Octupole correlations in the structure of O2 bands in the N=88 nuclei150Sm Gd

Knowledge of the exact microscopic structure of the 01 + ground state and first excited 02 + state in 150Sm is required to understand the branching of double β decay to these states from 150Nd. The detailed spectroscopy of 150Sm and 152Gd has been studied using (α,xn) reactions and the γ -ray arrays AFRODITE and JUROGAM II. Consistently strong E1 transitions are observed between the excited Kπ = 02 + bands and the lowest negative parity bands in both nuclei. These results are discussed in terms of the possible permanent octupole deformation in the first excited Kπ = 02 + band and also in terms of the “tidal wave” model of Frauendorf.Web of Scienc

Linear polarization measurement of interband transitions in superdeformed (190)Hg: model-independent evidence for octupole vibrational structures

The linear polarization of γ rays between excited and yrast superdeformed (SD) states in 190Hg was measured using the four-element CLOVER detectors of the EUROBALL IV γ-ray spectrometer. This measurement shows in a model-independent way that the interband transitions which compete with the highly collective in-band quadrupole transitions are largely enhanced electric dipoles. Not only do these results represent the first measurement of the multipolarity of transitions between different SD states, but they also provide strong evidence for the interpretation of the structures in the SD minimum of the A∼190 region in terms of octupole excitations.A. Korichi, A. N. Wilson, F. Hannachi, A. Lopez-Martens, M. Rejmund, C. Schück, Ch. Vieu, G. Chmel, A. Görgen, H. Hübel, D. Rossbach, S. Schönwasser, M. Bergström, B. M. Nyakó, J. Timár, D. Bazzacco, S. Lunardi, C. Rossi-Alvarez, P. Bednarczyk, N. Kintz, S. Naguleswaran, A. Astier, D. M. Cullen, J. F. Sharpey-Schafer, T. Lauritsen, and R. Wadswort

Banana streak disease survey in three plantain growing regions of Ghana

A banana streak virus disease survey was conducted in 25 districts in 3 of the 6 plantain growing regions of Ghana in 2001. A total of 40 farms were evaluated for the presence of the disease in each region. Triple antibody Sandwich-enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) technique was used in the indexing of the suspected samples. The disease was observed on both land races especially Apantu (False Horn subgroup) and FHIA hybrids on farmers' fields and on research stations. The disease was detected in two of the regions (Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo) studied. The disease was however not detected in the Western region. The disease incidence was observed to be low in all the growing districts studied. The presence of the disease on local cultivars in farmers' fields is a potential threat to the industry