ShaneAO: wide science spectrum adaptive optics system for the Lick Observatory

A new high-order adaptive optics system is now being commissioned at the Lick Observatory Shane 3-meter telescope in California. This system uses a high return efficiency sodium beacon and a combination of low and high-order deformable mirrors to achieve diffraction-limited imaging over a wide spectrum of infrared science wavelengths covering 0.8 to 2.2 microns. We present the design performance goals and the first on-sky test results. We discuss several innovations that make this system a pathfinder for next generation AO systems. These include a unique woofer-tweeter control that provides full dynamic range correction from tip/tilt to 16 cycles, variable pupil sampling wavefront sensor, new enhanced silver coatings developed at UC Observatories that improve science and LGS throughput, and tight mechanical rigidity that enables a multi-hour diffraction- limited exposure in LGS mode for faint object spectroscopy science.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures. Presented at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation conference, paper 9148-7

Particularized protection: UNSC mandates and the protection of civilians in armed conflict

The protection of civilians at risk in armed conflict has, since the late 1990s, become institutionalized at the United Nations (UN), gaining acceptance as a normative rationale for UN peacekeeping. However, the bulk of civilians in need of protection in armed conflict are unlikely to attain it. The article develops an argument on ‘particularized protection’ - particularized in that UN Security Council (SC) mandates are formulated and adjusted over time to direct mission protection to specific subsets of civilian populations, that is, those relevant to the UN itself, the host state, other states, NGOs and the media, leaving most local civilians receiving little effective protection. Particularized protection, we argue, is a result of the institutional dynamics involving actors producing mandates - the UNSC - and those providing protection - peacekeeping missions - whereby mandates are specified to direct mission protection to selected, particularized groups. We demonstrate these dynamics in two cases, Côte d’Ivoire and Somalia

Characteristics and Outcomes of Elderly Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients following Surgical Resection: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

10.1159/000530101Digestive Disease

Os acordes de Yes we can do vídeo da campanha presidencial de Barak Obama The Yes we can chords

Estudo sobre o loop de quatro acordes &#9553;: Sol Maior - Si Maior - Mi Menor - Dó Maior :&#9553; na canção Yes we can [Sim, nós podemos] do vídeo de Will.i.am (ADAMS, 2008) lançado durante a campanha presidencial de Barack Obama nos Estados Unidos. A partir da identificação de IOCMs (Materiais Interobjetivos de Comparação) e PMFCs (Campos Paramusicais Conotativos) da análise musemática (TAGG, 2009), compara-se Yes we can com materiais harmônicos, melódicos, rítmicos, de instrumentação e de letras de canções populares da tradição afro-britânico-americana, levando-se também em consideração as atitudes de relevantes compositores e intérpretes populares social e politicamente engajados.<br>Study of the four-chord loop &#9553;: G - B - Em - C :&#9553; in the song Yes We Can from the video by Will.i.am (ADAMS, 2008) released during the 2008 US presidential campaign of Barack Obama. Departing from IOCM and PMFC identification of the musematic analysis (TAGG, 2009), Yes We Can is compared to harmony, melody, rhythm, instrumentation and lyrics found in iconic popular songs of the Afro-Bristish-American tradition, also taking into consideration the attitudes of relevant composers and performers engaged in social and political issues