On the α−\alpha-decay of deformed actinide nuclei

$\alpha-$decay through a deformed potential barrier produces significant mixing of angular momenta when mapped from the nuclear interior to the outside. Using experimental branching ratios and either semi-classical or coupled-channels transmission matrices, we have found that there is a set of internal amplitudes which are essentially constant for all even--even actinide nuclei. These same amplitudes also give good results for the known anisotropic $\alpha-$particle emission of the favored decays of odd nuclei in the same mass region. PACS numbers: 23.60.+e, 24.10.Eq, 27.90.+bComment: 5 pages, latex (revtex style), 2 embedded postscript figures uuencoded gz-compressed .tar file To appear in Physical Review Letter

Applying a framework for critical reflection in educational psychology practice: views of trainee educational psychologists

A framework to support critical reflection in educational psychology (EP) practice is described. The process of critical reflection and the underlying theoretical ideas are discussed, including the links between critical reflection and action for social justice change in EP work. The article reports on a participatory research project with trainee educational psychologists on their experiences of using the framework in practice. Four focus groups were held involving 16 co-researchers; the videos of the focus groups were analysed using a thematic analysis approach by the co-researchers themselves. Themes identified relating to their experience of using the framework are: ‘positive experience’, ‘flexible application’, ‘facilitating deeper thinking’, ‘influence of self (reflexivity)’. Themes relating to co-researcher views on how the framework can be developed are related to accessibility and usability. The article concludes with implications of the research for use and development of the framework and for critically reflective EP training and practice

Do Solar Neutrino Experiments Imply New Physics?

None of the 1000 solar models in a full Monte Carlo simulation is consistent with the results of the chlorine or the Kamiokande experiments. Even if the solar models are forced artifically to have a \b8 neutrino flux in agreeement with the Kamiokande experiment, none of the fudged models agrees with the chlorine observations. The GALLEX and SAGE experiments, which currently have large statistical uncertainties, differ from the predictions of the standard solar model by $2 \sigma$ and $3 \sigma$, respectively.Comment: 7 pages (figures not included), Institute for Advanced Study number AST 92/51. For a hard copy with the figures, write: [email protected]

Fusion barrier distributions in systems with finite excitation energy

Eigen-channel approach to heavy-ion fusion reactions is exact only when the excitation energy of the intrinsic motion is zero. In order to take into account effects of finite excitation energy, we introduce an energy dependence to weight factors in the eigen-channel approximation. Using two channel problem, we show that the weight factors are slowly changing functions of incident energy. This suggests that the concept of the fusion barrier distribution still holds to a good approximation even when the excitation energy of the intrinsic motion is finite. A transition to the adiabatic tunneling, where the coupling leads to a static potential renormalization, is also discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, Submitted to Physical Review

Use of domesticated pigs by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in northwestern Europe

Acknowledgements We thank the Archaeological State Museum Schleswig-Holstein, the Archaeological State Offices of Brandenburg, Lower Saxony and Saxony and the following individuals who provided sample material: Betty Arndt, Jo¨rg Ewersen, Frederick Feulner, Susanne Hanik, Ru¨diger Krause, Jochen Reinhard, Uwe Reuter, Karl-Heinz Ro¨hrig, Maguerita Scha¨fer, Jo¨rg Schibler, Reinhold Schoon, Regina Smolnik, Thomas Terberger and Ingrid Ulbricht. We are grateful to Ulrich Schmo¨lcke, Michael Forster, Peter Forster and Aikaterini Glykou for their support and comments on the manuscript. We also thank many institutions and individuals that provided sample material and access to collections, especially the curators of the Museum fu¨r Naturkunde, Berlin; Muse´um National d0 Histoire Naturelle, Paris; Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C.; Zoologische Staatssammlung, Mu¨nchen; Museum fu¨r Haustierkunde, Halle; the American Museum of Natural History, New-York. This work was funded by the Graduate School ‘Human Development in Landscapes’ at Kiel University (CAU) and supported by NERC project Grant NE/F003382/1. Radiocarbon dating was carried out at the Leibniz Laboratory, CAU. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Neutrino conversions in random magnetic fields and ν~e\tilde{\nu}_e from the Sun

The magnetic field in the convective zone of the Sun has a random small-scale component with the r.m.s. value substantially exceeding the strength of a regular large-scale field. For two Majorana neutrino flavors $\times$ two helicities in the presence of a neutrino transition magnetic moment and nonzero neutrino mixing we analyze the displacement of the allowed ($\Delta m^2- \sin^22\theta$)-parameter region reconciled for the SuperKamiokande(SK) and radiochemical (GALLEX, SAGE, Homestake) experiments in dependence on the r.m.s. magnetic field value $b$, or more precisely, on a value $\mu b$ assuming the transition magnetic moment $\mu = 10^{-11}\mu_B$. In contrast to RSFP in regular magnetic fields we find an effective production of electron antineutrinos in the Sun even for small neutrino mixing through cascade conversions $\nu_{eL}\to \nu_{\mu L}\to \tilde{\nu}_{eR}$, $\nu_{eL}\to \nu_{\mu R}\to \tilde{\nu}_{eR}$ in a random magnetic field that would be a signature of the Majorana nature of neutrino if $\tilde{\nu}_{eR}$ will be registered. Basing on the present SK bound on electron antineutrinos we have also found an excluded area in the same $\Delta m^2,~\sin^22\theta$-plane and revealed a strong sensitivity to the random magnetic field correlation length $L_0$.Comment: LaTex 36 pages including 14 PostScript figure