BANNING BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS

The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) underpins the international regime to control biological weapons. The strength of the treaty however relies on national implementation. The first step for many states party to the Convention is drafting appropriate national laws and regulations. So far, 32 countries in Africa are signatory to the BTWC. More recently, in 2004, the United Nations Security Council adopted resolution 1540, which requires all UN Member States to put in place legislation to prevent the illicit trafficking of material that could be used to develop weapons of mass destruction. The need for such wide-ranging legislation is recognised African countries but its creation and implementation pose specific challenges.     

CREATING SUNS ON EARTH

Concerns about climate change and energy security have prompted some countries to revive dormant nuclear fission power programs to meet growing energy demands and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. However, this so-called nuclear renaissance based on fission would have major drawbacks in the areas of safety, security, and nonproliferation. Nuclear fusion, however, is portrayed by its proponents as mitigating these drawbacks, and scientists continue to pursue fusion's promise with two large-scale projects: the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), and the Laser Inertial Fusion Engine (LIFE) reactor. Although supporters often hail fusion as proliferation resistant, the technology could be used to create weapons-usable fissile material. This article explains how fissile material could be created in ITER or LIFE and analyzes other nonproliferation implications of fusion; the authors discuss the various challenges faced by ITER and LIFE.     

Beyond Iran: Containing Nuclear Development in the Middle East

ABSTRACT

Several states in the Middle East have noted their interest in nuclear energy programs, but current cost and timeline estimates understate the difficulties that these states will face. A state-level analysis of nuclear development capacities in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates suggests that building nuclear infrastructure in the region will, in fact, be a lengthy and expensive endeavor, due to concerns such as export constraints, public opposition, a lack of human resources, and high overhead costs. This has implications for nuclear weapon nonproliferation: first, fears that these developing nuclear energy capabilities may facilitate possible weapon proliferation are premature, and second, there is time to ensure that any burgeoning nuclear infrastructure in the region remains safe and civilian in nature.     

Comprehensive approaches,diverse coherences: the different levels of policy coherence in the Dutch 3D approach in Afghanistan

Since 2000, international organisations such as the UN, NATO and the EU, but also countries, have started to apply what has been called the comprehensive approach to crisis management. This article unpacks this comprehensive approach implemented by the Dutch in Uruzgan province, Afghanistan. It first borrows and expands a conceptual framework developed by De Coning and Friis. Subsequently, it maps the different sorts of coherence in the mission by applying the framework. It shows how in practice there was not one single comprehensive approach, but many different forms of interaction between a number of organisational units. Each interaction had its own distinct issues and its own level of coherence. The level of coherence differed depending on the level at which the interaction took place – strategic at headquarters level versus operational at field level – and at what point in the mission it happened – in most cases it moved towards more cohesion.     

室温下单电子晶体管3种临界尺寸的确定

为使单电子晶体管达到实际应用的地步,开展室温条件下相关研究成为必然。从正统理论出发,推导、计算出室温条件下单电子晶体管能否正常工作的库仑岛临界尺寸:存储器件为6.5nm,逻辑器件为1.5nm;本文还推导和计算出单电子晶体管室温下发生能量量子化效应的临界尺寸:4.7nm,并对这3种临界尺寸进行了验证和分析。另外,通过比较分析本文还得出了室温条件下,所有逻辑器件均必须考虑能量量子化效应,所有存储器件应尽量考虑能量量子化效应的结论。分析结果表明,库仑岛临界尺寸的确定对单电子晶体管的实际应用具有重要意义。     

海战场电磁态势感知模型

复杂电磁环境对海上作战和频谱管控提出了更高的要求,准确感知战场电磁态势是指挥控制、频谱管控的重要基础,但目前尚没有系统生成海战场电磁态势的方法.在分析传统态势感知模型的基础上,定义了战场电磁态势的相关概念,提出了海战场电磁态势感知的基本模型,深入分析了电磁环境感知、电磁环境构建、电磁态势理解、电磁态势展现等模型中的重要环节,并提出了初步技术解决途径,为进一步分析和评估海战场电磁态势提供了基础.     

基于OWA算子的军队院校物资采购招投标管理研究

针对军队院校物资采购招投标管理问题,文中分析了军队院校物资采购招投标的特点,研究了基于合同的谈判机制;针对评标过程中,其所评指标中存在定量指标和定性指标的特点,提出一种基于OWA算子和语言OWA算子的综合多属性群决策方法,实现了招投标管理中的评标、定标。最后,通过实例说明了该方法的有效性及合理性。     

基于半实物仿真的HLA／RTI关键技术研究

分析了基于HLA/RTI的半实物仿真中实践管理、数据收集能力、RTI通用性以及网络传输安全等问题,研究了新的时间管理策略,提出了合理设置lookahead的算法,设计了数据收集的层次框架,并制定了研发RTI的通用原则和安全有效的网络传输方案,为现代半实物系统仿真提供了理论借鉴。     

GM计数管能量响应的数值模拟研究

采用蒙特卡罗（MC）方法,对一款GM计数管对γ的能量响应进行了模拟计算,计算结果与实验结果比较,能量响应曲线的变化趋势比较一致,说明该模拟计算方法应用在计数管的设计和应用中是可行的．     

On the first come–first served rule in multi‐echelon inventory control

A two‐echelon distribution inventory system with a central warehouse and a number of retailers is considered. The retailers face stochastic demand and replenish from the warehouse, which, in turn, replenishes from an outside supplier. The system is reviewed continuously and demands that cannot be met directly are backordered. Standard holding and backorder costs are considered. In the literature on multi‐echelon inventory control it is standard to assume that backorders at the warehouse are served according to a first come–first served policy (FCFS). This allocation rule simplifies the analysis but is normally not optimal. It is shown that the FCFS rule can, in the worst case, lead to an asymptotically unbounded relative cost increase as the number of retailers approaches infinity. We also provide a new heuristic that will always give a reduction of the expected costs. A numerical study indicates that the average cost reduction when using the heuristic is about two percent. The suggested heuristic is also compared with two existing heuristics. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2007