Soviet Naval Infantry: A New Capability?

The potential destructiveness of intercontinental ballistic missiles has led lo a situation in which the superpowers regard the prospect of mutual confrontation with great anxiety, Acknowledging the necessity of caution to avoid escalation, the contemporary conflict environment has developed to the stage where the super­power first on the scene gains the advantage of a situational fait accompli, thereby placing the onus for escalation on the other

Optimal symmetric flight with an intermediate vehicle model

Optimal flight in the vertical plane with a vehicle model intermediate in complexity between the point-mass and energy models is studied. Flight-path angle takes on the role of a control variable. Range-open problems feature subarcs of vertical flight and singular subarcs. The class of altitude-speed-range-time optimization problems with fuel expenditure unspecified is investigated and some interesting phenomena uncovered. The maximum-lift-to-drag glide appears as part of the family, final-time-open, with appropriate initial and terminal transient exceeding level-flight drag, some members exhibiting oscillations. Oscillatory paths generally fail the Jacobi test for durations exceeding a period and furnish a minimum only for short-duration problems

STRATA-VARIOUS: A flexible Fortran program for dynamic forward modeling of stratigraphy

STRATA-VARIOUS version 1.3 is a computer program written in Fortran 77 to perform two-dimensional forward modeling of stratigraphic processes. We designed specific features of the program to investigate orbital forcing of high-frequency glacioeustasy. This requires forward modeling of many hundreds of sea-level stillstands and the graphic display of relatively precise spatial details. To use this program, the user constructs files that specify the times and elevations of sea-level stillstands, the initial basement topography, numerous parameters that control the geometry and physical properties of stratigraphic beds, the isostatic response of the lithosphere, the pattern of tectonic subsidence and uplift, the number and scale of desired output cross sections, etc. Two features of this program are especially novel. Whereas many forward-modeling programs store information about stratigraphic beds in fixed-size horizontal bins, our program retains in memory the precise locations of all horizontal locations where any stratigraphic bed undergoes any distinct change. This allows us to obtain regional cross sections and magnified sections that preserve information about the geometry and lithology of individual beds. Second, for clastic sediments we have developed a realistic parametric scheme for describing how sea-level variation affects the sediment discharge rate. The parameters that control this scheme have simple physical interpretations in terms of the dimensions, erosion rates, etc. for the alluvial valley responsible for the sediment supply. In this article we give various examples of STRATA-VARIOUS graphic output to illustrate model sensitivity and to demonstrate some of the options available

STRATA-VARIOUS: A flexible Fortran program for dynamic forward modeling of stratigraphy

STRATA-VARIOUS version 1.3 is a computer program written in Fortran 77 to perform two-dimensional forward modeling of stratigraphic processes. We designed specific features of the program to investigate orbital forcing of high-frequency glacioeustasy. This requires forward modeling of many hundreds of sea-level stillstands and the graphic display of relatively precise spatial details. To use this program, the user constructs files that specify the times and elevations of sea-level stillstands, the initial basement topography, numerous parameters that control the geometry and physical properties of stratigraphic beds, the isostatic response of the lithosphere, the pattern of tectonic subsidence and uplift, the number and scale of desired output cross sections, etc. Two features of this program are especially novel. Whereas many forward-modeling programs store information about stratigraphic beds in fixed-size horizontal bins, our program retains in memory the precise locations of all horizontal locations where any stratigraphic bed undergoes any distinct change. This allows us to obtain regional cross sections and magnified sections that preserve information about the geometry and lithology of individual beds. Second, for clastic sediments we have developed a realistic parametric scheme for describing how sea-level variation affects the sediment discharge rate. The parameters that control this scheme have simple physical interpretations in terms of the dimensions, erosion rates, etc. for the alluvial valley responsible for the sediment supply. In this article we give various examples of STRATA-VARIOUS graphic output to illustrate model sensitivity and to demonstrate some of the options available

Optimal symmetric flight studies

Several topics in optimal symmetric flight of airbreathing vehicles are examined. In one study, an approximation scheme designed for onboard real-time energy management of climb-dash is developed and calculations for a high-performance aircraft presented. In another, a vehicle model intermediate in complexity between energy and point-mass models is explored and some quirks in optimal flight characteristics peculiar to the model uncovered. In yet another study, energy-modelling procedures are re-examined with a view to stretching the range of validity of zeroth-order approximation by special choice of state variables. In a final study, time-fuel tradeoffs in cruise-dash are examined for the consequences of nonconvexities appearing in the classical steady cruise-dash model. Two appendices provide retrospective looks at two early publications on energy modelling and related optimal control theory

Climb-dash real-time calculations

On-board rear-optimal climb-dash energy management, optimal symmetric flight with an intermediate vehicle model, and energy states are presented

Analysing co-evolution among artificial 3D creatures

This paper is concerned with the analysis of coevolutionary dynamics among 3D artificial creatures, similar to those introduced by Sims (1). Coevolution is subject to complex dynamics which are notoriously difficult to analyse. We introduce an improved analysis method based on Master Tournament matrices [2], which we argue is both less costly to compute and more informative than the original method. Based on visible features of the resulting graphs, we can identify particular trends and incidents in the dynamics of coevolution and look for their causes. Finally, considering that coevolutionary progress is not necessarily identical to global overall progress, we extend this analysis by cross-validating individuals from different evolutionary runs, which we argue is more appropriate than single-record analysis method for evaluating the global performance of individuals