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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
511

A framework for the management of evolving requirements in software systems supporting network-centric warfare

Reynolds, Linda K. 06 1900 (has links)
Approved for public release, distribution unlimited / Network-centric warfare (NCW) has changed the way the Department of Defense addresses technological improvements for its military forces. No longer is the emphasis on enhancing the capabilities of a single platform, but the focus is now on networking people, processes and technology to enable knowledge sharing and rapid decision-making. The capabilities required to support network-centric operations (NCO) in the NCW environment must be supported by new, innovative networked communication technologies. There are many sources of requirements for these software systems supporting NCO, which may increase in number as the Services continue to develop the capabilities necessary for the transformation to a fully networked military force. Requirements may also emerge and continue to evolve following the fielding of a NCO capability because new technology has the potential to change how warfighters work. Requirements evolution results in requirements engineering challenges associated with the acquisition and development of network-centric software systems. As such, an approach is needed to provide for consistency in elicitation, management and documentation of evolving requirements for technological capabilities supporting NCO. The purpose of this research is to address the problem of evolving requirements. The requirements engineering framework proposed by this thesis incorporates classification theory and requirements modeling principles, and is supported by the Extensible Markup Language (XML) family of technologies. Particular attention has been paid to the selection of non-proprietary, platform independent technology to ensure data can be exchanged between organizations. The framework demonstrates a means by which requirements can be classified and structured in a standardized format. The result is a set of requirements that is consistent in structure and content, and that can be easily shared among all stakeholders because it utilizes one standard, non-proprietary format. This approach captures evolving software requirements of fielded network-centric software systems for use in the development of future systems. / US Navy (USN) author.
512

Informing Royal Navy people strategy : understanding career aspirations and behaviours of naval personnel

Bewley, Elizabeth Emma January 2016 (has links)
Following a series of imposed redundancies in the Royal Navy (RN) there was a need to understand the career desires of remaining personnel and how these interact with important organisational behaviours and turnover. Taking a social psychology perspective, this thesis addresses criticisms over the high use of non-working populations in research and provides the first empirical evidence for the utility, applicability and relevance of specific psychological theories to the RN. Chapter 2 explores the relationship between career anchors and psychological contract violation, organisational commitment and turnover. Evidence was found for the applicability and potential generalisability of civilian-based research to the RN. RN career anchor preferences were similar to some non-military organisations, and these preferences differentially influenced the variables explored. Chapter 3 presents an intervention developed to support newly appointed Career Managers to increase awareness of human resource issues, representing the first exploration of induction on later attitudes of ‘experienced newcomers’ in the RN. The induction did not influence attitudes; although time did, indicating the importance of role clarity. Chapter 4 provides a critical literature review of work-family conflict (WFC) and its influence on turnover intentions of military personnel and effects on military spouses. The expected negative relationship between WFC and turnover was found, although not consistently; types of satisfaction mediated this relationship, and WFC was linked to stress. Chapter 5 provides new empirical understanding of the interactions between ethos, organisational identity, and engagement on career motivation, perceived future opportunities and intentions to stay. Differences in these constructs were also explored between discrete RN groupings. The relationship between identity and ethos, and engagement, identity and ethos were explored to advance theoretical understanding of these constructs, finishing with an extension to Chapter 2 through revisiting career anchors. In conclusion, this thesis provides new contextual insights, interactions and relationships for academic knowledge, psychological theory and addresses a practical organisational issue within a highly regarded and inaccessible organisation. The outcomes provide the first empirical evidence of career-related behaviours within the RN, and more generally indicate the applicability of civilian based psychological theories to a military population, in particular, career anchors, ethos and focus on opportunities and their importance for people strategy decisions supporting evidence-based decision making within the workplace.
513

