Sivilisering av militær logistikk - et dilemma med hensyn til krigens folkerett?

Politiske ambisjoner om modernisering av logistikk støttestrukturen og økt fokus på sivilt-militært samarbeid er grunner til at stadig mer av den militære logistikken ivaretas av private kommersielle aktører. Denne studien peker på folkerettslige utfordringer som dukker opp i kjølvannet av dette. Oppgavens overordnede problemstilling er: I hvilken grad utfordrer distinksjonsprinsippet i krigens folkerett bruken av sivile logistikkaktører i militære operasjoner? Hensikten med dette spørsmålet er å få bedre innsikt i hvilken grad reglene i krigens folkerett her utfordrer, eller legger begrensninger. Problemstillingen i denne oppgaven er av juridisk karakter, da den omhandler et folkerettslig spørsmål. Denne studien har derfor valgt å kombinere to ulike metoder; juridisk metode for å få oversikt over juridisk teori, og samfunnsvitenskapelig kvalitativ metode for å undersøke praksis. Krigens folkerett er regler som regulerer hvordan militære operasjoner i en væpnet konflikt skal gjennomføres, med den hensikt å beskytte både stridende og sivile personer og objekter mot unødvendige skader og lidelser. Disse reglene bygger blant annet på distinksjonsprinsippet, som i all hovedsak betyr å holde sivile adskilt fra militære aktiviteter, -personell og -objekter. De sentrale juridiske funnene i denne studien er at sivile logistikkaktører i utgangspunktet er å regne som sivile, det vil si ikke stridende (kombattante). Dette får konsekvenser i to dimensjoner; For det første betyr det at de ikke har lov å delta direkte i fiendtligheter (stridshandlinger), og for det andre at de skal særlig beskyttes mot følgeskader («collateral damage»). Krigens folkerett legger med dette begrensninger på hva sivile logistikkaktører kan utføre, og stiller krav til beskyttelse som kan begrense muligheter for bruk. Med støtte fra respondentene i denne studien diskuteres en rekke praktiske logistikkeksempler for å undersøke hvorvidt aktivitetene er under eller over terskelen for direkte deltagelse i fiendtligheter, og hvorvidt sivile logistikkaktører er utsatt for å følgeskade. Å vurdere graden av dette avhenger av situasjonen. Studien viser at det folkerettslige perspektivet er noe som må tas hensyn til i utviklingen av Forsvarets logistikkonsepter.Summary Political ambitions for the modernization of logistical support structure combined with an increased national focus on the civilian – military co-operation, are factors that facilitates a larger portion of military logistics on the hands of private and commercial actors, also called Contractor support to operations (CSO). This paper focuses on the aspects of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) surfacing as a result of this. The main hypothesis of this paper is: “To what extend will the principle of distinction in IHL challenge the use of CSO?” The purpose of this question is to increase the knowledge regarding the challenges or the limitations that IHL put on the use of civilian logistical workers/specialists in military operations. The hypothesis in this paper is judicial as it discusses IHL. Thus this paper will combine both judicial method in order to present the theory of law, and social qualitative methode in order to analyze the defacto tradecraft of logistics. IHL embraces rules that regulate how to conduct military operations in armed conflict. The purpose is to protect soldiers, civilians and objects from unnecessary suffering and damage. These rules are among other factors based on the principle of distinction; a principle that emphasizes the importance of keeping civilians apart from military operations, -personnel, and –objects. The main judicial discoveries in this paper are the following; the CSOs are civilians, meaning non-combatants. This means that they are not allowed a direct participation in hostilities, and they are to be protected against collateral damage. Thus IHL puts limitations on the use of CSOs. Supported by the respondents of this study/paper several practical examples regarding logistic are discussed. These examples embraces logistical services both below and above the level of participation in hostilites, including risk-assessments regard to civilian logistic workers especially exposed to collateral damage from legal military attacks. To assess the extent of how IHL challenges the use of civilian logistic workers depends upon each situation. According to this stydy, the IHL perspective has to be taken into account when defence logistical concepts are developed

Constraints on Metastable Helium in the Atmospheres of WASP-69b and WASP-52b with Ultra-Narrowband Photometry

Infrared observations of metastable 2$^3$S helium absorption with ground- and space-based spectroscopy are rapidly maturing, as this species is a unique probe of exoplanet atmospheres. Specifically, the transit depth in the triplet feature (with vacuum wavelengths near 1083.3 nm) can be used to constrain the temperature and mass loss rate of an exoplanet's upper atmosphere. Here, we present a new photometric technique to measure metastable 2$^3$S helium absorption using an ultra-narrowband filter (full-width at half-maximum of 0.635 nm) coupled to a beam-shaping diffuser installed in the Wide-field Infrared Camera (WIRC) on the 200-inch Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory. We use telluric OH lines and a helium arc lamp to characterize refractive effects through the filter and to confirm our understanding of the filter transmission profile. We benchmark our new technique by observing a transit of WASP-69b and detect an excess absorption of $0.498\pm0.045$% (11.1$\sigma$), consistent with previous measurements after considering our bandpass. Then, we use this method to study the inflated gas giant WASP-52b and place a 95th-percentile upper limit on excess absorption in our helium bandpass of 0.47%. Using an atmospheric escape model, we constrain the mass loss rate for WASP-69b to be $5.25^{+0.65}_{-0.46}\times10^{-4}~M_\mathrm{J}/\mathrm{Gyr}$ ($3.32^{+0.67}_{-0.56}\times10^{-3}~M_\mathrm{J}/\mathrm{Gyr}$) at 7,000 K (12,000 K). Additionally, we set an upper limit on the mass loss rate of WASP-52b at these temperatures of $2.1\times10^{-4}~M_\mathrm{J}/\mathrm{Gyr}$ ($2.1\times10^{-3}~M_\mathrm{J}/\mathrm{Gyr}$). These results show that ultra-narrowband photometry can reliably quantify absorption in the metastable helium feature.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures (figures 1 and 2 are rasterized for arXiv file size compliance), accepted to A

