Designing and pricing menus of extended warranty contracts

Extended warranties provide “piece of mind” to a consumer in that product failures which occur after the base warranty expires are rectified at little or no cost. They also provide an additional source of revenue for manufacturers or third‐party providers, such as retailers or insurance providers, and help cultivate consumer loyalty. In this article, we analyze a number of extended warranty contracts which differ in design, including restrictions on deferrals and renewals. With the use of dynamic programming, we compute the optimal strategy for a consumer with perfect information and determine the optimal pricing policy for the provider given the consumer's risk characterization. We also provide insight into when different contracts should be issued. Finally, we illustrate how profits can be dramatically increased by offering menus of warranty contracts, as opposed to stand alone contracts, with the use of integer programming. Surprisingly, risk‐taking consumers provide the greatest benefit to offering menus. These insights can help a company develop a comprehensive warranty planning strategy for given products or product lines. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 2009     

基于LBDL逻辑的抗DPA攻击电路设计方法

动态差分逻辑是一种典型的电路级差分功耗攻击(DPA)防护技术.这种技术通过使逻辑门保持恒定的翻转率来降低电路功耗与数据信号之间的相关性.介绍了一种新型的、基于查找表(Look-Up-Table,LUT)结构的动态差分逻辑(LBDL),以及基于这种逻辑的集成电路设计方法.该设计方法仅需在传统的半定制设计流程中添加少量的替换操作就可以实现 ,因而比其他完全需要全定制设计的动态差分逻辑具有更好的实用性.而相对同样适用于半定制实现的动态差分逻辑 WDDL(Wave Dynamic Differential Logic),LBDL逻辑解决了逻辑门翻转时刻与数据信号之间的相关性,从而比WDDL逻辑具有更好的功耗恒定性.实验结果表明,该设计方法能够有效实现具有抗DPA攻击性能的电路.     

Intelligence and military doctrine: paradox or oxymoron?

This article examines the evolution of the current British military joint intelligence doctrine. We argue that military intelligence doctrine is dogged by an intrinsic tension between the ethos and expectations of military doctrine and those of the professional practice of intelligence. We further argue not only that prior iterations of UK joint intelligence doctrine failed to effectively deal with this intelligence doctrine dilemma, but also that measures in the current doctrine to address this problem directly created their own problems. Moreover, as a result, otherwise sound innovations in the current UK intelligence doctrine have proven unsuitable to wider diffusion in more recent intelligence doctrine such as the new NATO intelligence doctrine which, otherwise, draws extensively on its British precursor.     

Buy now,pay later: American military intervention and the strategic cost paradox

This paper explores the notion that US efforts to evade the political costs of war paradoxically contribute to the subsequent exacerbation of costs over time. Leaders seek to purchase political capital in the short term by limiting the costs and requirements of military operations, but in doing so cause strategic and political liabilities to mount in the long run. While identification of such behaviour is not new, insufficient attention has been devoted to explaining its causes, dynamics, and manifestations in relation to key decisions on and in war. Evidence derived from studies of recent American discretionary campaigns is analysed to advance an argument with respect to this pattern of self-defeating strategic behaviour.     

The Anglo-American military relationship: Institutional rules,practices, and narratives

The Anglo-American military relationship is a vital yet neglected area of study. This article argues that the British military have actively cultivated a relationship with the U.S. military that has contributed to the longevity of the broader so-called “Special Relationship,” even in the Trump era. The article contends that the complexities of the military relationship can best be captured by the theoretical lens provided by Lowndes and Roberts that combines different strands of institutionalism to focus on rules, practices, and narratives. The intense linkages between the United States and United Kingdom have become routinized, enabling them to adapt their peacetime cooperation to conflicts, and thereby address post-Cold War security challenges. The article draws upon semi-structured interviews with senior British military officers as well as policy documents to explore how these patterns of collaboration have become ingrained in patterns of both thinking and behavior.     

基于层次分析法的军校学员体能训练评估

针对目前军校学员军事体育训练评估难以量化考核的问题,提出了基于层次分析法的军校学员体能训练评估方法。首先,通过建立评估指标体系,构建评估指标判断矩阵;其次,进行归一化并计算指标组合权重,构建评估基本模型;最后,利用评估模型对学员体能训练进行综合评估。结果表明本文提出的方法能够对军校学员体能训练进行有效评估,相比于传统考核评估方法更能反映出学员体能的真实状况,突出学员体能特征,开展针对性训练。      

Armed Conflict,Military Expenses and FDI Inflow to Developing Countries

This paper investigates the relationship between military expenditure and FDI inflow conditioning on the exposure of a country to armed conflict in the long run. We apply the band spectrum regression estimator, and the maximal overlap discrete wavelet transform, to a panel of 60 developing countries, for the years 1990 to 2013. The estimated results indicate that military expenditure, in the absence of armed conflict, reduces FDI inflow. However, the negative effect is mitigated by increased military expenditure, in the presence of armed conflict. We also show that the effect of military expenditure on FDI is time sensitive, in that it takes time for military expenditure to affect FDI inflow. FDI inflow in response to higher military expenditure is higher for the country that faces higher armed conflict than the country that faces lower armed conflict. The findings are robust in the case of overall as well as internal conflict. These results are also robust to the alternative specification, subsample analysis with different armed conflict thresholds, and the estimation using the time variant long-run models.     

On Government-industry Nexus and Indigenous Armed Resistance

This paper proposes a simple game-theoretic framework for analyzing the relationship between the government, industry and indigenous community, especially in the context of mounting violence surrounding displacement of indigenous communities by governments for the purposes of commercial use of their habitat. It specifically takes into account the possibility of alleged ‘nexus’ between the government and the industry and explores its implications on the level of allocation and utilities of the players. We find that the bias in allocation that occurs when the government and the industry enter a ‘nexus’ can be rectified when there is resistance from the indigenous groups. Moreover, rebellion is a dominant strategy of the indigenous community, irrespective of whether there is ‘nexus’ or not, and being in ‘nexus’ with the government is a best response for the industry. The unique SPNE occurs when there is ‘nexus’ between the industry and the government and resistance by the indigenous groups, corroborating the widespread allegations of ‘nexus’ and evidence of resistance worldwide. We also explore a few extensions of the basic model and present some narrative evidence in support of the theoretical model.     

风场的科学计算可视化在导弹射击中的应用

在导弹射击时,消除风会对导弹飞行造成不利的影响,因此基于可视化分析的研究模型、流程等,利用科学计算方法直观分析优点对风的大小和方向进行分析,并采用开放图形接口对实验风场数据进行了三维图形绘制以提高导弹打击目标的精度,对实际中导弹的风场阻力研究有一定的指导意义.     

基于作战能力的装备保障方法

分析了传统的武器装备保障方法对战时保障的不足,提出了基于作战能力的装备保障方法,阐明了该方法的主要思想.研究了通过建立任务-作战能力-装备及其功能结构之间的关联关系,识别装备保障需求的方法,并讨论了基于作战能力的装备保障中使用保障方案评价、维修保障方案评价、装备使用调配等重要问题.该方法的研究为一体化联合作战模式下装备保障研究工作建立了总的理论框架.