High fidelity multidisciplinary analyses of flow in weapon bays

Babu, Savio January 2014 (has links)
Modern military aircraft employ weapon bays for carriage and release of stores. The clearance of these stores for release from aircraft may require several flight tests at a range of conditions where the trajectories of released stores are obtained through accelerometers located on the store. Although effective, this is expensive and time consuming and only limited flight tests can be accomplished at critical conditions. Predictions made using store release analysis through wind tunnels and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) have the potential to reduce the number of flight tests required for store clearance. The motivation for the current work, stems from the need to investigate carriage and release of a store from a weapon bay, idealised as a rectangular cavity, through a unique blend of disciplines comprising Computational Fluid Dynamics, Computational Structural Dynamics (CSD), Computational Aero- Aeroacoustics (CAA) and High Performance Computing (HPC). Detached-Eddy Simulations (DES) of flow in clean cavities were carried out to compare two cavities of different aspect ratios for configurations with doors-off and doors-on. Both cavities had similar acoustic signatures and the addition of doors channelled the flow causing acoustic waves to propagate further away from the cavity. DES computations were carried out for a store at different positions relative to a cavity that showed that a store at carriage position pacified the cavity acoustics the most. Fin tip displacements were small for a store at carriage position and exhibited buzzing characteristics. This was similar to the case where a store was positioned at the shear layer of a cavity but with slightly larger displacements. While fin displacements were not large, the results highlighted concerns for fin fatigue life. Comparisons between rigid and elastic fins showed small differences in loads, however, aeroelastic simulations showed that where resonance of structural and cavity modes occurred, large amplitude fin oscillations were predicted. Scale-Adaptive Simulations (SAS) were validated against experimental data for clean cavities and were found to be similar to DES results and could be run at a larger time-step. The cost savings and similarities of SAS to DES encouraged its use for store release computations. Store release computations from a cavity were conducted and the variability of a stores trajectory due to the unsteady cavity flow-field was investigated. Visualisations using Q-criteria highlighted instantaneous structures that were in contact with the store fins causing the trajectory to vary for different release times. Overall, the thesis suggests the use of SAS as an affordable method for analysing store release computations from a cavity and highlights the need for a stochastic evaluation of trajectories from transonic cavities. A study comparing different signal lengths for post-processing unsteady pressure data revealed that, the minimum CFD signal length required to capture all dominant tones was around 0.05s. Different post-processing methods for spectral content were compared and the use of Maximum Entropy Methods (MEMs), based on Burgs Estimator, was suggested as it not only captured dominant tones but also predicted the highest Sound Pressure Levels (SPLs), that could be used to produce the maximum boundary of a given signal.
514

Crisis of the public sector : a philosophical analysis of new public management through MacIntyre and Foucault

Ongun, Mustafa January 2016 (has links)
This thesis is a philosophical study of New Public Management (NPM). NPM is a theme used within the mainstream public management literature to explain and critically evaluate the changes that occurred within the public sector since the 1990s. In this study, I aim to develop the argument that there is a crisis in the public sector that results from the NPM regime. To develop this argument, I draw upon the Aristotelian philosophy of Alasdair MacIntyre and identify two distinct spheres of the public sector: practices and institutions. I then argue that NPM generates a certain type of conflict between these two spheres of the public sector. This is a conflict that is related, first, to different and rival presuppositions of practices and institutions, regarding the good of human beings, and then, to the power relationships that are introduced to the public sector through new management methods of NPM. These new management methods assert power over the practices through redefining the meaning of quality and good performance in a way that is contrary to the meanings attached to them by the practitioners. Practitioners in turn resist to this process and conflict with the institutions. The conflict turns into a crisis because the conflict can only be resolved, if either the NPM is removed from the public sector or practices cease to exist in the way that MacIntyre understands them.
515

Civilian control of the military in Portugal and Spain : a policy instruments approach

Olivas Osuna, José Javier January 2012 (has links)
Despite their economic, political and cultural similarities, Portugal and Spain experienced different trajectories of civil-military relations during the twentieth century. After having handed power over to a civilian dictator, Salazar, the Portuguese military eventually caused the downfall of his authoritarian Estado Novo regime and led the transition to democracy. In contrast, in Spain the military, which had helped Franco to defeat the Republic in 1939 remained loyal to the dictatorship’s principles and, after his death, obstructed the democratisation process. This research sheds light on these different patterns by comparing the policy instruments that governments used to control the military throughout Portuguese and Spanish dictatorships and transitions to democracy. First, it applies Christopher Hood’s (1983) ‘NATO’ (nodality, authority, treasure and organisation) framework for the study of tools of government in order to identify trajectories and establish comparisons across time and countries. These tools can be considered as the institutions that structure the relationship between the governments and the military. This thesis documents that the tools used in both counties differed considerably and evolved over time and that only from 1982 onwards a process of convergence can be observed. Second, this thesis contrasts two types of neo-institutional explanations for the evolution of tool choice and civil-military relations. One based on historical junctures and path-dependence (historical causes) and the other on the continuous impact of environmental factors (constant causes). is research demonstrates that both approaches are largely intertwined and to a great extent become complementary and necessary to capture complexity in tool choice. In sum, this thesis shows that dialogue and exchange between different analytical approaches contributes to a deeper understanding of multifaceted social phenomena. The utilisation of public policy analytical frameworks, such as the NATO scheme and neoinstitutionalism, provides a new angle on the evolution of civil-military relations in Portugal and Spain.
516

