Military Projects Research Articles

Energy absorption of foamed concrete from low-velocity impacts

Foamed concrete has existing uses as an energy absorber for large-scale and low-cost applications, such as explosion prevention in mines and military engineering projects and aircraft arresting systems. However, there is little information enumerating the energy absorption characteristics of different foamed concretes; this paper describes a study that determined these using low-velocity impact tests. A range of foamed concretes were tested with plastic densities varying from 500 to 1400 kg/m3, which are typical of those produced commercially. The tests used hemispherical projectiles with a range of masses from 1·2 to 8·4 kg, dropped from a fixed height of 4·7 m. The resulting ‘damage' was measured and related to the impact energy imparted to the test specimen. A classification, using five different failure modes, was established and the mode in which the test specimen neither caused ‘rebound' of the projectile nor itself fractured was selected as representing ‘ideal' energy absorption behaviour. Making the assumption of no energy losses and using the conservation of energy law, the energy absorption capacity of foamed concrete was calculated and was found to vary from 4 to 15 MJ/m3 for different mixes. The optimum energy absorption was noted for the 1000 kg/m3 mix at water to cement (w/c) ratios from 0·6 to 0·7, which allowed a debris field of crushed foamed concrete to form and be pushed into the concrete bubble space ahead of the nose of the projectile, without fracturing.

More for Less? Exploring the Economic Dimensions of Multilateral Collaboration in Military Aerospace Projects

More for Less? Exploring the Economic Dimensions of Multilateral Collaboration in Military Aerospace Projects Faced with declining defence budgets and spiralling weapon costs, international collaboration in military production appears both a sensible and attractive ‘value for money’ solution. International collaboration offers in theory the opportunity for both cost- and risk-sharing between members of the collaborating group, making military projects feasible that could not be entertained (financially or perhaps technologically) by one country or one company.

“Reading at It”: Gertrude Stein, Information Overload, and the Makings of Americanitis

no grammar in opposition but there if there omnipresent successful intermediation. --Stein, How to Write are so many things to say at one time and this one of them. --Stein, Narration: Four Lectures In final paragraph of her last completed composition, on Atomic Bomb, Gertrude Stein wrote: Everybody gets so much all day long that they lose their common sense. They listen so much that they forget to be natural. This nice story (1) (II 823). It difficult to see how in 1946 atomic bomb could have been a nice story, and on Atomic Bomb has typically been considered peripheral work. But despite its brevity and its opacity, I argue, an important final statement of Stein's thinking about technology, information, and epistemology For Stein, bomb is not at all interesting, not any more interesting than any other machine, and machines are only interesting in being invented or in what they do, so why be interested. ... That has to be secret makes dull and meaningless. Stein's response to bomb quiescent, but also skeptical, suspending judgment (and consequently fear) in face of multiplicity of unforeseeable outcomes. In immediate aftermath of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Holocaust, Stein refrains from apocalyptic pronouncements. Rather than make direct proclamation on nature of bomb, she instead offers reflection on how saturated world not only with information, but also with fear: There so much to be scared of so what use of bothering to be scared. Though may now sound like something of truism, Stein's statement Everybody gets so much all day long that they lose their common sense bears complex relation to her life and work. After exploring Stein's thinking about overload at length, I return to on Atomic Bomb at conclusion of this essay. (2) It tempting to imagine Stein having read in July 1945 issue of The Atlantic Monthly, Vannevar Bush's influential As We May Think, most significant and widely read article on growing problem of saturation in immediate postwar period. (3) As We May Think explores role of scientists in war, and suggests it physicists who have been thrown most violently off stride by the making of strange destructive gadgets (101). The last sentence of Bush's introduction in The Atlantic had originally read Now, as peace approaches, one asks where [scientists] will find objectives worthy of their best (1O8). (4) What preoccupies Bush most centrally are new requirements and possibilities for storage and retrieval that emerged from war effort. He proposed Memex, proto-computer filing system, as means by which scientific and practical might be indexed in order to address problem of overload.5The central problem facing researchers that growing mountain of research. But there increased evidence that we are being bogged down today as specialization extends. The investigator staggered by findings and conclusions of thousands of other workers--conclusions which he cannot find time to grasp, much less to remember, as they appear. (101) Though there no evidence that Stein was aware of emergence of modern computing within military projects supervised by Bush, Alan Turing, Norbert Wiener, and others. on Atomic Bomb suggests that Stein too recognized increasing difficulty in immediate postwar period of sorting through vast amounts of information. Information an uncharacteristic word in Stein's earlier writing, occuring only three times in The Making of Americans, and rarely thereafter. More typically, she speaks of knowledge or of knowing. Stein's use of information in Reflection prefigures slightly changing nature of word in late 1940s. …

