USMA Digital Commons (United States Military Academy, West Point)
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Two-outcome Synchronous Correlation Sets and Connes\u27 Embedding Problem
Get PDFWe show that Connes\u27 embedding problem is equivalent to the weak Tsirelson problem in the setting of two-outcome synchronous correlation sets. We further show that the extreme points of two-outcome synchronous correlation sets can be realized using a certain class of universal C*-algebras. We examine these algebras in the three-experiment case and verify that the strong and weak Tsirelson problems have affirmative answers in that setting
Establishing and Maintaining Multivariate Trust in a Hierarchical SDN
No full textTraditional network architectures suffer from an inability to depart from the marriage between the control and data planes housed in the same physical device. Software Defined Networking (SDN) provides such a departure: an architecture that can rapidly integrate diverse and dynamic network functions. Current network architectures trust traffic typically based on IP address and the physical location of the host. This paper defines and outlines a multivariate trust model in an SDN environment that provides a method to implement the policies of a complex organization. An entity\u27s trust level, based on hardware trusted platform modules, operating system status, user identification, and traffic patterns, is used to determine whether its particular traffic flow is allowed to traverse the network. Ultimately, we allocate a dynamic network slicing solution to such flows, enabling the efficient allocation of bandwidth across a layered SDN. We are deploying this trust model on a three-tiered network model designed to simulate the hierarchical nature of the US Army and the Department of Defense Information Network (DODIN) through common traffic scenarios
Designing and Flight-Testing a Swarm of Small UAS to Assist Post-Nuclear Blast Forensics
No full textNuclear blasts leave plumes of residue and sources of radiation behind that can be used to determine their origin. To assist in locating the best areas to collect ground samples a team from West Point developed an autonomous Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) swarm system for expedited remote sensing. The system includes several distributed control algorithms to enable a team of quadrotor UAS to rapidly survey regions for radiation
Steel-Plate Composite Walls Subjected to Missile Impact: Experimental Evaluation of Local Damage
No full textThis paper presents the results of an experimental program conducted to evaluate the local damage behavior of steel-plate composite (SC) walls subjected to missile impact. There is significant interest in the use of SC walls for protective structures particularly to resist impactive and impulsive loading. The behavior of SC walls subjected to these loads differs from that of reinforced concrete (RC) walls due to the placement of steel plates on the surfaces, which prevents concrete scabbing and enhances local perforation resistance. The results from the experimental program are used to demonstrate and explain progression of damage modes leading to local perforation, and to validate and quantify the conservatism of a recently developed design method. Laboratory-scale SC wall specimens were fabricated and tested in an indoor missile impact facility specially built and commissioned for this research. Sixteen tests were conducted with varied parameters: the steel plate reinforcement ratio (ρ∶3.7%–5.2%); tie bar spacing, size, and reinforcement ratio (ρt∶0.37%–1.23%); steel plate yield stress (fnom y ∶Gr · 50–Gr · 65); and missile diameter (Dm∶25.4, 38.1 mm), weight (Wm∶0.59, 0.91, 1.59 kg), and velocity (Vm∶125–232 m=s). Experimental results include the measured missile velocity, penetration depth, rear steel plate bulging deformation, and test outcome (stopped or perforated). The observations of behavior and progression of damage (missile penetration and local perforation) are used to quantify and explain the sources of conservatism in the design method, which include the dimensions of the concrete conical frustum (breaking out) and the assumed penetration depth equations
Reinventing the Leader-Selection Process: The U.S. Army’s new approach to managing talent
No full textThe U.S. Army has long struggled with toxic and inept leaders, and no wonder: It has historically chosen battalion commanders, a linchpin position, on the basis of 90-second file reviews. Last year it undertook an ambitious revamping of that selection process, which now involves four full days of physical, cognitive, and psychological assessments and interviews. The author, a lieutenant colonel who served as an adviser to the task force that designed and implemented the new process, describes it in granular detail, including a variety of rigorous measures for reducing interviewer bias and ensuring diversity and inclusion. Although specifically aimed at improving the validity, reliability, and developmental impact of the army’s executive-leader selections, the redesigned process offers important lessons for any organization seeking to bolster its talent assessment and promotion practices
If China loses a future war, entropy could be imminent
Get PDFWhat happens if China engages in a great power conflict and loses? Will the Chinese Communist Party’s control over the society survive a horrifying defeat?
The People’s Liberation Army last fought a massive-scale war during the invasion of Vietnam in 1979, which was a failed operation to punish Vietnam for toppling the Khmer Rouge regime of Cambodia. Since 1979, the PLA has been engaged in shelling Vietnam at different occasions and involved in other border skirmishes, but not fought a full-scale war.
In the last decades, China increased its defense spending and modernized its military, including advanced air defenses and cruise missiles; fielded advanced military hardware; and built a high sea navy from scratch. But there is significant uncertainty of how the Chinese military will perform.
Modern warfare is integration, joint operations, command, control, intelligence, and the ability to understand and execute the ongoing, all-domain fight. War is a complex machinery with low margins of error and can have devastating outcomes for the ill-prepared. It does not matter if you are against or for the U.S. military operations the last three decades; the fact is that the prolonged conflict and engagement have made the U.S. experienced. The Chinese inexperience, in combination with unrealistic expansionist ambitions, can be the downfall of the regime. Dry swimmers maybe train the basics, but they are never great swimmers
Evaluating Cryptographic Performance of Raspberry Pi Clusters
No full textARM-based single board computers (SBCs) such as the Raspberry Pi capture the imaginations of hobbyists and scientists due to their low cost and versatility. With the deluge of data produced in edge environments, SBCs and SBC clusters have emerged as low-cost platform for data collection and analysis. Simultaneously, security is a growing concern as new regulations require secure communication for data collected from the edge. In this paper, we compare the performance of a Raspberry Pi cluster to a power-efficient next unit of computing (NUC) and a midrange desktop (MRD) on three leading cryptographic algorithms (AES, Twofish, and Serpent) and assess the general-purpose performance of the three systems using the HPL benchmark. Our results suggest that hardware-level instruction sets for all three cryptographic algorithms should be implemented on single board computers to aid with secure data transfer on the edge
Inducing motivational harmony to increase attitudes and intentions to register as an organ donor and engage in general prosocial behavior
No full textIn three preregistered studies, we investigated whether positive and negative organ donation attitudes, intentions, as well as general prosocial behavioral intentions, could be influenced by inducing motivational harmony—the sense that things are going well in life. In Study 1, we examined correlations between motivational harmony, organ donation attitudes, intentions, and prosocial behavioral intentions. Study 2a represented an attempt to assess the malleability of motivational harmony using two different autobiographical recall tasks. The successful induction was utilized in Study 2b, designed to assess whether increasing motivational harmony caused changes in organ donation attitudes, intentions, and prosocial behavioral intentions. This study used a Solomon post‐group design, where participants were randomly assigned to receive the scale assessing the proposed mediator (i.e., motivational harmony) or to receive the dependent variables directly after receiving the induction. These studies focused on attitudes and intentions to register oneself as an organ donor after death. Although no direct effects on donor outcomes were identified, the motivational harmony induction task indirectly increased organ donation registration intentions through increased motivational harmony. Moreover, there was both a direct relationship of the motivational harmony induction on prosocial behavior intentions and an indirect association through increased motivational harmony. These findings have theoretical implications for the construct of motivational harmony, as well as practical applications for the promotion of organ donation and prosocial behavior