V I G — A Visual and Dynamic Decision Support System for Multiple Objective Linear Programming

In this paper we describe the principles of VIG (Visual Interactive Goal Programming), a Multiple Criteria Decision Support System, recently developed by Korhonen. PARETO RACE is a corner-stone of this system, which is designed to support both the modelling and solving of a multiple objective linear programming problem. The interface is based on one main menu, spreadsheets, and interactive use of computer graphics. VIG provides the decision-maker with the possibility to approach his/her decision problem by using an “evolutionary approach”. This means that the decision-maker does not have to specify the model precisely prior to solving the problem. In fact, the model evolves progressively. W…

Death and Transfiguration : The Late Kim Jong-il Aesthetic in North Korean Cultural Production

This article assesses the official music scene in Pyongyang over a span of five dramatic years, surveying how changes in the field of music from 2009 to 2014 mirrored and in some cases presaged North Korean dynastic succession and political consolidation. The article draws upon a new abundance of performance data on North Korean musical groups, data which we argue is important but has largely been ignored or mischaracterized heretofore. The central crisis dealt with in the article is the decline and demise of Kim Jong-il, the architect of North Korea’s musical culture. In his final years, Kim Jong-il assented to the creation of a new leading musical group known as the Unhasu Orchestra, prom…

Book Review: The Politics of Multiple Belonging: Ethnicity and Nationalism in Europe and East Asia

Fast and universal estimation of latent variable models using extended variational approximations

AbstractGeneralized linear latent variable models (GLLVMs) are a class of methods for analyzing multi-response data which has gained considerable popularity in recent years, e.g., in the analysis of multivariate abundance data in ecology. One of the main features of GLLVMs is their capacity to handle a variety of responses types, such as (overdispersed) counts, binomial and (semi-)continuous responses, and proportions data. On the other hand, the inclusion of unobserved latent variables poses a major computational challenge, as the resulting marginal likelihood function involves an intractable integral for non-normally distributed responses. This has spurred research into a number of approx…

Politiikantutkimus Jyväskylän yliopistossa : teach-in-puheenvuoroja 21.5.2010

On the Metageography of Euro-Asia

[Introduction] The main purpose of this article is to try to understand from a long historical perspective the changes taking place in our understanding of the concept of Asia within the larger geopolitical entity of Eurasia. Even the most omphalopsychotic European researchers cannot by now have failed to recognize that something is happening in Asia, that “Asia is rising” and moving forward with great developmental energy.1 This economy based perspective towards Asia is nowadays a commonplace, and there is no point in going once again through the statistics here. Instead, I try to take a look at the metageographical assumptions that we have when we discuss Asia as a geopolitical phenomenon…

A Preference-Based Evolutionary Algorithm for Multi-Objective Optimization

In this paper, we discuss the idea of incorporating preference information into evolutionary multi-objective optimization and propose a preference-based evolutionary approach that can be used as an integral part of an interactive algorithm. One algorithm is proposed in the paper. At each iteration, the decision maker is asked to give preference information in terms of his or her reference point consisting of desirable aspiration levels for objective functions. The information is used in an evolutionary algorithm to generate a new population by combining the fitness function and an achievement scalarizing function. In multi-objective optimization, achievement scalarizing functions are widel…

North Korea as a Small Great Power

During the recent years the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has rapidly advanced to the rank of a nuclear power, drawing simultaneously lots of attention on itself both by other states and the media. We argue that this means much more than only increase in its weaponry. Combined with its decades old steadfast strive for independence and opposition to the United States, this means a qualitative change in its position in the international system. The theoretical tool used for this analysis is not statistical size, but rather the style of behaviour. Small and great powers tend to have different styles of behaviour. Small powers usually orient towards acting as “good international …

Solving the Discrete Multiple Criteria Problem using Convex Cones

An interactive method employing pairwise comparisons of attainable solutions is developed for solving the discrete, deterministic multiple criteria problem assuming a single decision maker who has an implicit quasi-concave increasing utility (or value) function. The method chooses an arbitrary set of positive multipliers to generate a proxy composite linear objective function which is then maximized over the set of solutions. The maximizing solution is compared with several solutions using pairwise judgments asked of the decision maker. Responses are used to eliminate alternatives using convex cones based on expressed preferences, and then a new set of weights is found that satisfies the i…

Principles for Solving Sequential Multiple Criteria Decision Problems

In this paper a sequential multiple criteria decision problem is studied. The problem arises, when a decision maker is unable to consider all possible decision alternatives simultaneously. If the decision maker evaluates only a subset of all decisions from among which he chooses the most preferred alternative, it is not necessarily 'globally' best. In this context an interesting question is, how good the most preferred alternative is and what the chances are of finding a better solution by considering additional alternatives. The principles of a an approach based on probability theory to solving this problem are described and illustrated with numerical examples.