Finding Orientations of Supersingular Elliptic Curves and Quaternion Orders

Orientations of supersingular elliptic curves encode the information of an endomorphism of the curve. Computing the full endomorphism ring is a known hard problem, so one might consider how hard it is to find one such orientation. We prove that access to an oracle which tells if an elliptic curve is $\mathfrak{O}$-orientable for a fixed imaginary quadratic order $\mathfrak{O}$ provides non-trivial information towards computing an endomorphism corresponding to the $\mathfrak{O}$-orientation. We provide explicit algorithms and in-depth complexity analysis. We also consider the question in terms of quaternion algebras. We provide algorithms which compute an embedding of a fixed imaginary quadratic order into a maximal order of the quaternion algebra ramified at $p$ and $\infty$. We provide code implementations in Sagemath which is efficient for finding embeddings of imaginary quadratic orders of discriminants up to $O(p)$, even for cryptographically sized $p$

A Constrained Sequential-Lamination Algorithm for the Simulation of Sub-Grid Microstructure in Martensitic Materials

We present a practical algorithm for partially relaxing multiwell energy densities such as pertain to materials undergoing martensitic phase transitions. The algorithm is based on sequential lamination, but the evolution of the microstructure during a deformation process is required to satisfy a continuity constraint, in the sense that the new microstructure should be reachable from the preceding one by a combination of branching and pruning operations. All microstructures generated by the algorithm are in static and configurational equilibrium. Owing to the continuity constrained imposed upon the microstructural evolution, the predicted material behavior may be path-dependent and exhibit hysteresis. In cases in which there is a strict separation of micro and macrostructural lengthscales, the proposed relaxation algorithm may effectively be integrated into macroscopic finite-element calculations at the subgrid level. We demonstrate this aspect of the algorithm by means of a numerical example concerned with the indentation of an Cu-Al-Ni shape memory alloy by a spherical indenter.Comment: 27 pages with 9 figures. To appear in: Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering. New version incorporates minor revisions from revie

Analysis of WMAP 7-year Temperature Data: Astrophysics of the Galactic Haze

We analyse WMAP 7-year temperature data, jointly modeling the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and Galactic foreground emission. We use the Commander code based on Gibbs sampling. Thus, from the WMAP7 data, we derive simultaneously the CMB and Galactic components on scales larger than 1deg with sensitivity improved relative to previous work. We conduct a detailed study of the low-frequency foreground with particular focus on the "microwave haze" emission around the Galactic center. We demonstrate improved performance in quantifying the diffuse galactic emission when Haslam 408MHz data are included together with WMAP7, and the spinning and thermal dust emission is modeled jointly. We also address the question of whether the hypothetical galactic haze can be explained by a spatial variation of the synchrotron spectral index. The excess of emission around the Galactic center appears stable with respect to variations of the foreground model that we study. Our results demonstrate that the new galactic foreground component - the microwave haze - is indeed present.Comment: 16 pages, 16 figures, Published on Ap

Effect of propofol and remifentanil on cerebral perfusion and oxygenation in pigs:a systematic review

The objective of this review is to evaluate the existing literature with regard to the influence of propofol and remifentanil total intravenous anaesthesia (TIVA) on cerebral perfusion and oxygenation in healthy pigs. Anaesthesia has influence on cerebral haemodynamics and it is important not only in human but also in veterinary anaesthesia to preserve optimal regulation of cerebral haemodynamics. Propofol and remifentanil are widely used in neuroanaesthesia and are increasingly used in experimental animal studies. In translational models, the pig has advantages compared to small laboratory animals because of brain anatomy, metabolism, neurophysiological maturation, and cerebral haemodynamics. However, reported effects of propofol and remifentanil on cerebral perfusion and oxygenation in pigs have not been reviewed. An electronic search identified 99 articles in English. Title and abstract screening selected 29 articles for full-text evaluation of which 19 were excluded with reasons. Of the 10 peer-reviewed articles included for review, only three had propofol or remifentanil anaesthesia as the primary study objective and only two directly investigated the effect of anaesthesia on cerebral perfusion and oxygenation (CPO). The evidence evaluated in this systematic review is limited, not focused on propofol and remifentanil and possibly influenced by factors of potential importance for CPO assessment. In one study of healthy pigs, CPO measures were within normal ranges following propofol-remifentanil anaesthesia, and addition of a single remifentanil bolus did not affect regional cerebral oxygen saturation (rSO(2)). Even though the pool of evidence suggests that propofol and remifentanil alone or in combination have limited effects on CPO in healthy pigs, confirmative evidence is lacking