Elements of ‘armed non-state actors’ power: The case of al-Qaeda in Yemen

Over the past few years there is an apparent re-regionalization of al-Qaeda activity, intensified by the ongoing Middle East turmoil. Its main characteristic is a trend towards the abandonment of focoist strategies and their replacement by more popular-based ones. This article aims at evaluating their capacity to implement such a strategy shift and sustain the required level of violence. As a means of evaluating this capacity, this article proposes the use of a DIME (diplomatic, informational, military, and economic) framework, which will hopefully provide an alternative angle of theorizing and understanding ‘armed non-state actors’ (ANSAs). The model is applied in the case of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which appears to have effectively developed the military and informational dimensions, due partly to its own prowess and partly to the Yemeni state's weaknesses and the shortcomings of counterinsurgency. In contrast, the economic and diplomatic dimensions suffer from the lack of resources and the anti-systemic nature of AQAP.     

ANALYSING QUITS AND SEPARATIONS FROM THE ROYAL NAVY

Manning difficulties and retention of skilled personnel is a timely issue in the British armed forces, and especially in the all‐volunteer Royal Navy. Allied with difficulties of matching personnel numbers and posts, significant skill mismatches can take a long time to eradicate, with obvious financial and operational penalties. In the light of these factors, a holistic understanding of the exit behaviour of naval personnel is vital for naval manpower planners. This paper analyses ratings’ voluntary (quits) and involuntary (separation) exit patterns from the Royal Navy using an independent competing risks hazard regression analysis framework. The results show that both voluntary and involuntary exits are pro cyclical with respect to macroeconomic and labour market conditions for both male and female ratings. Male ratings are more likely to quit or separate due to a lack of promotion to higher ranks as compared with females. Male ratings are also more likely to quit as a result of a hectic operational tempo when compared with their female counterparts. Frequency of sea/shore deployments also seems to exert a significant effect with respect to quits and separation outcomes of both genders. In terms of marital status married males are less likely to quit compared with their unmarried male counterparts, whereas the opposite is the case for female ratings.     

The graph association problem: Mathematical models and a lagrangian heuristic

Graph association is the problem of merging many graphs that collectively describe a set of possibly repetitive entities and relationships into a single graph that contains unique entities and relationships. As a form of data association, graph association can be used to identify when two sensors are observing the same object so information from both sensors can be combined and analyzed in a meaningful and consistent way. Graph association between two graphs is related to the problem of graph matching, and between multiple graphs it is related to the common labeling of a graph set (also known as multiple graph matching) problem. This article contribution is to formulate graph association as a binary linear program and introduce a heuristic for solving multiple graph association using a Lagrangian relaxation approach to address issues with between‐graph transitivity requirements. The algorithms are tested on a representative dataset. The developed model formulation was found to accurately solve the graph association problem. Furthermore, the Lagrangian heuristic was found to solve the developed model within 3% of optimal on many problem instances, and found better solutions to large problems than is possible by directly using CPLEX. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2013     

The Israel Defense Forces as an epistemic authority: An intellectual challenge in the reality of the Israeli – Palestinian conflict

The changes in the nature of warfare and its transformation toward Low Intensity Conflict (LIC) intrastate conflict have challenged the patterns of interaction between the political and the military echelons in Israel. It seems that the political echelon's superiority is maintained at the institutional and formal levels, but on the substantive level, which demands relying on knowledge and systematic staff work, the political echelon's position is weakened and loses its validity.

Introducing the military echelon in Israel as an epistemic authority regarding the violent confrontation and the main outlines of the military knowledge development process might clarify why the absence of the required dialogue between the echelons and the weakness of the intellectual effort increased the military's influence over the shaping of Israeli conflict-management strategy. The argument's validity and its explanatory power can be found relevant for other countries whose militaries are deeply involved in the management of LIC.     

面向服务的海战场指挥信息系统体系结构框架

一体化联合作战和基于信息系统的体系作战对海战场指挥信息系统提出了更高的要求.从面向服务的海战场指挥信息系统构建需求出发,在军事信息服务定义的基础上,利用SOA和P2P设计了海战场指挥信息系统体系结构的物理框架和功能框架,给出了各框架的组成和结构,并与已有框架作了对比分析,结果表明所提的框架更加全面、可靠和灵活,为开展面向服务的指挥信息系统研究打下了坚实的基础.     

基于粗糙集理论的武器系统效能评定

简述了各种武器效能评定方法。建立武器参数效能模型,首先要挑选特征参数,这里采用知识约简方法选择武器的特征参数。利用神经网络理论建立了参数效能模型,武器系统的效能与武器特征参数的关系可通过神经网络的阈值和权值得到体现。通过实例对神经网络法与指数法所得的结果进行了比较,结果表明神经网络法比指数法精确。     

建筑防火性能化设计方法的基本框架与特征

总结建筑防火技术措施和防火设计发展趋势,给出“性能化”设计方法的基本框架,论述“处方式”和“性能化”设计方法的基本特征。     

战略联盟中知识转移影响因素概念模型构建：网络角度的思考

根据知识转移的一般过程,从社会网络视角出发,不同于以往研究中二元维度的分析,从网络结点能力、网络关系和认知、网络结构三个维度提出了影响战略联盟网络组织中知识转移绩效的关键影响因素,并深入分析各个关键因素的细分变量对知识转移绩效的影响作用机理,最后提出战略联盟网络知识转移影响因素的相关假设和概念模型,为下一步对假设的验证做铺垫。     

基于数据耕耘的探索性仿真实验框架研究

基于数据耕耘思想,设计了探索性仿真实验框架,并对框架中每个部分进行了简要探讨。基于数据耕耘的探索性仿真实验框架由乒乓式对抗推演预实验、单个仿真想定生成环、仿真想定空间运行环和仿真结果分析环四部分组成,通过将人的经验、智慧与计算机仿真手段相结合,在多次循环的过程中逐渐形成所需的军事决策建议或寻找感兴趣的战争规律。通过构建探索性仿真实验框架,能够将各种定量、定性分析方法整合起来,围绕实验目标实施探索性仿真实验。     

OODA-L模式下的智能无人集群作战仿真建模框架

介绍了智能无人集群作战的相关概念,为反映智能无人仿真实体的自主能力和适应能力,提出将学习过程显性化的观察-判断-决策-行动-学习(Observe, Orient, Decide, Act and Learning, OODA-L)模式,并进一步扩展为适用于集群协同的Co-OODA-L模式。在智能无人仿真实体的总体描述上,采用马尔可夫决策过程进行数学抽象处理,提出智能无人Agent的三域分层结构。为体现智能无人集群作战的自主协同、分布式等特点,提出了利用人工神经网络将可变数量的智能无人Agent融合为同构或异构集群进行协同作战建模的体系结构。