怀特海的大学教育思想述评

怀特海认为大学存在的理由在于,它是青年和老年人之间进行知识和生命沟通的桥梁;大学要培养学生的智慧、想像力和创造力;大学的教学应该与学生的生活结合起来,让学生获得活的知识;大学的管理不同于商业或其他部门,应该尊重大学和大学教师的独立性和自由。     

射面交叉分析及武器控制方法研究

通过对影响多武器同时射击安全的重要因素——射面交叉的研究,分析了产生射面交叉的原因,建立了射面交叉的判断模型,研究了控制武器的方法,建立了禁止射击信号的产生模型。研究结果对舰艇的总体设计、武器控制以及作战使用有一定的指导意义。     

任务分配问题的对称群方法

探讨了无人飞行器(UAV)编队的任务分配问题。任务分配是UAV协同控制的基础,其解是任务区域内各任务的一个排列。求解UAV任务分配问题的有效方法是能在合理的计算时间内找到近似最优解的启发式算法。用对称群描述UAV任务分配的搜索空间,基于右乘运算构造搜索邻域。仿真结果验证了群论禁忌搜索算法的有效性。     

一种海底应答器绝对位置的精确校准方法

应答器越来越多地应用于各种水下作业,而其绝对位置的校准是工作的前提。在深海下由于声速的不均匀性,声线会发生弯曲。海底应答器绝对位置的校准需要进行声线弯曲修正。给出了一种深海条件下含声线弯曲修正的海底应答器绝对位置精确校准的方法。深海试验结果验证了该算法的有效性以及进行声线修正的必要性。     

水下无线传感器网络的节点精确定位

以无线传感器网络(WSN)水下应用为背景,针对特定的环境要求,提出了一种可实现网络规模升级的分布式无锚点网络节点自定位机制。该定位算法通过距离误差估计和分布式坐标计算方法,有效地减少了由于测量距离误差所带来的坐标计算误差和节点坐标计算所带来的通信开销,有利于网络节点能量的合理使用和大规模的WSN布放。通过试验仿真计算,验证了该定位机制的合理性,为水下WSN应用提供了有力的技术支持。     

防化研究院履约十年回顾

《禁止化学武器公约》生效10周年之际,简要回顾公约生效以来防化研究院参与的履约研究、核查接待、单一小规模设施建设、指定实验室建设、日本遗弃化武处理等各个方面的履约活动,以期总结经验,展望未来。     

Alleviating time inconsistent behaviors via a competition scheme

Under quasi‐hyperbolic discounting, the valuation of a payoff falls relatively rapidly for earlier delay periods, but then falls more slowly for longer delay periods. When the salespersons with quasi‐hyperbolic discounting consider the product sale problem, they would exert less effort than their early plan, thus resulting in losses of future profit. We propose a winner‐takes‐all competition to alleviate the above time inconsistent behaviors of the salespersons, and allow the company to maximize its revenue by choosing an optimal bonus. To evaluate the effects of the competition scheme, we define the group time inconsistency degree of the salespersons, which measures the consequence of time inconsistent behaviors, and two welfare measures, the group welfare of the salespersons and the company revenue. We show that the competition always improves the group welfare and the company revenue as long as the company chooses to run the competition in the first place. However, the effect on group time inconsistency degree is mixed. When the optimal bonus is moderate (extreme high), the competition motivates (over‐motivates) the salesperson to work hard, thus alleviates (worsens) the time inconsistent behaviors. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 64: 357–372, 2017     

Terrorism as Method in Nepali Maoist Insurgency, 1996–2016

During the period 1996–2006, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) waged overt people’s war to seize state power and institute a new order that realized the party’s understanding of ‘New Democracy’ as posited by Mao Tse-tung. Contextual shifts led to a crucial strategic turning point in September 2005, when the Maoists agreed to a united front with estranged legal parties to oust the monarchy and establish a republic. Though touted as acceptance of political reintegration, the move was tactical rather than strategic. The party had no intention of supporting a parliamentary version of democracy and thus, 2006–2016, engaged in a covert effort to seize power. Central to this effort was the paramilitary Young Communist League (YCL), the members of which responded to inflammatory party verbiage and exhortations with attacks upon rival political actors. These attacks, academically and legally, were terrorism and offered a salient illustration of intra-state unrestricted warfare. Ultimately, organizational, national, and regional circumstances caused the main Maoist movement to move decisively away from its covert approach. By that time, however, radical splinters had embraced the use of terrorism against rival political actors, creating a situation whereby local politics is yet a dangerous endeavor in certain areas and at certain times.     

What-If at Waterloo. Carl von Clausewitz’s use of historical counterfactuals in his history of the Campaign of 1815

In this article, I analyze the use of historical counterfactuals in the Campaign of 1815 by Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831). Such is the importance of counterfactuals in this work that its gist can be given in a series of 25 counterfactuals. I claim that a central role is played by evaluative counterfactuals. This specific form of counterfactuals is part of a didactic method that allows Clausewitz to teach young officers a critical method that prepares them for the challenge of decision-making in real warfare. I conclude with the enduring relevance of Clausewitz’s use of evaluative counterfactuals for contemporary military historiography.     

Strategy,theory, and history: Operation Husky 1943

In his 1987 work Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1987), Edward Luttwak described strategy as a field of activity characterised not only by an innately complex relationship between designs, actions and outcomes, but so too by the frequent disparity between its theory and praxis. Similar observations on this subject have since been made by Richard K. Betts, Lawrence Freedman and Antulio Echevarria II. This article will use the Allied invasion of Sicily in July–August 1943 as a vehicle through which to test these theories against a signal event in the European theatre of the Second World War. It will illustrate how Operation Husky and its aftermath are a paradigm of the confusing and often illogical course of events associated with the process of formulating strategy and waging war. In so doing it demonstrates the benefits of using strategic theory to illuminate events and so move beyond the often insular focus of campaign histories, and simultaneously reinforces the importance of military history in informing a theoretical understanding of strategy.