Uncertainty in availability generated by inventory management controls in a generic repairable item sustainment system

For defence logistics, strategic planning is typically based on mean values. Supply flows are estimated from average throughputs, and supply chain resources are allocated to meet average demands. Operations management is also based on mean values. Mean-value based inventory management techniques are the preferred way to maintain the availability of spare parts. Recent research suggests that defence maintenance systems using such inventory management techniques are sensitive to stochastic variability in stock demand. We illustrate that these deliberate planning actions can lead to increased uncertainty in the prediction of output measures such as operational availability. We use Discrete Event Simulation as well as Design of Experiments methods to model a maintenance system for a single type of repairable item. We demonstrate that the inclusion of inventory management leads to increased average availability of spare parts for a vehicle fleet. However, in some cases the variation in availability decreases the system's apparent reliability. References Anscombe, F. J. (1948) The Validity of Comparative Experiments. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A (General) 111 (3): 181--211. doi:10.2307/2984159 MR30181. Bender A., Pincombe A. H., Sherman G. D. (2009) Effects of decay uncertainty in the prediction of life-cycle costings for large scale military capability projects 18th World IMACS / MODSIM Congress, Cairns, Australia 13--17 July 2009. Brown, R. G Statistical Forecasting for Inventory Control McGraw-Hill, New York, 1959 Brown, Robert Goodell Smoothing Forecasting and Prediction of Discrete Time Series Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall , 1963 Gardner, E. S., Jr., and McKenzie, E. Forecasting trends in time series Management Science, 31, 1237--1246, 1985 Jie Wan, Cong Zhao, Simulation Research on Multi-Echelon Inventory System in Supply Chain Based on Arena, icise, pp.397--400, First International Conference on Information Science and Engineering, 2009 Hartmut Bossel Systems and models: Complexity, Dynamics, Evolution, Sustainability Books on Demand GmbH, 2007 Piasecki, David J. Inventory Management Explained: A focus on Forecasting, Lot Sizing, Safety Stock, and Ordering Systems OPS Publishing, 2009. Sherman G. D., Pincombe A. H., Bender A. (2009) Determining some of the triggers for early life cycle failure in decay affected logistic queueing simulation, Proceedings of the 9th Biennial Engineering Mathematics and Applications Conference, EMAC-2009 ANZIAM J., 51(E):C715--C729, 2010. http://journal.austms.org.au/ojs/index.php/ANZIAMJ/article/view/2604.

Dynamic capability for trustworthy software development

SUMMARYSoftware development organizations are increasingly recognizing the need for flexibility in almost every project they execute. At the same time, development teams are under ever‐increasing pressure to deliver software products in shorter cycles and with higher levels of quality. The current software development projects face conflicting demands: improving process predictability to deliver trustworthy software products, and improving process flexibility to adapt to the dynamic context. Although the importance of process tailoring is well recognized, the current literature and industry standards fail to provide theoretically and empirically grounded guidelines on how to tailor the development process to suit the needs of developing trustworthy software in the current dynamic environment. This paper examines how software development teams achieve dynamic capabilities to pursue conflicting demands on trustworthiness and flexibility through a case study of a large military software development project. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

6.4.1 Systems Engineering Business Context: The Evaluation of the South African Systems Engineering Industry

AbstractSystems Engineering and Business Strategy might seem to be at different sides of the Business spectrum, but in reality Systems Engineering is a vehicle for achieving the goal set by Business Strategy and obtaining a competitive advantage. It is the author's experience in both military and commercial projects, that most Systems Engineers do not have an understanding of the business principles such as marketing and economics to be taken cognizance of during the design and development of system. The current Systems Engineering standards like the INCOSE handbook, ISO/IEC 15288‐2008 and ANSI/EIA‐632‐1998 also do not always provide any standard processes or activities that could guide Systems Engineers in looking at the business case during the Systems Engineering life cycle.The top management of the organization is responsible for defining the business strategy that defines the direction to enable the organization to satisfy the market demands and subsequently make profit to build a sustainable business. In a Systems Engineering organization, market needs are satisfied through products and services that Systems Engineers are responsible for, but the author's experience has shown that Systems Engineers do not partake in development of organizational strategy. In many cases the Systems Engineers do not even know the organizational strategy. This may cause a misalignment between the organizational strategy and the products and services delivered to customers.The importance of incorporating the business strategy into the Systems Engineering process is becoming more important in order to remain competitive in the global market. The business strategy alignment of Systems Engineering projects is even more important during the current recession of the global economy. This paper investigates the relationship between Systems Engineering, business and the business case of the project the system engineer is responsible for. The relationship between Systems Engineering and Business Strategy to enable Systems Engineering to become the competitive advantage of an organization is also investigated.

