Single machine sequencing with linear models of release dates

The paper deals with a problem of scheduling a set of jobs on a single machine. Before a job is released for processing, it must undergo some preprocessing treatment that consumes resources. It is assumed that the release date of a job is a linear decreasing continuous function of the amount of a locally and globally constrained, continuously divisible resource (e.g., energy, catalyzer, financial outlay, gas). The problem is to find a sequence of jobs and a resource allocation that will minimize the maximum job completion time. Such a problem appears, for example, in the ingot preheating and hot-rolling process in steel mills. It is shown that the problem is strongly NP-hard. Some polynomially solvable cases of the problem and approximate algorithms with both experimental and worst-case analysis are presented. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 45: 99–113, 1998     

Attrition models of the Ardennes campaign

This paper revisits the modeling by Bracken [3] of the Ardennes campaign of World War II using the Lanchester equations. It revises and extends that analysis in a number of ways: (1) It more accurately fits the model parameters using linear regression; (2) it considers the data from the entire campaign; and (3) it adds in air sortie data. In contrast to previous results, it concludes by showing that neither the Lanchester linear or Lanchester square laws fit the data. A new form of the Lanchester equations emerges with a physical interpretation. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 45: 1–22, 1998     

A cover based competitive facility location model with continuous demand

In this paper we propose and solve a competitive facility location model when demand is continuously distributed in an area and each facility attracts customers within a given distance. This distance is a measure of the facility's attractiveness level which may be different for different facilities. The market share captured by each facility is calculated by two numerical integration methods. These approaches can be used for evaluating functional values in other operations research models as well. The single facility location problem is optimally solved by the big triangle small triangle global optimization algorithm and the multiple facility problem is heuristically solved by the Nelder‐Mead algorithm. Extensive computational experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the solution approaches.     

针对不同视场辅助信标的无人机目标定位方法

针对无人机在单站测角测距的目标定位过程中受无人机姿态角误差影响较大的问题,提出一种对辅助信标进行探测并与惯性传感器相结合的无人机姿态求解方法。建立基于容积卡尔曼滤波的惯性传感器姿态求解模型,采用梯度下降法对基于辅助信标的无人机位姿参数进行求解,并综合它们的结果对无人机的姿态偏差进行估计和校正,最后完成了不同视场条件下的目标定位和仿真计算。结果表明,所提方法对无人机目标定位精度有明显提高。     

Killing Your Own: Confronting Desertion and Cowardice in the British Army During the Two World Wars

Military units can become to some extent self-governing in war-time battle. At times, they may take the discipline of their soldiers into their own hands and such discipline may be severe. This paper examines incidents in the British military, in both World Wars, where British soldiers were killed by their comrades because they would not fight in the heat of battle. The judicial execution by the military authorities of deserters in the First World War led to much controversy in Britain. It may be much less well-known that in both World Wars there was, on occasion, an extra-judicial practice within the British military of executing soldiers who would not fight in the heat of battle. In such situations ethical dilemmas become very difficult indeed and some of the relevant issues are examined here.     

Understanding China’s goals and strategy in the South China Sea: bringing context to a revisionist systemic challenge – intentions and impact

ABSTRACT

The slow moving conflict in the South China Sea has been characterized by some as “not worth the candle.” China claims the entirety of the South China Sea pursuant to a nine-dash line, the legal impact of which has been limited by international courts. At the same time, China has changed the reality of control over the South China Sea by building a number of fortified islands in the Spratly Islands and elsewhere. The US has either refused to stand up to China's behavior (Obama) or responded unevenly (Trump). This paper examines the impact of China's behaviour on local parties, US interests, and the liberal international system.     

Local ownership as international governmentality: Evidence from the EU mission in the Horn of Africa

ABSTRACT

While some Foucault-inspired studies construe local ownership in international interventions as a form of liberal governmentality that aims to govern through freedom, others lambast it as an illiberal governmentality that is likely to be resisted because it undermines local autonomy. However, we still do not know what is the rationality behind local ownership, how it is being operationalized, and why a principle that aims to govern through freedom ends up curtailing it. I argue that local ownership, echoing the colonial principle of indirect rule, is driven by the rationality of advanced democracies on how best to govern global insecurities at a distance. Consequently, ownership is operationalized as responsibilization for externally designed objectives. This often gives rise to local resistance which undermines international efforts to achieve ownership. I illustrate my arguments with evidence from the EU Mission on Regional Maritime Capacity Building in the Horn of Africa (EUCAP Nestor).     

Resilience in peacebuilding: Contesting uncertainty,ambiguity, and complexity

With the failure of liberal peace strategies in the Global South, resilience has recently become the risk management strategy par excellence in peacebuilding. Since it is not possible to predict when the next crisis will take place, peacebuilders must invest in bottom-up adaptive capacities to cope with external shocks. This article moves away from governmentality accounts of resilience which are overtly deterministic and depoliticizing. Instead, it posits that the uncertainty, ambiguity, and complexity associated with resilience mean that we should expect opportunities for contestation and institutional agency. This argument will be illustrated by drawing upon the European Union’s adoption of the resilience approach in its peacebuilding and security policies. The article argues that while uncertainty, ambiguity, and complexity constitute the ontological conditions that underpin the rise of resilience in peacebuilding, they are also likely to lead to its potential demise.     

基于平衡计分卡的武器装备维修绩效评价指标体系构建

武器装备维修是武器装备维修保障的重要内容,加强装备维修绩效评价,建立科学规范的绩效评价指标体系,对深入推进装备维修工作健康发展将发挥积极作用。以平衡计分卡为研究手段,运用"5M1E"分析法,从一个内核和四个维度出发,分析武器装备维修绩效评价的影响因素,据此建立评价指标体系,并应用于装备维修管理实践,为有效提高装备维修保障效益提供有益借鉴。     

考虑扰动引力影响的弹道助推段误差传播解析计算方法

针对地球扰动引力对弹道导弹惯性导航精度影响日益突出这一问题,研究了沿弹道扰动引力的多项式拟合方法,并基于线性系统理论和弹道摄动思想推导了用于求解扰动引力对弹道助推段状态影响的完整解析表达式。同时考虑扰动引力影响与导弹视加速度之间的耦合特性,将扰动引力引起的视加速度偏差视为扰动引力影响的附加补偿项,并进行迭代修正。仿真结果表明:扰动引力拟合残差小于3×10~(-7)m/s~2,考虑耦合项修正的弹道误差传播解析模型计算残差减小为原有方法的1/3,计算时间仅为直接采用弹道积分求差法的1/10。