FLEXIBLE SHIP OPTIONS Business Case Valuation of Strategic Flexibility in Ship Building

Introduction *Research Goal: Assess total future value of Flexible Ships design features to enable affordable warfighting relevance over a ship's full service life. *Affordable Warfighting = Higher Cost now but Greater ROI over the entire service life and lifecycle of the ship. *IRM methodology will be used. *Methodology provides a reusable, extensible, adaptable, and comprehensive advanced analytical modeling process. *Will help the U.S. Navy in quantifying, modeling, valuing, and optimizing a set of ship design options. *Results used to develop a robust business case for making strategic design decisions under uncertainty.Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research Progra

Business Case Valuation of Strategic Flexibility in Shipbuilding: Justifying and Assessing the Value of Flexible Ships Design Features in New Navy Ship Concepts

To successfully implement the Surface Navyﾒs Flexible Ships concept, PEO-SHIPS requires a new methodology that assesses the total future value of various combinations of Flexible Ships design features and how they will enable affordable warfighting relevance over the shipﾒs full-service life. Examples of Flexible Ships design features include decoupling payloads from platforms, standardizing platform-to-payload interfaces, implementing allowance for rapid reconfiguration of onboard electronics and weapons systems, preplanning access routes for mission bays and mission decks, and allowing for sufficient growth margins for various distributed systems. This research analyzes the application of strategic Real Options Valuation methodology within the Integrated Risk Management process to assess the total future value of Flexible Ships design features and for use in the Future Surface Combatant Analysis of Alternatives. The current research has the explicit goal of proposing a reusable, extensible, adaptable, and comprehensive advanced analytical modeling process to help the U.S. Navy in quantifying, modeling, valuing, and optimizing a set of ship design options to create and value a business case for making strategic decisions under uncertainty.Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research Progra

Business Case Valuation of Strategic Flexibility in Ship Building: Justifying and Assessing the Value of Flexible Ships Design Features in New Navy Ship Concepts

To successfully implement the Surface Navy's Flexible Ships concept, Program Executive OfficeﾖShips (PEO-SHIPS) requires a new methodology that assesses the total future value of various combinations of Flexible Ships design features and how they will enable affordable warfighting relevance over the ship's full service life. Examples of Flexible Ships design features include decoupling payloads from platforms, standardizing platform-to-payload interfaces, implementing allowance for rapid reconfiguration of onboard electronics and weapons systems, preplanning access routes for mission bays and mission decks, and allowing for sufficient growth margins for various distributed systems. This research analyzes the application of strategic Real Options Valuation (ROV) methodology within the Integrated Risk Management process to assess the total future value of Flexible Ships design features and for use in the Future Surface Combatant Analysis of Alternatives. The current research has the explicit goal of proposing a reusable, extensible, adaptable, and comprehensive advanced analytical modeling process to help the U.S. Navy in quantifying, modeling, valuing, and optimizing a set of ship design options to create and value a business case for making strategic decisions under uncertainty.Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research Progra

Real options valuation in the design of future surface combatants

In a rapidly evolving world, the U.S. Navy must build an affordable, sustainable fleet of surface combatants that is capable of keeping pace with any threat. This can only be accomplished with a highly sophisticated fleet of reconfigurable vessels capable of meeting their service-life expectancy of 40 years. Modular Adaptable Ship (MAS) designs that include flexibility, decoupled payloads from the platform, standard interfaces, planned access routes, and growth margin for future technological advances present a viable option for the U.S. Navy. If the design approach to future surface combatants incorporates the use of Real Options Valuation (ROV) within the Integrated Risk Management (IRM) framework to account for unknown risk at the time of design, a reasonable portfolio of design options can be presented throughout the various stages of production. From our examination of the use of modular payloads on the Freedom (LCS-1) and Independence (LCS-2) classes and the planned access routes and growth margin for modernization on the San Antonio (LPD-17) class, a strong case can be made that a surface combatant designed with flexibility and adaptability would afford benefits, ultimately, to all entities within the Department of Defense.http://archive.org/details/realoptionsvalua1094555647Commander, United States NavyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

FLEXIBLE SHIP OPTIONS: Business Case Valuation of Strategic Flexibility in Ship Building

Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research Progra

Schizophrenia-Like Attentional Deficits Following Blockade of Prefrontal Cortex GABAA Receptors

Attentional deficits are a core symptom of schizophrenia. Post-mortem analyses of the brains of schizophrenics reveal consistent abnormalities in γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) interneurons indicative of reduced cortical GABA transmission, raising the possibility that this pathology contributes to attentional deficits. We examined whether blockade of prefrontal cortex (PFC) GABAA receptors with bicuculline (BMI) impairs attention in rats using the 5-choice serial reaction time task (5CSRTT). For comparison, we also examined whether administration of the GABAA receptor agonist muscimol (MUS) would improve attention. In parallel, we examined the effects of both manipulations on activity in an open field and on motivation using the intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) test. BMI increased PFC neuronal activity, as reflected by increased Fos immunolabeling, and impaired attention, as reflected by decreased accuracy and increased omissions. Although increased omissions also may reflect reductions in locomotor activity or motivation, the overall pattern of effects does not support either of these interpretations: BMI did not affect locomotor activity, and it enhanced motivation in the ICSS test. MUS did not affect attention, although it increased impulsive behavior at a dose that suppressed PFC neuronal activity, as reflected by decreased Fos immunolabeling. These impulsivity effects are not due to altered locomotor activity (which was decreased) or motivation (which was not affected). Our data support the hypothesis that cortical GABA neurons have an important role in regulating attention and may have direct implications for the treatment of schizophrenia