The long and winding road … to success? Unit peace operation effectiveness and its effect on mission success

Why does peacekeeping sometimes fail? How can effective peacekeepers increase the likelihood of success of a mission? The two main flaws in the current evaluations of peace operations are that they mainly rely on already concluded missions and that they make use of indicators that do not reveal micro-level dynamics. This article introduces an analytical framework relating the effectiveness of soldiers to their actual impact in their area of operation in a peace operation. The framework is called “unit peace operation effectiveness” (UPOE). Focusing on soldiers in peace operations, this article shows that: different units behave differently; emphasize different aspects of the mandate; and are effective in different ways. Ultimately, this has an actual impact on the end-state of the mission. It relies on and adapts classic security studies works to theoretically enrich the peacekeeping literature. The model is tested in an illustrative case study based on ethnographic work on French and Italian units in Afghanistan between 2008 and 2010.     

When Peacekeepers Fail Thousands are Going to Die. The ETO in Rwanda: a Story of Deception

This study develops the concepts of fourth generation operations and the associated principles. First, the concept of fourth generation operations is introduced and defined. Fourth generation operations are the evolution and extension of third and fourth generation warfare based on a change of tactics, technology, and combatants. These operations are currently ongoing in Afghanistan and Iraq, and with the global war on terrorism. Based on the framework of US joint doctrine, the supporting principles of fourth generation operations are developed. This requires the introduction of the principle of Population Perception.     

Colonial violence and its ‘Small Wars’: fighting the Kuki ‘guerillas’ during the Great War in Northeast India, 1917–1919

ABSTRACT

This paper concerns the lesser known British counterinsurgency (COIN) operations in Northeast frontier of India during the First World War. Officially known as the ‘Kuki Operations’, it was considered as part of the Great War. Carried out in isolation from press and public, and shelved in colonial archives, the event remained invisible until today. Yet, it registers a critical case of colonial COIN doctrine where the ‘moral effect’ doctrine was employed without being questioned. It unleashed enormous amount of organized violence, ranging from shoot at sight to indiscriminate burning of villages, wholesale destruction of property and livestock, prevention of cultivation and rebuilding of villages, forced mass displacement in jungles or in ‘concentration camps’, and collective punishment (communal penal labour and payment of compensation) after the war. This paper argues that the theory of ‘minimum force’ and the practicability of the ‘moral effect’ doctrine as applied by the Empire, sit oddly with each other at the frontier, where violence was seen both as a natural and moral orders. Violence as an ‘imperatively necessary’ method to bring order in a disorderly frontier, in the opinion of colonial state, informs and registers Northeast India as geography of violence.     

众包标签的双重置信度推断算法

标记者的知识水平、评价标准等均具有显著差异,导致收集到的标签质量参差不齐,提高标签和学习模型的质量对众包标签中学习起着关键作用。针对众包标签推断问题,提出了一种双重置信度推断算法,分别从数据分布特征及标签信息两方面计算得到标记者置信度,再通过此置信度推断数据集的集成标签,以此提高集成标签的质量。实验结果表明,与其他仅使用标签信息的推断算法相比,所提算法可以得到更优结果。     

含脉冲负载的综合电力系统储能优化配置研究

考虑到舰船环境限制和高能脉冲负载对储能的需求,有必要对储能装置进行合理的选型和优化配置,来提升综合电力系统性能。为此,基于带权极小模理想点法和层次分析法,提出了一种储能装置性能评价函数,并以其为优化目标,进行储能装置优化配置。所提出的评价函数充分考虑系统需求和脉冲负载特性,以储能装置体积、质量和经济性作为评价函数主要组成部分,同时考虑功率、能量、电压、荷电状态等约束,建立优化配置模型,并采用差分进化算法进行求解。以高性能锂电池和超级电容器为例,对所提模型进行求解计算,结果表明在所给权重系数下锂电池性能更优,更适用于综合电力系统,并给出了优化配置后的指导方案。     

装备保障综合演练风险分析

采用工作结构分解(Work Breakdown Structure,WBS)和风险结构分解法(Risk Breakdown Structure,RBS)对装备保障综合演练全过程的风险及其风险因素进行了系统分析,得出了装备保障综合演练过程中存在的7类风险、24种风险因素;运用网络层次分析法(Analytic Network Process,ANP)对各种风险及其风险因素进行了评估,得出了其对装备保障综合演练风险影响的权重及排序。研究结果可为装备保障综合演练顺利开展,确保人员、装备安全提供参考。     

基于复杂网络的联合作战指挥网络拓扑结构

以复杂网络理论为基础,对联合作战指挥网络进行拓扑抽象,将指挥机构视为网络的节点,将指挥关系视为网络的边,构建了传统树状指挥网络模型、增加同级边互联的改进型指挥网络模型和不同层级边互联的交叉互联型指挥网络模型。并分析了三种网络的网络特性,以网络化效能系数（ CNE）作为度量指标,对三种网络抗毁性进行了比对分析,指出了未来联合作战指挥网络体系需要具备的特征,对探索信息化条件下高效的联合作战指挥进行了有益的探索。     

基于MDO方法的卫星集成设计系统分析与实现

为解决多学科设计优化方法中多学科设计、多学科分析、多学科优化过程与卫星总体设计流程集成的问题,采用变复杂度建模技术,并借鉴产品数据管理思想,设计并实现了面向总体设计的卫星集成设计软件系统。阐述了软件的设计思想、系统组成和功能特点,并给出了月球探测卫星概念设计问题的具体应用实例,结果表明软件在解决多学科设计优化方法应用于卫星集成设计问题时的可行性。     

导弹结构热防护一体化设计与优化

针对导弹面临的严酷气动热力环境,基于传统波纹夹芯结构,为导弹设计了一种兼具承载和热防护功能的一体化结构。建立热-结构耦合计算模型,对一体化结构进行结构承载与热防护性能分析,结果表明:一体化结构在高温下具有较好的承载能力;增加一体化结构隔热层与内壁厚度有助于提高导弹的热防护效率。以一体化结构热防护效率最高和质量最小为目标,采用第二代非支配排序遗传算法实现了多目标优化,并认识到:一体化结构热防护效率与质量相互影响,设计时需要需综合考虑。     

美军作战试验与鉴定发展研究

当前,军队装备试验鉴定正由性能试验向作战试验、在役考核全领域拓展。在装备试验鉴定体系全面重塑的历史背景下,为适应军队装备试验鉴定发展新变化,探索装备试验鉴定新理论,推进装备试验鉴定自主创新发展,亟需开展装备试验鉴定技术研究。美军相对较早开展了装备试验与鉴定工作,在作战试验与鉴定工作方面已形成了较完善的法规制度体系和规范的操作流程,有较成熟的理论与方法成果可供借鉴。与此同时,美军作战试验与鉴定工作也面临许多新问题。本文剖析了美军作战试验与鉴定的内涵和管理模式,研究了2018和2019年美军作战试验与鉴定的重点技术领域,并进行了对比分析,以期掌握近期美军作战试验与鉴定工作的发展变化。