The impact of distance to nearest education institution on the post-compulsory education participation decision

This paper uses data sources with the unique capacity to measure distances between home addresses and education institutions, to investigate, for the first time, the effect that such distance has on an individual´s post–compulsory education participation decision. The results show that there is no overall net effect. However, when attention is focussed on young people who are on the margin of participating in post–compulsory education (according to their prior attainment and family background) and when post–compulsory education is distinguished by whether it leads to academic or vocational qualifications, then greater distance to nearest education institution is seen to have a significant impact on the decision to continue in full–time post–compulsory education. This finding has relevance for education participation in rural areas relative to urban areas

LLV - Lunar Logistics Vehicle Final report

Design of unmanned space vehicle for landing 2500 pound payload on moo

Gambling and the use of credit: an individual and household level analysis

We explore the relationship between gambling and other forms of risk-taking behaviour, i.e. exposure to debt and the use of credit, at the individual and household level using representative pooled cross-section data drawn from the UK Expenditure and Food Surveys (EFS), 2001 to 2007. Gambling and the use of credit are shown to be positively correlated at the household level. While both the incidence and amount of gambling vary according to household income, the positive association between gambling and the use of credit is remarkably stable across household income. In addition to our household level analysis, we also explore the prevalence of intra-household gambling, which has attracted relatively limited attention in the existing literature. It is apparent that there is strong intra-household correlation in both gambling activity and in the use of credit, with somewhat stronger relationships in lower income households

Artificial Consciousness: What is it?

The advancements we have made in robotics thus far is extraordinary. As extraordinary as those advancements have been, robots are simply used as tools. They can only perform tasks that they have been programmed to do. But, what if they somehow become self-aware, and now are able to make decisions based on their own reasoning and judgement? What would that mean for the human race, and would Asimov’s three laws of robotics be enough? The only way to answer these questions and to gain a complete understanding, would be to first understand what it means to be a robot with artificial consciousness. Through our research, we hope to provide an understanding of what classifies as a robot with artificial consciousness, the implications those robots will have on the human race, as well as the need for laws concerning the programming and legal rights of said robots, and whether those laws will be enough to protect the human race. To support our research we will look at the various definitions of scholars, and fictional works of literature concerning artificial consciousness, such as, Artificial Beings: The Conscience of a Conscious Machine, by Jacques Pitrat, Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers exceed Human Intelligence-Kay Kurzwell, and Artificial Consciousness, by Antonio Chello and Riccardo Manzottti

LLV - Lunar Logistic Vehicle Final report

Evaluation of systems design training institute for engineering facult

Mesoscale and severe storms (Mass) data management and analysis system

Progress on the Mesoscale and Severe Storms (MASS) data management and analysis system is described. An interactive atmospheric data base management software package to convert four types of data (Sounding, Single Level, Grid, Image) into standard random access formats is implemented and integrated with the MASS AVE80 Series general purpose plotting and graphics display data analysis software package. An interactive analysis and display graphics software package (AVE80) to analyze large volumes of conventional and satellite derived meteorological data is enhanced to provide imaging/color graphics display utilizing color video hardware integrated into the MASS computer system. Local and remote smart-terminal capability is provided by installing APPLE III computer systems within individual scientist offices and integrated with the MASS system, thus providing color video display, graphics, and characters display of the four data types

Elastic Correlations in Nucleosomal DNA Structure

The structure of DNA in the nucleosome core particle is studied using an elastic model that incorporates anisotropy in the bending energetics and twist-bend coupling. Using the experimentally determined structure of nucleosomal DNA [T.J. Richmond and C.A. Davey, Nature {\bf 423}, 145 (2003)], it is shown that elastic correlations exist between twist, roll, tilt, and stretching of DNA, as well as the distance between phosphate groups. The twist-bend coupling term is shown to be able to capture these correlations to a large extent, and a fit to the experimental data yields a new estimate of G=25 nm for the value of the twist-bend coupling constant