Book reviews

War, Culture and the Media: Representations of the Military in 20th Century Britain. Edited by Ian Stewart and Susan L. Carruthers, Trowbridge: Flicks Books, (1996), ISBN 0-948911-86-7 (pbk), £14.95.

The Future of Europe. By Peter Coffey, Aldershot: Edward Elgar, (1995), ISBN 1-85278-586-1 (hardback), £39.95, ISBN 1-85278-587-X (pbk), £12.95.

Global Dangers: Changing Dimensions of International Security. Edited by Sean M. Lynn-Jones, Steven E. Miller, London: the MIT Press, (1996), ISBN O-262-62097-9 (pbk), £13.50;.

New Studies in Post-Cold War Security. Edited by K.R. Dark, Aldershot: Dartmouth Publishing Company, (1996), ISBN 1-85521-728-7 (hardback), £42.50.

Enlarging NATO - The Russian Factor. By Richard L. Kugler with Marianna V. Kozintseva, Santa Monica, CA: National Defense Research Institute and Rand Corporation, (1996), ISBN 0-8330-2357-8, $20.00.     

Scheduling of stochastic tasks on two parallel processors

We consider the problem of scheduling n tasks on two identical parallel processors. We show both in the case when the processing times for the n tasks are independent exponential random variables, and when they are independent hyperexponentials which are mixtures of two fixed exponentials, that the policy of performing tasks with longest expected processing time (LEPT) first minimizes the expected makespan, and that in the hyperexponential case the policy of performing tasks with shortest expected processing time (SEPT) first minimizes the expected flow time. The approach is simpler than the dynamic programming approach recently employed by Bruno and Downey.     

Scheduling with earliness and tardiness penalties

We show that the deterministic nonpreemptive scheduling problem with earliness and tardiness penalties can be solved in polynomial time for certain forms of an objective function provided that a certain optimization problem can be solved. We give instances where this problem has a solution and show that this generalizes several results from the literature. These results do not require symmetric penalization and the penalty functions need only be lower semicontinuous.     

A facility reliability problem: Formulation,properties, and algorithm

Having a robustly designed supply chain network is one of the most effective ways to hedge against network disruptions because contingency plans in the event of a disruption are often significantly limited. In this article, we study the facility reliability problem: how to design a reliable supply chain network in the presence of random facility disruptions with the option of hardening selected facilities. We consider a facility location problem incorporating two types of facilities, one that is unreliable and another that is reliable (which is not subject to disruption, but is more expensive). We formulate this as a mixed integer programming model and develop a Lagrangian Relaxation‐based solution algorithm. We derive structural properties of the problem and show that for some values of the disruption probability, the problem reduces to the classical uncapacitated fixed charge location problem. In addition, we show that the proposed solution algorithm is not only capable of solving large‐scale problems, but is also computationally effective. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2010     

Effects of lethality in naval combat models

In the context of both discrete time salvo models and continuous time Lanchester models we examine the effect on naval combat of lethality: that is, the relative balance between the offensive and defensive attributes of the units involved. We define three distinct levels of lethality and describe the distinguishing features of combat for each level. We discuss the implications of these characteristics for naval decision‐makers; in particular, we show that the usefulness of the intuitive concept “more is better” varies greatly depending on the lethality level. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2004.     

Economic Losses From a Fire in a Dense-Packed U.S. Spent Fuel Pool

In 2013, the staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission estimated the reduction of the off-site economic losses from a fire in a drained U.S. spent fuel pool if fuel that had cooled for more than five years were transferred to dry cask storage—an option it called “expedited transfer.” In this article, it is shown that the savings would be much higher than the NRC estimated. Savings increase to about $2 trillion if: losses beyond 50 miles are included; the land-contamination threshold for long-term population relocation is changed to that used for the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents and recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and, based on the experience of Japan, decontamination of land areas to levels acceptable for population return is assumed to take at least four years. If expedited transfer were implemented, the off-site economic losses would be reduced by about 98%.     

On the roles of free play in army exercises and the Russians

The article outlines the essential role of free play elements in various types of exercises for the development of in-depth and practical military professionalism. It thereafter argues why such use of free play contradicts the military science founded Russian Way of War.     

How the End Begins: The Road to a Nuclear World War III

Ron Rosenbaum, How the End Begins: The Road to a Nuclear World War III. Simon & Schuster, 2011. 305 pages, $28.