Deterrence under nuclear asymmetry: THAAD and the prospects for missile defense on the Korean peninsula

The 2016 decision to deploy Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) to South Korea has generated multitude of intensely politicized issues and has proved highly controversial. This has made it challenging to alleviate, let alone clarify, points of analytical and policy tensions. We instead disaggregate and revisit two fundamental questions. One is whether THAAD could really defend South Korea from North Korean missiles. We challenge the conventional “qualified optimism” by giving analytical primacy to three countermeasures available to defeat THAAD–use of decoys, tumbling and spiral motion, and outnumbering. These countermeasures are relatively inexpensive to create but exceedingly difficult to offset. Second, we assess the optimal way to ensure South Korean national security against North Korean missiles. By examining the balance of capability and issues of credibility/commitment, we show that the U.S. extended deterrence by punishment remains plentiful and sufficiently credible even without enhancing the current defense capability.     

Xunzi on the Role of the Military in a Well-Ordered State

Chapter 15 of the Xunzi stands as the most comprehensive account of the early Confucian analysis of warfare. Unlike a range of other early, non-Confucian discussions on warfare, particular strategies and tactics are taken to be of secondary importance. Thus, Xunzi refuses to discuss practical military strategy without framing it within a much broader ethical, social, and political context. On his account, a well-ordered, flourishing state necessarily rests upon a particular set of rituals and social norms in which people can cultivate themselves morally. Such a state has nothing to fear from any enemy, no matter how tactically sophisticated or militarily skilled. To many, such a view seems overly optimistic. However, given that Xunzi is anything but Pollyannaish in other parts of the text and is quite pessimistic about human nature in general, it behooves us to dig a bit more deeply into his ideas about military affairs and examine whether they can be understood in a more plausible light. This article provides a reading of Xunzi’s views on military affairs that is internally consistent and corresponds with Xunzi’s broader ethical and political views, while also showing why someone of Xunzi’s obvious intellectual acumen might hold such a view.     

零压式高空气球球形设计与参数敏感性分析

高空气球能够为临近空间科学实验提供可靠的平台,其形状直接关系到气球制作及飞行的全过程。提出将多段打靶法与序列二次规划法结合,对零压气球完全膨胀和部分膨胀状态下的球形进行求解,并运用有限元方法对球形进行稳定性及应力应变分析,验证了所推导球形的正确性。在此基础上,对影响气球形状的关键参数进行灵敏度分析及相关运用,从定量的角度得到气球载荷、飞行高度及昼夜温差对气球形状的影响规律。     

高精度CFD程序的内外子区域划分异构并行算法

对计算流体力学(Computational Fluid Dynamics, CFD)程序CNS提出一种Offload模式下对任务内外子区域划分的异构并行算法,结合结构化网格下有限差分计算和四阶龙格-库塔方法的特点,引入ghost网格点区域,设计了一种ghost区域收缩计算策略,显著降低了异构计算资源之间的数据传输开销,负载均衡时CPU端的计算与MPI通信完全和加速器端的计算重叠,提高了异构协同并行性。推导了保证计算正确性的ghost区域的参数,分析了负载均衡的条件。在"CPU(Intel Haswell Xeon E5-2670 12 cores×2)+加速器(Xeon Phi 7120A×2)"的服务器上测得该算法较直接将任务子块整体迁至加速器端计算的异构算法性能平均提升至5.9倍,较MPI/OpenMP两级并行算法使用24个纯CPU核的性能,该算法使用单加速器时加速至1.27倍,使用双加速器加速至1.45倍。讨论和分析了性能瓶颈与存在的问题。     

等离子体与高功率微波相互作用中电子分布特性

电子数密度是表征等离子体物理特性的一项重要因素,在等离子体与高功率微波的相互作用中,等离子体对入射电磁波的吸收、衰减和屏蔽等电磁特性可通过电子数密度的变化进行表征。基于等离子体流体近似研究方法,利用COMSOL软件求解等离子体中的波动方程、电子传递方程和重粒子传递方程,计算分析了等离子体与高功率微波相互作用中的电子分布特性,重点分析了相互作用中平均电子数密度和平均电子能的数值和空间分布变化过程。研究表明,在高功率微波作用下,等离子体区域电子数密度在数值上会产生剧烈的阶跃变化,形成雪崩效应,在空间分布上电子数密度峰值产生趋于入射方向移动的变化;电子能的变化与入射波激励和电子数密度相关,随入射激励增加呈增长趋势,随电子数密度的增加而减小。     