Design validation of future ballistic neck protection through the development of novel injury models

Breeze, John January 2015 (has links)
The primary aim of this thesis was to develop more acceptable methods of ballistic neck protection that could replace the existing OSPREY ballistic neck collar. Clinical and post mortem injury analysis, computed tomography interpretation and ergonomics assessments were undertaken, resulting in the recommendation of two prototype designs to the Ministry of Defence. These two prototypes have subsequently been renamed the Enhanced Protection Under Body Armour Combat Shirt and the Patrol collar, and are now issued to all UK armed forces personnel deploying on operations overseas. The secondary aim of this thesis was to develop methods to validate the potential medical effectiveness of future body armour designs. Two new novel injury models have been developed using an anthropometrically accurate three- dimensional representation of cervical anatomical structures. Penetration of representative fragment simulating projectiles through skin and muscle was determined experimentally using physical and animal simulants. The Coverage of Armour Tool is being used in the current Ministry of Defence VIRTUS procurement programme to rule out future body armour designs on medical grounds, thereby greatly reducing the number of prototypes requiring ergonomics assessment.
517

Army co-operation command and tactical air power development in Britain, 1940-1943 : the role of army co-operation command in army air support

Powell, Matthew Lee January 2014 (has links)
This thesis examines the impact of the developments made during the First World War and the inter-war period in tactical air support. Further to this, it will analyse how these developments led to the creation of Army Co-operation Command and affected the role it played developing army air support in Britain. Army Co-operation Command has been neglected in the literature on the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and this thesis addresses this neglect by adding to the extant knowledge on the development of tactical air support and fills a larger gap that exists in the literature on Royal Air Force Commands. Army Co-operation Command was created at the behest of the army in the wake of the Battle of France. A key area of development was the communications system to enable troops to request air support in the field. The Command was also involved in developing the Air Observation Post Squadron. Air Observation Post aircraft were used to direct the fire of artillery batteries from the air. In 1943, an operational tactical air force replaced Army Co-operation Command. This study highlights inter-service difficulties over the provision of air support.
518

The military applications of near infrared spectroscopy in trauma

Barker, Tom January 2016 (has links)
This work examines tissue oxygenation (StO2), as measured by near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), as tool for assessing trauma patients, with particular emphasis on its use in the deployed military environment. Resting StO2 values were examined and found to vary significantly between monitoring sites. Exercise was associated with a significant increase in StO2. Comparing the sensitivities of different NIRS monitoring sites in detecting simulated hypovolaemia, the forearm and deltoid were found be the most sensitive sites. The thenar eminence and brain were not sensitive to mild degrees of hypovolaemia. The administration of morphine was found to attenuate the StO2 response to hypovolaemia at all sites. In a porcine trauma model changes in StO2 recorded from both injured and uninjured muscle sites phase led those of base excess and lactate by 31–37 minutes, and demonstrate that injured monitoring sites can be used to accurately track patients’ response to resuscitation. In the deployed military setting NIRS was found to be a robust, easy to use technique for the initial assessment of patients. Although StO2 was not demonstrable superior to a combination of pulse rate and blood pressure it has several practical advantages that make it a useful adjunct to contemporary trauma care.
519

Air power's midwife : logistics support for Royal Flying Corps operations on the Western Front 1914-1918

Dye, Peter John January 2014 (has links)
The development of the British air weapon on the Western Front during the First World War represented a revolution in the way that national resources were employed in exploiting a technological opportunity to achieve tactical and operational advantage. Logistic competence was the precondition for air superiority and the 'modern style of warfare' — indirect, predicted artillery fire. The Royal Flying Corps' logistic staffs, led by Brigadier-General Robert Brooke-Popham, demonstrated considerable agility in meeting the demands of three-dimensional warfare. Sustaining adequate numbers of front-line aircraft required substantial numbers of skilled and semi-skilled personnel, located largely beyond the battle zone, operating at a continuously high tempo while coping with rapid technological change and high wastage. These elements formed a complex, dynamic and integrated network that was also partly self-sustaining, in the form of salvage and repair, with the ability to compensate for shortfalls in aircraft and aero-engine production as well as unpredictable demand. The logistic principles developed on the Western Front provided the foundation for Royal Air Force success in the Second World War and anticipated the management practices that underpin today's global supply chain - as well as demonstrating the enduring interdependence of logistics and air power.
520

A methodology to enhance Urban Reconnaissance UGV requirements through simulation

Gabrovsek, Stanislas P. January 2010 (has links)
No description available.

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