Data-driven research in retail operations—A review

We review the operations research/management science literature on data-driven methods in retail operations. This line of work has grown rapidly in recent years, thanks to the availability of high-quality data, improvements in computing hardware, and parallel developments in machine learning methodologies. We survey state-of-the-art studies in three core aspects of retail operations—assortment optimization, order fulfillment, and inventory management. We then conclude the paper by pointing out some interesting future research possibilities for our community.     

多阶段传感器-武器联合任务管理方法

针对动态环境下的传感器-武器联合任务管理问题展开研究。根据在动态作战过程中出现的有效新目标、有效空闲传感器和武器数量设定阶段门限,以决定进入下一阶段的时机,从而构建多阶段的作战过程。从打击方案质量及系统响应时间的角度出发,分析构建分布式作战体系对系统作战效能的影响,使系统在每个任务管理阶段可以决定响应流程。通过仿真实验验证了所构建的分布式作战体系与设定的阶段门限可以明显提升系统的作战效能。     

装备技术人才军民融合定制化培训模式

本文依托军民融合国家战略基础,对比国内外发展现状,分析现行培训形式的不足之处,梳理军民融合式培训需求,将军民融合理念贯穿人才培训全过程。针对军事体制调整后的专业技师和工程师等专业技术骨干,形成一套培训要求“专业化”对接、培训师资“军学研”共建、培训内容“菜单式”定制、培训样式“多手段”并举以及培训效果“递进式”发挥的装备技术人才军民融合定制化培训模式,并且有针对性地提出军民融合基地化培训的建设框架,从培训管理、培训实施等方面提出方法,为部队拓宽专业技术人才培训通道,实现被动式培训向主动式培训转变,提高装备实战化保障能力提供借鉴和指导。     

装备试验与评价的系统工程管理技术

试验与评价是对装备战技指标进行的全面考核与验证,涉及到多指标、多阶段、多装备层次。结合装备试验与评价的特点与需求,给出了装备试验与评价系统工程管理的概念,明确了其内涵。从寿命周期维、评价指标维和装备层次维三个角度,构建了装备试验与评价的霍尔三维结构模型(HMTE)。针对具体评价指标,对该模型的矩阵映射过程进行了阐述,实现了HMTE的具体化。最后对元模型进行了论述,并通过案例阐述了其具体形式。装备试验与评价系统工程管理方法的应用,有利于装备试验与评价的全面统筹与实施,达到降低试验总费用,提升试验总效能的目标。     

【专题】美军破障行动的力量运用评析

在地面作战中,面对敌方设置的障碍如何组织破障力量实施开辟通路行动一直是各国军队面临的难题。美军作为信息化部队,在破障力量的作战实际应用上经验丰富。研究美军破障力量的组织编成以及战法运用,能够对军队以战领训,研透作战任务、作战对手及作战环境,加强使命课题专攻精练并有效管控危机,甚至可为军队未来遏制战争、打赢战争提供宝贵经验,具有极其重要的借鉴意义。本文通过研究美军2015条令战略及美军合成兵种营野战手册等文件,对美军破障力量的组织编成和战法运用进行了剖析解读。研究表明,美军在破障行动中主要遵循情报处理、破障行动基本点、破障行动组织、关键性集中及战场控制等五大原则,在战斗编组上主要是以支援队、破障队和突击队三个基本编组进行针对性组织,模块化程度非常高。     

Israel’s Security Nexus as Strategic Restraint: The Case of Iran 2009–2013

This article examines the debates in Israel between 2009 and 2013 over Iran’s nuclear programme as a reflection of a particular type of civil–military or civil–security relationship. It analyses how key actors within that relationship – particularly those with an intelligence background – engaged with media outlets in Israel and further afield to influence domestic and international opinion over how best to contain Iran’s nuclear ambitions. In so doing, it seeks to address one fundamental question: are governments in Jerusalem any longer the final arbiters over deciding what is in the national security interests of the State of Israel?     

Saddam versus the inspectors: the impact of regime security on the verification of Iraq’s WMD disarmament

The discovery that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in 2003 raised the question of why Saddam had prevented UN weapons inspectors from fully accounting for his disarmament. The leading explanation for Saddam’s behavior is that he valued ambiguity as part of a strategy of ‘deterrence by doubt’. This article argues that Iraq’s obstruction of inspectors in the late 1990s was motivated by his desire to shield Iraq’s regime security apparatus from UNSCOM’s intrusive counter-concealment inspections. The failure to understand how strongly Saddam’s concerns about his personal safety drove Iraq’s contentious relationship with UNSCOM set the stage for the invasion of Iraq in 2003.     

Making a difference in peacekeeping operations: Voices of South African women peacekeepers

Recruiting more women into peacekeeping operations due to the perceived unique contributions they are said to make to missions has been widely advocated by the United Nations (UN) and other agencies as a means to overcome the unintended consequents of deployments – mainly the ongoing reports of sexual abuse of locals by male soldiers. However, taking into account the broader gender debates surrounding women’s contributions to peacekeeping, and by considering the experiences of women in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), this study reveals the challenges women face in realising these widely advocated contributions. These challenges include the current recruiting processes, the self-perception of female soldiers, the deeply patriarchal ideologies within South African society, and the hyper-masculine culture which overwhelms the military. The study concludes that, for women to be properly utilised, a reassessment of recruitment processes in the SANDF is necessary, gender training should be prioritised, and an androgynous soldier identity should be advocated.     

Meaning of working and expectations: a research on professional soldier candidates in Turkey

Previous studies on the relationship between individual’s enlistment decisions and their personal characteristics examined a number of variables such as age, marital status, gender, family background, geographical background, employment situation and education level. However, attitudes towards working, expectations from a good job and centrality of working are also important determinants in this process. This paper examines the profile of juveniles who seek a career as gendarmerie non-commissioned officers (NCO) in the Turkish Armed Forces and their attitudes and expectations towards working in general within the framework of Meaning of Working (MOW) researches. According to the results of the survey conducted with 500 NCO candidates in Turkey, learning something new, good relations with colleagues and employment guarantee are detected as the main expectations of juveniles who seek a career in military. Results also show that having a job is so important for these young people that they consider having a job even prior to their families.