Essaying America: A Declaration of Independence

Early in his Meditations, Descartes suggests that, at least once, one should set one’s epistemic bushel in order, as if beliefs were apples to be sorted. But that is not quite right, even though he uses the image in his replies to the seventh set of objections. Descartes’s principal concern is not each and every belief but the ways in which he justifies them. It is thus not a stretch to find a kind of ethics of belief in the Meditations, at least with regard to scientia. (Regarding the epistemic challenges of everyday life, Descartes is quite clear in his synopsis that “no sane person ever seriously doubted these things,” i.e., “that there really is a world, and that humans have bodies and so on” [1984, 11].) At its heart, then, and all doctrine aside, Cartesian philosophy responds to a call that asks us to formulate a rational basis for our epistemic commitments. I feel a similar obligation, though my concern does not lie with how to conduct myself in the way of belief or, better yet, with how to formulate commitments to assertoric speech acts. In its briefest form, it runs, “Am I an American philosopher?” though that wording is infelicitous insofar Essaying America: A Declaration of Independence

Engineering and War

This paper shows how the connections between engineering and warfare/militarism are closer than is usually recognized. It investigates the nature of that relationship using theoretical perspectives from critical theory and social constructionism. We draw on historical research into the influence of military institutions and interests on the field of engineering, but also look broadly at cultures of warfare that extend beyond formalized military institutions. Focusing on engineering labor and engineering epistemologies, we suggest that engineering today can be understood as a “war-built” discipline—even when practiced apart from military institutions and projects. We put forward “social justice” as an idealized alternative foundation for engineering. In addition to serving as a corrective to the inordinate influence of militarism on engineering, a social-justice-based approach could also sensitize engineers and others to the pervasive role of social context in shaping both what engineers do and how that is understood to serve broad public interests.

The assessment of military logistic engineering projects for Taiwan’s navy

This paper proposes a new “Vote-Ranking” method to “Balanced Scorecard (BSC)” analytic process to assess “Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM)” issues. By means of literature review and questionnaires using “Customer (military capability), Internal Business Processes (logistic support and maintenance effectiveness), Learning and Growth (technology and innovation), and Financial (life cycle cost)”, more detailed and quantifiable performance management data are provided for decision-maker. The quantitative BSC method adopts the concept of MCDM, which uses a multi-hierarchy scheme to simply complicate problems. The 46 senior military experts and managers will be selected to form a task force. And then, from top to down, the indices of BSC will be voted, weighted and quantitative to assess the competitive alternatives. The cost-effectiveness analysis of military engineering project investment between dry dock and slipway for Taiwan’s Navy is taken as a case study in the paper. We use the total weighted scores method to get the best competitive alternatives. Finally, the results suggest “slipway military engineering project” is the adoptable alternative in this study.

Effect Evaluation of Construction Engineerization Management for Military Projects

In order to solve batch construction problems of military projects with specific attributes, this paper proposes the engineerization management method, discusses the connotation and main contents of engineerization management, and applies the DEA method in effect evaluation of engineerization management for the first time. The authors establish the DEA model of single aircraft shelter engineering, analyse the calculation results. The research has both theoretical value and operability of practice. It also has reference value to some civil project management that satisfies the conditions of engineerization.

Depth Image Processing and Operator Imitation Using a Custom Made Semi Humanoid

The motivation for creating humanoids arises from the diverse socio-economical interests ranging from the restoration of day-to-day activities of differently abled to assisting humans in nearly inaccessible areas such as mines, radiation sites, military projects, etc. Recent developments in the field of image processing, thus enabling depth imaging and skeleton tracking easily has greatly increased the potential of accurately inferring the signals of human operator. The time constraints on various jobs make them grossly dependant on real time data processing and execution. Also, the acceptance by the industrial community depends on the accuracy of the complete system. The objective is to develop a proof based accurate system to assist human operation in potentially inaccessible areas. The system has to analyze image feed from the camera and deduce the gestures of the operator. Then the system communicates wirelessly with the self designed Semi- Humanoid which in-turn, imitates the operator with maximum accuracy.

