This paper explores and compares the perceptions of the risks associated with Mars Sample Return (MSR) among schoolchildren and adults. Comparable surveys were constructed and administered to two sample groups; science students aged 11–15 and adults with an interest in science aged 18 and over. Contingency table analyses were used to quantify any differences in perception between the two groups. Schoolchildren were less likely to consider Mars exploration to be quite or very useful (44.7% vs. 68.9%; p=0.005) and recorded significantly higher levels of risk perception regarding both a MSR mission and also towards other societal risks. These results have important implications for policy-makers, as they can inform education programs now that will enhance the viability and public support for future missions. 相似文献
The calculation of particle trajectories in the Earth's magnetic field has been a subject of interest since the time of Störmer. The fundamental problem is that the trajectory-tracing process involves using mathematical equations that have `no solution in closed form'. This difficulty has forced researchers to use the `brute force' technique of numerical integration of many individual trajectories to ascertain the behavior of trajectory families or groups. As the power of computers has improved over the decades, the numerical integration procedure has grown more tractable and while the problem is still formidable, thousands of trajectories can be computed without the expenditure of excessive resources. As particle trajectories are computed and the characteristics analyzed we can determine the cutoff rigidity of a specific location and viewing direction and direction and deduce the direction in space of various cosmic ray anisotropies. Unfortunately, cutoff rigidities are not simple parameters due to the chaotic behavior of the cosmic-ray trajectories in the cosmic ray penumbral region. As the computational problem becomes more manageable, there is still the issue of the accuracy of the magnetic field models. Over the decades, magnetic field models of increasing complexity have been developed and utilized. The accuracy of trajectory calculations employing contemporary magnetic field models is sufficient that cosmic ray experiments can be designed on the basis of trajectory calculations. However, the Earth's magnetosphere is dynamic and the most widely used magnetospheric models currently available are static. This means that the greatest uncertainly in the application of charged particle trajectories occurs at low energies. 相似文献
The General AntiParticle Spectrometer (GAPS) is a novel approach for indirect dark matter searches that exploits cosmic antideuterons. GAPS complements existing and planned direct dark matter searches as well as other indirect techniques, probing a different and unique region of parameter space in a variety of proposed dark matter models. The GAPS method involves capturing antiparticles into a target material with the subsequent formation of an excited exotic atom. The exotic atom decays with the emission of atomic X-rays and pions from the nuclear annihilation, which uniquely identifies the captured antiparticle. This technique has been verified through the accelerator testing at KEK in 2004 and 2005. The prototype flight is scheduled from Hokkaido, Japan in 2011, preparatory for a long duration balloon flight from the Antarctic in 2014. 相似文献
The Lambert–Amery System is the largest glacier–ice shelf system in East Antarctica, draining a significant portion of the ice sheet. Variation in ice sheet discharge from Antarctica or Greenland has an impact on the rate of change in global mean sea level; which is a manifestation of climate change. In conjunction with a measure of ice thickness change, ice sheet discharge can be monitored by determining the absolute velocities of these glaciers. 相似文献
The objective of this work is to explore ways in which performance of battery systems can be enhanced through the use of energy-efficient battery management techniques. The phenomenon of charge recovery that takes place under pulsed discharge conditions is identified as a mechanism that can be exploited to enhance the capacity of a cell in a portable communication device. The bursty nature of many data traffic sources suggests that data transmissions in communication devices may provide natural opportunities for charge recovery. We model the data source as a stochastic process and let the cell discharge be driven by such a process. We use a model of a dual lithium ion insertion cell to identify the improvement to cell capacity that results from the stochastic discharge. The insight from this study leads us to propose discharge shaping techniques that tradeoff energy efficiency with delay in the required current supply 相似文献
Early warning systems represent an innovative and effective approach to mitigate the risk associated with natural hazards. Early warning technologies are now available for almost all natural hazards and systems are already in operation in all parts of the world. Nevertheless, recent disasters such as the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 and Katrina hurricane in 2005, highlighted inadequacies in early warning technologies.
Efforts towards the development of a global warning system are necessary for turning the tide in early warning processes and technologies. There is a pressing need for a globally comprehensive early warning system based on existing systems. The global system should be a mechanism which can consolidate scientific information and evidences, package this knowledge in a form usable to international and national decision makers and actively disseminate this information to those users.
The proposed Global Environmental Alert Service (GEAS) will provide information emanating from monitoring, Earth observing and early warning systems to users in a near-real-time mode and bridge the gap between the scientific community and policy makers. Characteristics and operational aspects of such a service, GEAS, are discussed. 相似文献
The unusual core-collapse supernova 1986J, in the nearby spiral NGC 891, is the first modern supernova in which evidence of a compact remnant of the supernova has been seen. This evidence comes from recent VLBI images, which show the emergence of a new radio component in the center of the expanding radio shell. The new component shows an inverted radio spectrum contrasting with that of the shell. The new component is likely radio emission associated with the black-hole or neutron star compact remnant of the explosion, which would mark the first direct observational link between a modern supernova and such a compact remnant. We report here on our recent VLBI images at 22 and 5 GHz, as well as on our monitoring of the integrated radio spectrum of SN 1986J. In the 22 GHz image, the central component is marginally resolved. 相似文献