Praying for Rain? Water Scarcity and the Duration and Outcomes of Civil Wars

Recent anecdotal evidence from the civil wars in Somalia and Yemen suggest that water scarcity may shape the dynamics of civil wars. While a considerable body of research has examined the connection between water scarcity (such as low rainfall) and the onset of civil war, very little research has examined how water scarcity may shape the duration and outcomes of civil wars. Looking specifically at rainfall, this paper argues that changes in access to water play a key role in the duration of civil wars. As rainfall declines, there is a reduction in resources available to both the government and the rebel group, leading to a stalemate in fighting. Furthermore, this paper argues that declines in rainfall are felt more acutely by rebel groups who seek to challenge the government through conventional warfare. This paper tests these propositions using hazard models. The results provide robust support for the propositions.     

陕西文学旅游资源的开发生产与营销策划

陕西具有丰富的文学旅游资源,这些资源具有广阔的开发和利用空间。文章就陕西文学旅游资源开发现状进行分析,针对目前存在的问题提出开发生产和营销策略,即要处理好旅游主体、旅游客体和旅游媒体三者的关系,促进陕西旅游可持续发展。     

THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

The armed conflict in the DRC has been characterised by appalling, widespread and systematic human rights violations. It varies from civil war to a war between national armies. Much of the conflict falls between these two categories due to the involvement of foreign troops in civil strife, as well as foreign rebel groups fighting their home government's troops but on Congolese soil. The most pressing need is to cease hostilities and address the humanitarian situation in the country. Questions of justice and accountability, and issues relating to the rule of law will have to be addressed soon in order to achieve a durable peace in the country and in the region. Since there are links between different conflicts in the region, a broader solution should preferably be found. However, this would further complicate an already difficult proposition. Efforts limited to the DRC would be more feasible and could lead to similar measures in other conflict ridden countries in the region. This essay therefore discusses the available processes for justice.     

基于协同进化的多平台联合对地观测优化调度

在分析了卫星与无人机在执行观测与资源调度上的特性差异基础上,建立了多平台联合对地观测调度问题的数学模型,提出了多平台协同进化调度算法(MPCCPSA)进行求解。MPCCPSA采用分层式协同进化架构解决了不同类型观测方案统一调度生成问题。根据不同类型平台使用特性以及观测目标集合特点,采用分治-合作策略将其分解分配到各平台,顶层的交叉、变异操作保证各种群的多样性,底层的分治、合作算子保证卫星与无人机之间保持观测能力动态互补,在确保可行解的前提下加快收敛速度。仿真实验表明该方法能够有效解决空-天基多类型平台联合观测优化调度问题。     

舰载武器系统信号源中同步控制电机快速归零技术

阐述了同步控制电机的零位定义,提出了一种基于相位判别的同步控制电机快速归零方案、单片机控制电路及算法,在舰载武器系统信号源中的应用表明,利用此方案归零同步控制电机速度快、精度高,效果非常理想.     

精确保障的理论研究与发展

根据未来信息化战争的新特点,探讨了适应信息化战争保障需求、基于信息网络技术、资源重构技术、柔性保障机制和系统理论的精确保障的内涵,研究归纳出当今美军装备保障的特点、提出精确保障的理论研究应该充分借鉴系统理论、网络中心战理论、敏捷制造理论的先进思想,指出了我军精确保障实现的途径以及应该遵循的原则.     

An efficient metaheuristic for integrated scheduling and staffing IT projects based on a generalized minimum cost flow network

Scheduling IT projects and assigning the project work to human resources are an important and common tasks in almost any IT service company. It is particularly complex because human resources usually have multiple skills. Up to now only little work has considered IT‐specific properties of the project structure and human resources. In this article, we present an optimization model that simultaneously schedules the activities of multiple IT projects with serial network structures and assigns the project work to multiskilled internal and external human resources with different efficiencies. The goal is to minimize costs. We introduce a metaheuristic that decomposes the problem into a binary scheduling problem and a continuous staffing problem where the latter is solved efficiently by exploiting its underlying network structure. For comparison, we solve the mixed–binary linear program with a state–of–the–art commercial solver. The impacts of problem parameters on computation time and solution gaps between the metaheuristic and the solver are assessed in an experimental study. Our results show that the metaheuristic provides very favorable results in considerable less time than the solver for midsize problems. For larger problems, it shows a similar performance while the solver fails to return feasible solutions. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 59: 111–127, 2012     

仿真网格原型系统的设计与实现

进行仿真网格原型系统的研究是解决仿真网格关键技术的基础。SGE网格引擎是一个构建本地和集群级网格的工具,通过SGE构建基本的网格平台,根据HLA仿真任务的特点,对分布式仿真网格的原型系统进行了研究和设计。提出了仿真网格的双通道通信机制:一个通道负责仿真网格组件的通信,另一个通道负责HLA仿真任务之间的通信。提出了仿真任务在仿真网格中的三种调度模式:以进程为单位的调度、以联邦成员为单位的调度、以联邦为单位的调度等。通过研究初步实现了仿真网格的原型系统,并对HLA仿真任务的三种调度模式进行了简单的测试。     

Openshop scheduling under linear resources constraints

Consider n jobs (J₁, …, J_n), m working stations (M₁, …, M_m) and λ linear resources (R₁, …, R_λ). Job J_i consists of m operations (O_i1, …, O_im). Operation O_ij requires P_k(i, j) units of resource R_k to be realized in an M_j. The availability of resource R_k and the ability of the working station M_h to consume resource R_k, vary over time. An operation involving more than one resource consumes them in constant proportions equal to those in which they are required. The order in which operations are realized is immaterial. We seek an allocation of the resources such that the schedule length is minimized. In this paper, polynomial algorithms are developed for several problems, while NP-hardness is demonstrated for several others. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 45: 51–66, 1998     

The Environment as a Factor in Small Wars*

This research paper analyzes the relationship between small wars, insurgency, and the natural environment. Existing literature and data are organized into four behavioral patterns: the resource-based wars accounts for the fight over natural resources; the warfare ecology paradigm refers to non-premeditated damage in preparation for as well as during and after conflicts; the environment as a target discusses intended attacks on the ecosystem; and the insurgency–climate intersection pattern denotes a deviation in climate change that increases the frequency of intergroup violence. The main premise is that small wars emerge when the ecosystem becomes a political asset.