A Fuzzy Inference Model for Predicting Irregular Human Behaviour During Stressful Missions

In this paper a hybrid fuzzy inference and transfer function modeling is used to predict the irregular human behavior during hard and stressful tasks such as dangerous military missions. A set of affecting factors such as missioner's experience, fatigue, sunshine intensity, hungriness, thirstiness, psychological characteristics, affright, etc. may be taken to account. In this regard a dynamic system model is used to predict the convolution of the timed effects of different factors on irregular behavior of personnel during the mission. This approach of predicting irregular behavior or erroneous decision making of staff have serious usages in aerospace, military, social and similar projects where a wrong decision can have catastrophic outcome such as attempting to suicide by a pilot or killing civilians by a soldier in stressful situations. The effect of such behavior and decisions may even cause the failure of the overall project or mission. For example, killing civilians by a soldier can result to the overall failure of human terrain missions where the main objective is gaining trust between the local civilian population.

Lei do Abate, guerra às drogas e defesa nacional

O presente artigo analisa o processo de criação e regulamentação da Lei do Abate no Brasil, que autoriza a derrubada em pleno voo de aeronaves civis suspeitas de envolvimento no tráfico de drogas. Investigam-se as relações entre a elaboração da Lei do Abate, a política de guerra às drogas propagada pelos EUA e as preocupações estratégicas dos militares brasileiros acerca da segurança da Região Amazônica. Como parte da contextualização da criação dos programas de interdição aérea baseados no abate de aeronaves, estudam-se as origens e as transformações das políticas antidrogas dos EUA desde a década de 1960 e o modelo de guerra às drogas (War on Drugs). Analisa-se também o processo de discussão parlamentar no Brasil sobre a Lei do Abate e os debates para a sua regulamentação. A pesquisa ocorreu por meio da análise de documentos produzidos pelos governos dos EUA (abertos e sigilosos reclassificados) e do Brasil, da investigação dos anais do Congresso Nacional e do estudo de livros e artigos científicos nacionais e estrangeiros. Verifica-se que os programas que autorizam o abate nascem sob a justificativa do combate ao tráfico, mas se ligam às necessidades militares específicas de Peru e Colômbia. A lei brasileira surge para combater o transporte aéreo ilícito vinculado ao tráfico; contudo, sua origem e os debates posteriores para sua regulamentação submetem-se ao condicionamento dos temores e projetos militares em torno da defesa da soberania sobre a Amazônia brasileira.

‘Nothing is what it appears to be’

This article identifies and examines the different ways in which narrative strategies in Battlestar Galactica and Dollhouse variously embody political critique or abdicate the attempt. While both programmes function recognisably as dystopias, the critical capacity of Battlestar Galactica is undermined and ultimately halted by the centrality of the military project throughout. In contrast, the potentially problematic premise of Dollhouse is utilised to mobilise a critique of the biological commodification it foregrounds. The article draws from Alain Badiou’s notion of Event fidelity and Tom Moylan’s typology of critical dystopias and links these approaches to recognised strategies of screen sf, such as foregrounding of spectacle and shifting of contemporary political concerns to another space and time to achieve an estranged and critical perspective.

A multi-objective linear programming framework for evaluating the financial viability of supplementary facilities in Build-Transfer-Lease projects in Korea

Since 2005, the Build-Transfer-Lease (BTL) scheme has been successful in delivering projects such as schools and government housing to the general public while relieving the fiscal constraints of the Korean government. Recently, the inclusion of ‘supplementary’ facilities to the main BTL project has been posited as an alternative solution to increase a BTL project’s rate of returns. However, the absence of a structured approach to evaluate the financial viability of this modified scheme has thus far made its use restrictive. Determining the viability of the modified scheme requires identifying the relative project size of the supplementary facility and the appropriation of the additional revenue between the government and concessionaire that ensure that both parties benefit, while accounting for the increased risk in liquidity. This research proposes a framework using multi-optimization linear programming and Monte Carlo simulation that determines the optimal size of the supplementary facility and the appropriate revenue distribution ratio that minimize government payments and maximize the internal rate of return, while maintaining positive project cash flows. A retrospective case study on a military housing project demonstrates that using the proposed framework enables the addition of a shopping mall which increases the overall rate of return while minimizing the risks of the project.

The Cambridge Companion to Machiavelli

Chronology Introduction John M. Najemy 1. Niccolo Machiavelli: a portrait James B. Atkinson 2. Machiavelli in the Chancery Robert Black 3. Machiavelli, Piero Soderini, and the Republic of 1494-1512 Roslyn Pesman 4. Machiavelli and the Medici Humfrey Butters 5. Machiavelli's Prince in the epic tradition Wayne A. Rebhorn 6. Society, class, and state in Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy John M. Najemy 7. Machiavelli's military project and the Art of War Mikael Hoernqvist 8. Machiavelli's History of Florence Anna Maria Cabrini 9. Machiavelli and Rome: the Republic as ideal and as history J. G. A. Pocock 10. Philosophy and religion in Machiavelli Alison Brown 11. Rhetoric and ethics in Machiavelli Virginia Cox 12. Machiavelli and poetry Albert Russell Ascoli and Angela Matilde Capodivacca 13. Comedian, tragedian: Machiavelli and traditions of Renaissance theatre Ronald Martinez 14. Machiavelli and gender Barbara Spackman 15. Machiavelli's afterlife and reputation to the eighteenth century Victoria Kahn 16. Machiavelli in political thought from the Age of Revolutions to the present Jeremie Barthas Index.

