化建模的方法,大大提高了鱼雷外形建模的效率.     

基于压缩估计的单星观测定轨方法研究

分析了单星观测模式下的天基测控系统的可行性,并针对该观测模式下轨道确定中法矩阵的特点,提出了一种基于压缩估计的定轨方法,该方法对法矩阵进行变换,避免了法矩阵奇异造成的误差传递。证明了当满足一定条件时,该压缩方法的估计精度要高于传统的定轨方法。并结合单星观测的特殊性,提出了误差传递因子,设计了单星观测下的压缩估计定轨算法。最后以单星模式下的天基测控系统作为仿真背景进行了仿真试验。结果表明,该压缩估计可有效提高单星观测模式下的轨道确定精度。     

高校课堂问题行为产生原因及解决措施

高校课堂问题行为在高校课堂教学中比较普遍,课堂问题行为具有一定的特征和不同的表现形式,分析了课堂问题行为产生的原因,并从营造良好的课堂行为、控制课堂问题行为、建立良好的师生关系等方面提出了应对课堂问题行为的有效措施.     

Insights from a Database of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen Militants

This article uses a novel database of 1,625 posthumously published biographies of members of two Islamist militant organizations (Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM)), all of whom were killed in the course of carrying out militant attacks. In general, each biography provides data on the militant’s birthplace, education, recruitment, and training. The number of observations in this database is a full order of magnitude larger than those of previous databases assembled from militant biographies. While the sample of militants in this database is the product of multiple selection effects, analysis of the database undermines many common myths about Pakistani militants and casts doubt on current policy approaches to mitigating Islamist militancy in Pakistan.