Potential uses for bracken (Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn) in organic agrculture

Bracken is a weed species due to its toxic nature and adverse effects on agriculture and ecology. This poster reviews research into historical uses for fronds and litter harvested as part of organically approved control methods. The use of bracken as an over winter mulch reduced losses of nitrogen and potassium from bare soil and maintained soil temperatures. Bracken litter was found to be a viable biofuel, with a calorific value comparable to wood and low ash and alkali metal contents. The contents of frond ash were investigated, with high concentrations of potassium found giving them a value as organic fertiliser. The addition of frond ash to soil significantly increased clover growth and number of nodules. The addition of frond ash to soil significantly increased the yield of saleable main crop potatoes. These finding have shown that bracken has a value especially within organic agriculture

Children's suggestibility in relation to their understanding about sources of knowledge

In the experiments reported here, children chose either to maintain their initial belief about an object's identity or to accept the experimenter's contradicting suggestion. Both 3– to 4–year–olds and 4– to 5–year–olds were good at accepting the suggestion only when the experimenter was better informed than they were (implicit source monitoring). They were less accurate at recalling both their own and the experimenter's information access (explicit recall of experience), though they performed well above chance. Children were least accurate at reporting whether their final belief was based on what they were told or on what they experienced directly (explicit source monitoring). Contrasting results emerged when children decided between contradictory suggestions from two differentially informed adults: Three– to 4–year–olds were more accurate at reporting the knowledge source of the adult they believed than at deciding which suggestion was reliable. Decision making in this observation task may require reflective understanding akin to that required for explicit source judgments when the child participates in the task

A Spectropolarimetric Atlas of Seyfert 1 Galaxies

We present optical spectropolarimetry of the nuclei of 36 Seyfert 1 galaxies, obtained with the William Herschel and the Anglo-Australian Telescopes from 1996 to 1999. In 20 of these, the optical emission from the active nucleus is intrinsically polarized. We have measured a significant level of polarization in a further 7 objects but these may be heavily contaminated by Galactic interstellar polarization. The intrinsically polarized Seyfert 1s exhibit a variety of characteristics, with the average polarization ranging from < 0.5 to 5 per cent and many showing variations in both the degree and position angle of polarization across the broad H alpha emission line. We identify a small group of Seyfert 1s that exhibit polarization properties similar to those of Seyfert 2 galaxies in which polarized broad-lines have been discovered. These objects represent direct observational evidence that a Seyfert 2-like far-field polar scattering region is also present in Seyfert 1s. Several other objects have features that can be explained in terms of equatorial scattering of line emission from a rotating disk. We propose that much of the diversity in the polarization properties of Seyfert galaxies can be understood in terms of a model involving both equatorial and polar scattering, the relative importance of the two geometries as sources of polarized light being determined principally by the inclination of the system axis to the line-of-sight.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS (28 pages, 25 figures

Time Resolved Spectroscopy Of Cataclysmic Variables - SS Cygni

NSF AST76-23882, AST 79-06340McDonald Observator

Unfolding the Effects of the T=0 and T=1 Parts of the Two-Body Interaction on Nuclear Collectivity in the f-p Shell

Calculations of the spectra of various even-even nuclei in the fp shell ({44}Ti, {46}Ti, {48}Ti, {48}Cr and {50}Cr) are performed with two sets of two-body interaction matrix elements. The first set consists of the matrix elements of the FPD6 interaction. The second set has the same T=1 two-body matrix elements as the FPD6 interaction, but all the T=0 two-body matrix elements are set equal to zero (T0FPD6). Surprisingly, the T0FPD6 interaction gives a semi-reasonable spectrum (or else this method would make no sense). A consistent feature for even-even nuclei, e.g. {44,46,48}Ti and {48,50}Cr, is that the reintroduction of T=0 matrix elements makes the spectrum look more rotational than when the T=0 matrix elements are set equal to zero. A common characteristic of the results is that, for high spin states, the excitation energies are too high for the full FPD6 interaction and too low for T0FPD6, as compared with experiment. The odd-even nucleus {43}Ti and the odd-odd nucleus {46}V are also discussed. For {43}Sc the T=0 matrix elements are responsible for staggering of the high spin states. In general, but not always, the inclusion of T=0 two-body matrix elements enhances the B(E2) rates.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Effects of T=0 two body matrix elements on M1 and Gamow-Teller transitions: isospin decomposition

We perform calculations for M1 transitions and allowed Gamow Teller (GT) transitions in the even-even Titanium isotopes - $^{44}$Ti, $^{46}$Ti, and $^{48}$Ti. We first do calculations with the FPD6 interaction. Then to study the effect of T=0 matrix elements on the M1 and GT rates we introduce a second interaction in which all the T=0 matrix elements are set equal to zero and a third in which all the T=0 matrix elements are set to a constant. For the latter two interactions the T=1 matrix elements are the same as for FPD6. We are thus able to study the effects of the fluctuating T=0 matrix elements on M1 and GT rates