Negative Dialectics in the Google Era: A Conversation with Trevor Paglen

In the last seven years, in a series of performances, publications, exhibitions, and installations, Trevor Paglen has explored the world of hidden military projects and infrastructure. One of his best-known series is Limit Telephotography, for which he trained lenses designed for astronomical photography on secret military bases in the U.S., using their very-long-range photographic capabilities to capture images that would otherwise be hidden to civilian eyes. These are the “limits” that lie at the heart of Paglen’s project: the limits of democracy, secrecy, visibility, and the knowable. He is one of many artists who have evolved new and various ways of engaging with the military and the secret state in the years following the declaration of the “War on Terror.” The work of these artists remains as apposite as ever, as the U.S. and its allies continue to bomb suspected enemies (and anyone else who gets “too close”) and to run “black” sites and secret gulags in which people are held (and tortured) beyond the reach of the law. Paglen has made works that raise fundamental questions about what can be known and seen, while simultaneously writing investigative exposes of the shadow state. This interview explores some of the relations and tensions between the two practices.

Epistemic and normative aspects of ontologies in modelling and simulation

In modelling and simulation, ontologies can be used for the formal definition of methods and techniques (methodological ontologies), as well as for the representation of parts of reality (referential ontologies), like manufacturing or military systems, for example. Such ontologies are two sided: they are both models of a certain body of knowledge and models for automated information processing and further implementation. The first function of ontologies as pre-images (models of) has a strong epistemic nature especially for referential ontologies since they try to capture pieces of the ‘semantic relations of the real world’. The second function as models for further processing, in contrast, is completely normative in nature—it is a specification of a ‘formal semantics’. Unfortunately, the ideal realization of ontologies as epistemic models differs from the normative ideal. As specifications, ontologies have to be as precise (unequivocal) as possible; as representations of reality, in contrast, they have to be as descriptive as possible, which may imply ambiguity and even inconsistency in some domains. Ontology processing is particularly challenging as balancing these ideals is a domain specific task. The paper scrutinizes possibilities and fundamental limits for such a balance with a focus on simulation model interoperability and ontology-driven development based on experiences with ontologies in military projects.

Case Adaptation Method of Case-Based Reasoning for Construction Cost Estimation in Korea

Case-based reasoning (CBR) utilizes old solutions to solve a present problem. However, as no past situation is ever exactly the same as a new one, old solutions should be fitted for new circumstances, which is called case adaptation. Thus, the success of CBR depends on the ability of case adaptation. Generally, the case adaptation method can be categorized by two methods: decreasing the need for adaptation and increasing the capability. Nevertheless, previous research has focused on applying the method itself and rarely examined the adaptation or candidates selection. As an effort to enhance the performance of CBR, this research develops a case adaptation method that is balanced for both methods. To validate the method, a CBR cost model was developed that has an adaptation function using 129 military barrack projects in Korea, and then the method was tested by using 13 test cases. Furthermore, an applicability test was conducted based on 164 Korean public apartment projects.

Military construction projects: comparison of project delivery methods

PurposeDesign‐build project delivery will likely yield benefits when it is a rational choice by a program director or owner's construction manager. It is not well understood whether those benefits translate to construction programs where design‐build is mandated for the vast majority of project types. Such a determination for military construction (MILCON) is the purpose of this paper.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology for the research involved a comparison of mean performance metrics for design‐build and design‐bid‐build MILCON projects. Once an appropriate sample of projects was identified, project data were corrected for project location, size and time‐value‐of‐money.FindingsMilitary design‐build projects did experience a lower total cost of change orders as well as a reduced change order cost associated with field changes. Also, statistical analysis demonstrated no significant difference in project performance metrics based on facility type. These results indicate that design‐build project delivery method can work equally well on all types of MILCON projects and is an effective system for cost and scope control, but that some of the expected schedule performance gains underlying the decision to use design‐build will be difficult to achieve on all MILCON projects.Originality/valueThe paper presents advantages and disadvantages of utilising design‐build to MILCON projects by facility types.