8,911 research outputs found
Public Attitudes Towards the Regulation of Firearms
Support for the stricter regulation of firearms is widespread both in terms of the range of measures endorsed by the public and in terms of the high level of public approval for such measures. As Table 1 shows, majorities in 2006 favor all proposals to expand regulations: 91% support making it illegal to use guns while under the influence of alcohol, 85% want the sale of 50 caliber rifles limited, 82% want the sale of semiautomatic, assault weapons limited, 80% favor criminal background checks for all sales of guns, including private sales between individuals, 79% back requiring a police permit before a gun could be purchased, 76% believe that terrorist attacks have increased the need for stricter gun control, and 54% want illegal gun sales to be punished more severely than illegal drug sales with another 37% saying that punishments for illegal gun sales should be as tough as penalties for selling illegal drugs
HI Science with the Square Kilometre Array
The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be a formidable instrument for the
detailed study of neutral hydrogen (HI) in external galaxies and in our own
Galaxy and Local Group. The sensitivity of the SKA, its wide receiver bands,
and the relative freedom from radio frequency interference at the SKA sites
will allow the imaging of substantial number of high-redshift galaxies in HI
for the first time. It will also allow imaging of galaxies throughout the Local
Volume at resolutions of <100 pc and detailed investigations of galaxy disks
and the transition between disks, halos and the intergalactic medium (IGM) in
the Milky Way and external galaxies. Together with deep optical and
millimetre/sub-mm imaging, this will have a profound effect on our
understanding of the formation, growth and subsequent evolution of galaxies in
different environments. This paper provides an introductory text to a series of
nine science papers describing the impact of the SKA in the field of HI and
galaxy evolution. We propose a nested set of surveys with phase 1 of the SKA
which will help tackle much of the exciting science described. Longer commensal
surveys are discussed, including an ultra-deep survey which should permit the
detection of galaxies at z=2, when the Universe was a quarter of its current
age. The full SKA will allow more detailed imaging of even more distant
galaxies, and allow cosmological and evolutionary parameters to be measured
with exquisite precision.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure, accepted by Proceedings of Science as the HI
Overview Chapter for "Advancing Astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array
Paid Sick Days: Attitudes and Experiences
Analyzes survey findings on Americans' views on the importance of paid sick days as a basic workers' right and support for legislation guaranteeing paid sick days by age, race/ethnicity, income, education, family structure, and political affiliation
Flexible couplings: diffusing neuromodulators and adaptive robotics
Recent years have seen the discovery of freely diffusing gaseous neurotransmitters, such as nitric oxide (NO), in biological nervous systems. A type of artificial neural network (ANN) inspired by such gaseous signaling, the GasNet, has previously been shown to be more evolvable than traditional ANNs when used as an artificial nervous system in an evolutionary robotics setting, where evolvability means consistent speed to very good solutions¿here, appropriate sensorimotor behavior-generating systems. We present two new versions of the GasNet, which take further inspiration from the properties of neuronal gaseous signaling. The plexus model is inspired by the extraordinary NO-producing cortical plexus structure of neural fibers and the properties of the diffusing NO signal it generates. The receptor model is inspired by the mediating action of neurotransmitter receptors. Both models are shown to significantly further improve evolvability. We describe a series of analyses suggesting that the reasons for the increase in evolvability are related to the flexible loose coupling of distinct signaling mechanisms, one ¿chemical¿ and one ¿electrical.
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