An interactive approach to multiple criteria optimization with multiple decision-makers

In this article we propose a formal man-machine interactive approach to multiple criteria optimization with multiple decision makers. The approach is based on some of our earlier research findings in multiple criteria decision making. A discrete decision space is assumed. The same framework may readily be used for multiple criteria mathematical programming problems. To test the approach two experiments were conducted using undergraduate Business School students as subjects in Finland and in the United States. The context was, respectively, a high-level Finnish labor-management problem and the management-union collective bargaining game developed at the Krannert Graduate School of Management…

Monopolizing Asia: The politics of a metaphor

Abstract The metaphor of Asia is frequently used nowadays as a concept for regional identity, but it is very problematical because geographic Asia contains such a large piece of humanity in all cultural, political and economic forms. Historically Asia also has negative connotations, and at times other regional concepts have been preferred over it. Pan‐Asianism, Greater East Asia, Asian‐African cooperation, Asian Socialism, Southeast Asia, Western Pacific, Asia Pacific, and East Asia are some of the regionalist permutations of the metaphor of Asia during this century, but thus far no strong institutional structures have emerged to fill the concepts with lasting and effective political power.

Testing the Form of a Decision-maker's Multiattribute Value Function Based on Pairwise Preference Information

In a recent paper we presented a test, based on pairwise preference information, to identify to which class of functions (linear, quasi-concave, or neither) a decision-maker's (implicit) value function belongs. In this note we investigate the power of the test. Some improvements to the test are also suggested.

Tradition and Legitimation in North Korea

Since its debut in 2012, the Moranbong Band has served as a key symbol for the Kim Jongun-era ruling style, limited cosmopolitanism, and ultimately political conservatism. This article analyses the legitimacy strategies of North Korean official culture in the light of perceived internal needs for change, even as the foundations of the traditional personality cult remain intact and strengthened by the Band’s performances. Analysis of musical performances online and relevant comparative literature on North Korean music form the core of the article. Finally, the article shows the arc from the Band as an innovative symbol of possible liberalization into a far more conservative implement as time…

Multiple Objective Analysis of Input-Output Models for Emergency Management

This paper shows how a visual, interactive, dynamic multiple objective linear programming decision support system can effectively be used for analyzing input-output models. We have applied our approach to studying the quantitative effects of economic or political crises to the Finnish economy. Examples of such crises are nuclear power plant accidents, trade embargoes, and international conflicts. An input-output model of the Finnish economy with 17 industries (sectors) is employed. Our system has been implemented on a microcomputer and is being used by the National Board of Economic Defense. Several typical case situations are discussed.

Japanilaisen nuoren miehen muistelmat Euroopan naisista 1970-luvulla

What is Asia? International Studies as Political Linguistics

Introduction: In this chapter I will argue that to be truly interdisciplinary, international studies needs political linguistics. This will equip this wide field to better study global and regional problems, and global-regional interactions. I will illustrate the need for political linguistics by referring to the conceptual history of Asia. The attention to and concern for the ‘Rise of Asia’ has been with us for some three decades now. It is without doubt the greatest change in our time facing the global system. It partly overlaps with another great global change, namely the tortuous but by and large successful development process in the whole ‘Third World’, including Latin America, the Mid…

Ovia yhteiskuntatieteisiin

Música [religiosa] moderna en Corea del Norte / Modern North Korean [Religious] Music

Music is a field where North Korea has been for decades engaging in consistent though not extensive international exchanges. Music is there a major national art form, on which a considerable amount of national resourcesis devoted, and the quality of musical education is high. Its practical uses are almost solely devoted to maintaining the legitimacy of the state and its leading dynasty up to a level where the distinction between nationalism and religion visibly evaporates. The musical establishment is hierarchically organized. At the top are court orchestras, such as the former Unhasu Orchestra, or the currently favoured Moranbong Band, whose style and repertoire is closely controlled by th…

Militarization and demilitariation in contemporary Japan and Cultural norms and national security: police and military in postwar Japan

Further Developments and Tests of a Progressive Algorithm for Multiple Criteria Decision Making

