Humanitarian response to hurricane disasters: Coordinating flood‐risk mitigation with fundraising and relief operations

To alleviate flooding, caused by hurricanes, governments build structural barriers called levees. In addition, relief providers such as the nongovernmental organizations and charities raise funds, and procure and deliver supplies (food, water, and medicines) for humanitarian relief. The strategy for managing disasters must, therefore, weigh the costs and benefits of building levees as well as procuring and delivering supplies. We use a three‐stage decision making framework to study how the investment in levee capacity can be integrated with supply procurements, fundraising, and rapid response. One of our major findings is that a large fundraising cost discourages postdisaster funding, implying relatively large investments in levee and prepositioned supplies. That notwithstanding, a large social value (of saving life) can tilt the balance in favor of postdisaster funding. If the levee capacity increases, funding for predisaster procurement is reduced without affecting postdisaster funding. For a sufficiently large increase in capacity, however, postdisaster response becomes superfluous. We also find that hurricane uncertainty motivates levees with large capacity. In contrast, levee‐failures motivate levees with small capacity.     

Prospect theory and foreign policy decision-making: Underexposed issues,advancements, and ways forward

How much mileage can we get out of prospect theory to explain foreign policy decision-making? To answer this question, we first argue that risk as outcome uncertainty is the appropriate definition in prospect-theoretical applications. Then, we indicate that probability weighting—a crucial component of prospect theory—is typically ignored in such applications. We argue why this is problematic and suggest how to move forward. Next, we discuss how to establish the reference point in the face of outcomes in multiple dimensions, as is typically the case in foreign policy decision-making. Finally, we discuss what we have learnt regarding prospect theory’s scope conditions and the differences across individuals in the theory’s applicability. Overall, our contribution lies in identifying several underexposed or neglected issues (e.g., the definition of risk and probability weighting), in examining the advancements regarding prospect theory’s scope conditions, and in discussing avenues for further research.     

The continuing resonance of the war as risk management perspective for understanding military interventions

In the late 1990s and 2000s, a slew of books and journal articles proposed that a nexus between risk management and warfare was emerging. This article argues that risk management ideas continue to shape recent campaigns against Libya, Islamic State, Syria, and the war on terror from Niger, Yemen to Somalia. It uses existing literature on risk and warfare to examine four key aspects of contemporary interventions. First, the article evaluates the overall strategic context as security concerns shift from terrorism toward renewed great power competition. Second, it re-assesses the risk calculus for military action through the language and grammar of risk invoked by politicians. Third and fourth, it addresses the continuing reliance on air power and the managerial ethos of military operations as important features of war as risk management.     

在建高层建筑火灾隐患及预防对策

从在建高层建筑的建筑特点、火灾特点等方面的因素入手,结合近期发生的在建高层建筑火灾情况,分析在建高层建筑存在的火灾隐患,提出笔者对在建高层建筑火灾预防扑救的一些看法。     

三氯氢硅的火灾危险性及消防安全对策

针对三氯氢硅存在的火灾危险性进行分析,探讨其卸载时应注意的事项,并提出有效的安全防护、泄漏处理、灭火等方面的有效措施。     

大型室内市场建筑消防设计

分析了目前大型室内市场建筑现状,总结出其防火设计的难点,提出了防火设计的基本原则,并从总平面布局、防火分区、防排烟、消防设施以及内部装修等方面提出了具体的对策。     

少数民族教育的经济学分析

少数民族教育是我国教育的重要组成部分。发展少数民族教育,提高民族素质具有重要意义。本文从经济学中的效率与公平、供给与需求、成本与效益三个方面理论来分析我国的少数民族教育,从而更好地发展少数民族教育。     

可转换债券的复合期权定价模型

可转换债券是一种内含期权结构的特殊金融产品。可转换债券的内含期权是一种奇异期权——复合期权。本文通过分别对无期权债券和复合期权的定价,获得了可转换债券在风险中性条件下的定价模型。     

基于小波神经网络的承制单位信用风险评价

根据武器装备采购中对承制单位信用风险评价特点和实际情况,确定承制单位信用风险评价指标体系,根据小波神经网络原理,构建了承制单位信用风险评价模型,并以实例进行分析。小波神经网络能够简便快捷对信用风险进行评价,并能排除主观因素的干扰,在信用风险评价中具有较好应用前景。     

On the reduction of total‐cost and average‐cost MDPs to discounted MDPs

This article provides conditions under which total‐cost and average‐cost Markov decision processes (MDPs) can be reduced to discounted ones. Results are given for transient total‐cost MDPs with transition rates whose values may be greater than one, as well as for average‐cost MDPs with transition probabilities satisfying the condition that there is a state such that the expected time to reach it is uniformly bounded for all initial states and stationary policies. In particular, these reductions imply sufficient conditions for the validity of optimality equations and the existence of stationary optimal policies for MDPs with undiscounted total cost and average‐cost criteria. When the state and action sets are finite, these reductions lead to linear programming formulations and complexity estimates for MDPs under the aforementioned criteria.© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 66:38–56, 2019