The Ascent to Manufacturing Competitiveness: Defense Firms vs. Non-Defense Firm

Facing rapidly changing markets and increasing competition, the competitive environment of the defense industry has undergone extensive restructuring, significantly more so than for the non-defense sector. This comprehensive survey of defense and non-defense firms offers insight into the defense industry\u27s journey into open competition, as well as insight into different strategic approaches to manufacturing competitiveness during this critical period. The data suggest that the surviving defense firms have strengthened, and that defense and non-defense manufacturers alike are responding competitively to the call of the global economy

Department of Defense Certificate of Commendation

The certificate reads: Department of Defense Office of Civil Defense Certificate of Commendation Awarded to Bryant College For outstanding community leadership and cooperation in National Civil Defense by providing fallout shelter facilities for the public, thereby increasing the capacity of our country to survive and recover in the event of an attack. Stewart L. Pittman Assistant Secretary of Defense (Civil Defense) Robert G. Raymond Civil Defense Directo

The Metamorphosis of the Defense Industry

The downsizing of the United States defense industry in recent years had a multitude of effects on defense and defense-related manufacturers. Besides the inevitable loss of jobs, these firms essentially had to reinvent themselves in order to compete in the commercial sector more effectively. Moreover, the defense cutbacks also resulted in implications for the U.S. as a whole. These include questionable preparedness for armed conflict, as well as the potential loss of defense-related suppliers that could affect the ability to sustain armed conflict. These and other insights were gleaned from plant-level interviews and tours of several, small defense-related manufacturers

Self-Defense, Defense of Others, and the State

With the wide spread of wireless technology, the time for 4G has arrived, and 5G will appear not so far in the future. However, no matter whether it is 4G or 5G, low latency is a mandatory requirement for baseband processing at base stations for modern cellular standards. In particular, in a future 5G wireless system, with massive MIMO and ultra-dense cells, the demand for low round trip latency between the mobile device and the base station requires a baseband processing delay of 1 ms. This is 10 percentage of today’s LTE-A round trip latency, while at the same time massive MIMO requires large-scale matrix computations. This is especially true for channel estimation and MIMO detection at the base station. Therefore, it is essential to ensure low latency for the user data traffic. In this master’s thesis, LTE/LTE-A uplink physical layer processing is examined, especially the process of channel estimation and MIMO detection. In order to analyze this processing we compare two conventional algorithms’ performance and complexity for channel estimation and MIMO detection. The key aspect which affects the algorithms’ speed is identified as the need for “massive complex matrix inversion”. A parallel coding scheme is proposed to implement a matrix inversion kernel algorithm on a single instruction multiple data stream (SIMD) vector processor. The major contribution of this thesis is implementation and evaluation of a parallel massive complex matrix inversion algorithm. Two aspects have been addressed: the selection of the algorithm to perform this matrix computation and the implementation of a highly parallel version of this algorithm.Med den breda spridningen av trådlös teknik, har tiden för 4G kommit, och 5G kommer inom en överskådlig framtid. Men oavsett om det gäller 4G eller 5G, låg latens är ett obligatoriskt krav för basbandsbehandling vid basstationer för moderna mobila standarder. I synnerhet i ett framtida trådlöst 5G-system, med massiva MIMO och ultratäta celler, behövs en basbandsbehandling fördröjning på 1 ms för att klara efterfrågan på en låg rundresa latens mellan den mobila enheten och basstationen. Detta är 10 procent av dagens LTE-E rundresa latens, medan massiva MIMO samtidigt kräver storskaliga matrisberäkningar. Detta är särskilt viktigt för kanaluppskattning och MIMO-detektion vid basstationen. Därför är det viktigt att se till att det är låg latens för användardatatrafik. I detta examensarbete, skall LTE/LTE-A upplänk fysiska lagret bearbetning undersökas, och då särskilt processen för kanaluppskattning och MIMO-detektion. För att analysera denna processing jämför vi två konventionella algoritmers prestationer och komplexitet för kanaluppskattning och MIMO-detektion. Den viktigaste aspekten som påverkar algoritmernas hastighet identifieras som behovet av "massiva komplex matrisinversion". Ett parallellt kodningsschema föreslås för att implementera en "matrisinversion kernel-algoritmen" på singelinstruktion multidataström (SIMD) vektorprocessor. Det största bidraget med denna avhandling är genomförande och utvärdering av en parallell massiva komplex matrisinversion kernel-algoritmen. Två aspekter har tagits upp: valet av algoritm för att utföra denna matrisberäkning och implementationen av en högst parallell version av denna algoritm

