Decay spectroscopy at the two-proton drip line: radioactivity of the new nuclides 160Os and 156W

The radioactivity of 76160Os84 and 74156W82 that lie at the two-proton drip line have been measured in an experiment performed at the Accelerator Laboratory of the University of Jyväskylä. The 160Os nuclei were produced using fusion-evaporation reactions induced by a beam of 310 MeV 58Ni ions bombarding a 106Cd target. The 160Os ions were separated in flight using the recoil separator MARA and implanted into a double-sided silicon strip detector, which was used to measure their decays. The α decays of the ground state of 160Os (Eα = 7092(15) keV, t1/2 = 97−32+97 μs) and its isomeric state (Eα = 8890(10) keV, t1/2 = 41−9+15 μs) were measured, allowing the excitation energy of the isomer to be determined as 1844(18) keV. These α-decay properties and the excitation energy of the isomer are compared with systematics. The α decays were correlated with subsequent decays to investigate the β decays of the ground state of 156W, revealing that unlike its isotones, both low-lying isomers were populated in its daughter nuclide, 156Ta. An improved value for the half-life of the proton-decaying high-spin isomeric state in 73156Ta83 of 333−22+25 ms was obtained in a separate experiment using the same experimental systems with a 102Pd target. This result was employed to improve the precision of the half-life determined for 156W, which was measured as 157−34+57 ms

Egg Laying and Caterpillar Hatching Dynamics of Ostrinia Nubilalis Hbn. on Maize (Zea Mays L.) in South-Eastern Poland

During the study years, the European corn borer (ECB) (Ostrinia nubilalis Hbn.) females began depositing eggs on maize plants between the last ten days of June and the first ten days of July. A maximum number of eggs on plants was found at the beginning of the second ten days of July and at the beginning of the third ten days of July. The last egg clusters were recorded in August. During the five years of the study period, the female oviposition period lasted from 4.5 to 8 weeks. The shortest oviposition period took place during the warm and dry years, while the longest period was during the rainy and relatively cold years. During the study years, within the entire flight period, O. nubilalis females deposited from 1,564 to 3,393 eggs on 200 observed plants. The average number of eggs per cluster in the study years was from 10.0 to 15.2. The beginning of caterpillar hatching, based on the observation of empty egg clusters, was recorded in the last ten days of June or in the first and second ten days of July. Mass hatching of the caterpillars was observed in the second and third ten days of July, and only in 2004 was it in the first ten days of August. The last empty egg clusters were recorded in the second and in the third ten days of August

ISOLDE PROGRAMME

The experiments aim at a broad exploration of the properties of atomic nuclei far away from the region of beta stability. Furthermore, the unique radioactive beams of over 60~elements produced at the on-line isotope separators ISOLDE-2 and ISOLDE-3 are used in a wide programme of atomic, solid state and surface physics. Around 300 scientists are involved in the project, coming from about 70 laboratories. \\ \\ The electromagnetic isotope separators are connected on-line with their production targets in the extracted 600 MeV proton or 910~MeV Helium-3 beam of the Synchro-Cyclotron. Secondary beams of radioactive isotopes are available at the facility in intensities of 10$^