Power politics and the Indonesian military

This book, based on extensive original research, examines the role of the military in Indonesian politics. It looks at the role of the military historically, examines the different ways it is involved in politics, and considers how the role of the military might develop in what is still an uncertain future.

The role of personality in leadership: an application of the five-factor model in the Australian military

This study investigated the relation between the five-factor model (FFM) of personality trait domains and leadership effectiveness. Ninety-nine Australian Army commissioned officers completed the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO-PI-R; Costa & McCrae, 1992) and were rated by their superior officer on the Australian Army annual leadership effectiveness evaluation schedule. Participants indicated whether they had been selected to attend a leadership promotion course at the Army Command and Staff College, widely regarded within the Army as indicative of an officer's effectiveness. It was hypothesized that leadership effectiveness would be predicted by the personality trait domains of high Conscientiousness, Openness, Agreeableness, and Extraversion and by low Neuroticism. High Conscientiousness and low Extraversion scores predicted high leadership effectiveness and the likelihood of attending the leadership promotion course. High Openness scores also predicted the likelihood of attending the promotion course. The results support the utility of the FFM in exploring the role of personality in leadership effectiveness among military leaders.

Groups, graphs and mutually unbiased bases

A new characteristic free approach to constructing large sets of mutually unbiased bases in Hilbert space is developed. We associate with a seed set of bases a finite subgroup of which defines a strongly regular graph. Large sets of mutually unbiased bases are obtained as the cliques of the graph.

Smart cluster bombs - control of multi-agent systems for military applications

This paper introduces an aggregation algorithm for airborne swarming guided weapon systems, which can aggregate munitions into a given shape while reaching the surface. The algorithm uses an artificial force based controller to navigate the members of the swarm into the desired geographical position and evenly distribute them inside the shape. Inter-member repulsion forces are used to avoid collisions among members, which is crucial for a weapon deployment system. Moreover, a lower bound for the release height was obtained which guarantee convergence of the complete weapon system into the target area. The proposed swarming guided weapon system was tested using computer simulations.

Avoiding the Fog of Crisis: A Protocol for the Proper Domestic Use of the Military

Failure to contemplate and define an appropriate role for the armed forces of the national government in domestic crises of this sort is a serious problem. It is all the more serious now as these potential crises seem to multiply in character and scope. This thesis will explore the history of this problem and its recent implications. It will argue the need for a comprehensive, operational framework, codified in law, which defines the various alternative uses of all emergency services, both civilian and military, and is applicable to “all hazards.” I will attempt to provide a blue-print for what such a framework should look like.

Does military expenditure determine Fiji's exploding debt levels?

Fiji's total debt stands at 65% of GDP. Domestic debt constitutes 55% of GDP. The goal of this paper is to investigate whether military expenditure has contributed to Fiji's exploding debt levels over the period 1970 to 2005. Our empirical analysis, conducted within a cointegration and vector error-correction framework, suggests that, in the long-run, military expenditure has had a statistically significant positive impact on both external debt and domestic debt, while income has had a statistically significant positive impact on domestic debt and a statistically significant negative impact on external debt. We explain the reasons behind this finding and draw some policy implications.

A low-cost intelligent gas sensing device for military applications

The field of electronic noses and gas sensing has been developing rapidly since the introduction of the silicon based sensors. There are numerous systems that can detect and indicate the level of a specific gas. We introduce here a system that is low power, small and cheap enough to be used in mobile robotic platforms while still being accurate and reliable enough for confident use. The design is based around a small circuit board mounted in a plastic case with holes to allow the sensors to protrude through the top and allow the natural flow of gas evenly across them. The main control board consists of a microcontroller PCB with surface mount components for low cost and power consumption. The firmware of the device is based on an algorithm that uses an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) which receives input from an array of gas sensors. The various sensors feeding the ANN allow the microcontroller to determine the gas type and quantity. The Testing of the device involves the training of the ANN with a number of different target gases to determine the weightings for the ANN. Accuracy and reliability of the ANN is validated through testing in a specific gas filled environment.