网格质量反馈的弹性体动网格改进

高鲁棒性的动网格变形方法是求解包含运动边界的非定常流场问题的关键技术。基于经典的弹性体动网格方法,引入两种设计合理、评价效果较好的网格质量参数——Patrick参数和Baker参数,提出了一种基于网格质量反馈的改进弹性体动网格方法。结合二维NACA0012翼型、三维ONERA M6机翼大角度俯仰运动,对比研究改进方法与经典方法的变形能力,改进方法能够保持较好的网格质量,尤其在最大变形时,可以有效改善较差网格单元,具有更高的鲁棒性。计算了NACA0012翼型、ONERA M6机翼的俯仰振荡绕流,并与实验结果及文献进行对比,结果表明,基于网格质量反馈的改进弹性体法能够显著提高变形网格的鲁棒性,可为非定常流场问题的求解提供有力支撑。     

From Westphalian Failure to Heterarchic Governance in MENA: The Case of Syria

Abstract

The problematic export of the Westphalian system to MENA is examined, taking Syria as exemplar. The export model is juxtaposed to actual non-lineal trajectories, semi-sovereignty and hybrid or failing states. This is manifested in post-uprising Syria in failing statehood, fragmented and overlapping governance, permeable and collapsing borders, the loss of sovereignty to trans-state movements, “competitive regime-building” between the Asad regime and jihadist warlords, and “competitive interventionism” by external powers filling the governance vacuum with their own proxies. The result is heterarchic zones of limited statehood in which state sovereignty is contested by both international (supra-state) penetration and sub-state fragmentation.     

基于网格质量反馈的弹性体动网格改进研究

高鲁棒性的动网格变形方法是求解包含运动边界的非定常流场问题的关键技术。基于经典的弹性体动网格方法,引入两种设计合理、评价效果较好的网格质量参数——Patrick网格质量参数和Baker网格质量参数,从网格质量反馈优化的角度对经典方法作出改进,提出了一种基于网格质量反馈的改进弹性体动网格方法。结合NACA0012翼型的大角度俯仰运动,对比研究改进方法与经典方法的变形能力,整个过程中改进方法均保持更好的平均/最小网格质量,尤其在大俯仰角90deg时,经典方法的平均、最小网格质量降幅均是改进方法的4倍之多,且机翼尾缘处的网格扭曲严重,而改进方法仍与初始网格保持了较好的一致性,具有更高的鲁棒性。作为例证,分别计算了二维NACA0012翼型、三维ONERA M6机翼的俯仰振荡绕流,并与实验结果及流场规律进行对比,结果表明：基于网格质量反馈的改进弹性体法能够显著提高变形网格的鲁棒性,在大幅度的变形下保持较高的网格质量,对多维流场的求解均可取得精确结果,可为非定常流场问题的求解提供有力支撑。     

适合可变剪接研究的转录组序列分析策略

规模化基因表达实验所产生的大量与生物组织特定时空状态相关的cDNA和表达序列标签(EST)等信息可用于新基因的发现、基因表达模式分析和基因组的注释,从而可为转录组研究提供实验设计和结果分析的参考标准。真核基因可变剪接的普遍性及其在机体生理与病理过程中的重要作用,使得可变剪接的系统分析已成为功能基因组研究中的热点之一。在面临海量表达数据的指数增长和不断有新的基因组获得测序的情况下,实现转录组序列分析的规模化、自动化计算迫在眉睫。讨论不同转录组分析系统中的数据分析算法及其计算需求,并提出适用于大规模可变剪接分析的策略。     

镁基水反应金属燃料及水冲压发动机初步试验

通过热力学计算预估水冲压发动机的性能,确定了燃料配方,并研制出试验用镁基水反应金属燃料。成功进行了水冲压发动机原理样机热试车,对水冲压发动机及其燃料的性能进行了初步研究。