A New Societal Self-Defense Theory of Punishment—The Rights-Protection Theory

In this paper, I propose a new self-defense theory of punishment, the rights-protection theory. By appealing to the interest theory of right, I show that what we call “the right of self-defense” is actually composed of the right to protect our basic rights. The right of self-defense is not a single, self-standing right but a group of derivative rights justified by their contribution to the protection of the core, basic rights. Thus, these rights of self-defense are both justified and constrained by the basic rights they are supposed to protect. I then explain how this theory responds to a common objection. Opponents argue that, to exercise the right of self-defense, some threat must be present. However, in the context of punishment, the threat has already taken effect or is already gone. Thus, the right of self-defense becomes irrelevant when we punish an offender. I show that this objection is based on an implausibly narrow conception of self-defense. A reasonable conception would allow us to exercise our right of self-defense when there is a present definite threat, a future definite threat, or a potential threat. Thus, we may still exercise our right of self-defense in the context of punishment

An Initial Look at Technology and Institutions on Defense Industry Consolidation

Conventional wisdom holds that defense industry consolidation resulted from decreased defense spending. However, we maintain that understanding dynamic changes in key defense institutions helps provide a more complete explanation for observed consolidation. Specifically, we examine the interaction of evolving technology and changing institutions. Institutions reviewed include procurement policies, weapons requirements process and the procurement organizations. We take an initial look at the industry and highlight how these changes influenced transaction costs in the defense industry more fully explain the forces driving consolidation and provide greater insight to policy makers seeking to improve the performance of the defense industry. Further research is needed to build a robust institutional framework of the defense industry and the related government agencies to allow better policy prescriptions

The impact of Singapore’s military development on Malaysia’s security

In this intense era of military and defense development in South East Asia, Singapore has emergence as the fastest country in the development of military capabilities.The rapid military development that started in 1965 has made Singapore become the strongest and finest in military and defense compared to other Southeast Asia nations. Singapore’s decision to be independent from Malaysia has forced it to be self-reliant, especially in terms of security and defense.Singapore adopted the approach to develop and strengthen its defense and military system after achieving independence in 1965.Its increasing economic development in1990 has influenced the military development process and defense system.This rapid expansion has made Singapore emergence as the strongest and most advanced in military capabilities country in the Southeast Asian region.The offensive defense doctrine practiced such as forward defense, poison shrimp, pre-emptive strike and strategic weaponry ownership had raised concerns among leaders in the Southeast Asian countries.At the same time, Malaysia has also taken action to speed up its military development, diversifying the defense doctrine including total defense, complete military with modern and sophisticated defense equipment.It is speculated as a result of the security impact that Malaysia face from Singapore’s military development.Hence, this study tries to elaborate the impact or security implications on Malaysia resulting from Singapore’s military development from the Malaysian military perspective

Defense semantics of argumentation: encoding reasons for accepting arguments

In this paper we show how the defense relation among abstract arguments can be used to encode the reasons for accepting arguments. After introducing a novel notion of defenses and defense graphs, we propose a defense semantics together with a new notion of defense equivalence of argument graphs, and compare defense equivalence with standard equivalence and strong equivalence, respectively. Then, based on defense semantics, we define two kinds of reasons for accepting arguments, i.e., direct reasons and root reasons, and a notion of root equivalence of argument graphs. Finally, we show how the notion of root equivalence can be used in argumentation summarization.Comment: 14 pages, first submitted on April 30, 2017; 16 pages, revised in terms of the comments from MIREL2017 on August 03, 201