P. Korhonen, H. Moskowitz, and J. Wallenius (1986) developed a progressive algorithm and the supporting theory for modeling and solving multiple criteria decision problems with discrete alternatives. A special feature of the algorithm is that it relaxes the usual assumption of a fixed set of available decision alternatives and complete knowledge of a decision maker's (DM's) preference structure or value function. The algorithm is based on progressively sampling the decision space, obtaining preference information from the DM, determining the likelihood of finding possibly/surely better alternatives, and based on this information, continuing the search or terminating it by making the final …

The Samjiyon Orchestra as a North Korean Means for Gender Based Cultural Diplomacy

In 2018 it appeared that a peace process on the Korean Peninsula had got underway. Lots of publicity was produced on inter-Korean relations and many types of messages and diplomatic actors started to move across the border with South Korea. One important element in this process was cultural diplomacy, conducted partly by athletes and cheering squads during the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games, and partly by musical ensembles. Selection of the Samjiyon Orchestra for the Pyeongchang events sheds light on the kind of image the North Korean leadership wanted to display of the country on the international stage. This article analyses the characteristics of the orchestra, where it came from, and …

On ASEM and the Cartography of Asia, Africa and Europe

The ASEM has been growing steadily in size and scope since its inception in 1996, and probably continues to do so in the future. The article tries to map both the history of the concepts for depicting the classical continents and their very flexible boundaries, as well as a possible future course for ASEM from a cartographic point of view, especially in regard to the importance of and interest in Africa that most current ASEM members are showing. This is also considered as one of the future recommendable directions for the expansion of ASEM. peerReviewed

A New Cold War?

The Birth of Orientalism by App, Urs Review by: Pekka Korhonen

A review of the book "The Birth of Orientalism," part of the Encounters With Asia Series, by Urs App, is presented. nonPeerReviewed

Changing definitions of Asia

The meaning of Asia has changed drastically during the millennia the concept has been in use. Its usage was established in Greek literature 2,500 years ago as a geographic reference to lands inhabited by the Greeks at the Eastern side of the Aegean Sea. Over the ensuing centuries, Asia’s Western boundary was extended to the rivers Don in the North and Nile in the South. At that time, it hardly contained any definite political or civilisational meanings. These were added to the concept in 1730 in a kind of Swedish–Russian cooperation when the Urals were redefined to form the boundary between Europe and Asia, the former starting to represent progress, and the latter its opposite. This situati…

The Theory of the Flying Geese Pattern of Development and Its Interpretations

An interpretation is made of Akamatsu Kaname's theory of the flying geese pattern of development, launched in Japan during the 1930s. This theory explains how an undeveloped country can become developed relatively quickly. The undeveloped country adopts suitable labour-intensive industries from more developed countries. It produces first for the home market, but starts to export as soon as the industries have grown strong enough. Initially, products are simple, crude and cheap, but gradually the level of quality is elevated. The procedure is repeated over and over again, leading to a rapid process of national economic development. In Japanese postwar industrial policy, certain industries w…

Tora-san and Kurosagi as Symbols of Changing Japanese Society

Observations Regarding Choice Behaviour in Interactive Multiple Criteria Decision-Making Environments: An Experimental Investigation

Many interactive procedures have been developed for solving optimization problems having multiple criteria. In such procedures, an exploration over the feasible or efficient region is conducted for locating the most preferred solution. As Steuer (1986) notes, interactive procedures are characterized by phases of decision-making alternating with phases of computation. Generally a pattern is established that we keep repeating until termination. At each iteration, a solution, or group of solutions, is generated for a decision-maker’s (DM’s) examination. Based on the examination, the DM inputs information to the solution procedure in the form of tradeoffs, pairwise comparisons, aspiration level…

The Rise and Fall of the Unhasu Orchestra

The Ŭnhasu Orchestra was a major North Korean ensemble in 2009–2013. It was established by Kim Jong Il (Kim Chŏng’il, 김정일) and was composed of young musicians and singers of both genders, several of them having studied in foreign higher educational institutions in countries like Austria, Italy, Russia and China. Its members represented the core class of the North Korean society. It was ostensibly meant to display the high quality of North Korean art and engage at this level also in international cultural diplomacy, both in terms of physical visits, and in terms of DVD and internet publishing. In addition to domestic concerts, the Ŭnhasu Orchestra performed with visiting Russian artists, and…

Yhteistyön kehittäminen Helsingin rytmimusiikin korkeakoulukentässä : hallinnollinen näkökulma