A dynamic study of earthworm feeding ecology -using stable isotopes

Changes in the specific diet of earthworms with time in relation to landuse changes and two different climates were studied by analysing (13)C and (15)N natural abundance in soils and animals. Soil samples from three depths (0-10, 10-20 and 20-30 cm) and earthworms were collected from two sites: Santiago (Northwest Spain) and North Wyke (Southwest England) both consisting of replicated long-term grasslands and recently converted to maize plots. Earthworms were hand-sorted in the field at the peak of the maize growth and after harvesting at both sites. In the Spanish plots, nine and eight earthworm species, all belonging to the three ecological categories (epigeic, anecic and endogeic), were found under maize and permanent pasture, whereas at the English site five and seven different species were, respectively, identified. At both sites (13)C isotopic values of the earthworm tissues reflected changes in diet from C(3) to C(4) with epigeic and epi/anecic worms in the maize plots showing one delta unit difference in relation to the ones found in the grassland plots. Anecic worms seemed to be less responsive to landuse changes. The higher (13)C values of the Spanish soils were also reflected in the earthworm tissues when compared with the English samples. (15)N values showed no clear relationship with the cropping treatments but were clearly related to the ecological grouping, with endogeic worms reaching the highest values whereas for the epigeic and epi/anecic species the lowest values were obtained. This finding was also previously recorded by other authors1 and suggests that, in the future, stable isotope techniques could also be a useful tool in taxonomic studies. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Secondary ion yields produced by keV atomic and polyatomic ion impacts on a self-assembled monolayer surface

A suite of keV polyatomic or 'cluster' projectiles was used to bombard unoxidized and oxidized self-assembled monolayer surfaces. Negative secondary ion yields, collected at the limit of single ion impacts, were measured and compared for both molecular and fragment ions. In contrast to targets that are orders of magnitude thicker than the penetration range of the primary ions, secondary ion yields from polyatomic projectile impacts on self-assembled monolayers show little to no enhancement when compared with monatomic projectiles at the same velocity. This unusual trend is most likely due to the structural arrangement and bonding characteristics of the monolayer molecules with the Au(111). Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On Random Field Induced Ordering in the Classical <Emphasis Type="Italic">XY</Emphasis> Model

Consider the classical XY model in a weak random external field pointing along the Y axis with strength ε. We study the behavior of this model as the range of the interaction is varied. We prove that in any dimension d≥2 and for all ε sufficiently small, there is a range L=L(ε) so that whenever the inverse temperature β is larger than some β(ε), there is strong residual ordering along the X direction.     

Study of the peak effect phenomenon in single crystals of 2H-NbSe2

The weakly pinned single crystals of the hexagonal 2H-NbSe₂ compound have emerged as prototypes for determining and characterizing the phase boundaries of the possible order-disorder transformations in the vortex matter. We present here a status report based on the ac and dc magnetization measurements of the peak effect phenomenon in three crystals of 2H-NbSe₂, in which the critical current densities vary over two orders of magnitude. We sketch the generic vortex phase diagram of a weakly pinned superconductor, which also utilizes theoretical proposals. We also establish the connection between the metastability effects and pinning.     

Analysis of the results of calibrating meteoritic olivine crystals with238U nuclei at the Bevalac accelerator

The results are presented of calibrating the sensitivity of olivine crystals from meteorites by the²³⁸U nuclei produced at the Bevalac accelerator. The comparative studies of the spectra of the etchable track lengths due to the²³⁸U nuclei and to fossil tracks in these olivines have shown that the group of the 210 m fossil tracks observed in 1980 at the LNR, JINR is due to the galactic cosmic-ray nuclei of the Th-U group. As regards the origin of the 340–360 m group of fossil tracks which were considered in [2] to be candidates for superheavy nuclei in cosmic rays the presence of the track with a length of up to 360 m in the calibrating²³⁸U track length spectra indicates that the above interpretation has to be questioned. The possible ways of the unambiguous identification of the group of the abnormally long fossil tracks are discussed.In conclusion the authors express their deep gratitude to Academician G.N. Flerov for thoughtful guidance and permanent attention to this study. The authors wish to thank Dr. G.M. Ter-Akopian for very useful discussions and advice and also for his help during the calibrations on Bevalac, Dr. R.I. Petrova for her help in preparing olivine crystal mounts and for their subsequent annealing and etching, and Mrs. G.G. Bankova and G.P. Knyazeva for the thorough microscopic measurements of the²³⁸U track spectra.     

Polarization-selective switching in holographically formed polymer dispersed liquid crystals

We have developed an optical stack of holographically formed polymer dispersed liquid-crystal (H-PDLC) devices that is fully operational with nonpolarized light sources. The device consists of two H-PDLC transmission gratings separated by a passive polarization rotator that can output a diffracted s-polarized, p-polarized, or s- and p-polarized beam simultaneously.     

Cold compaction of polymeric powders in tapered dies

Tests involving the cold compaction of four polymeric powders in circular section tapered dies were carried out to study the force transmitted through the powders. It was found that the decreasing cross-sectional area could be used to compensate for the force loss in order to keep the transmitted pressure high but the effect was not as large as had been anticipated. The optimum angle of taper was found to be in the region of 75 to 80°. A mathematical model was developed for the compaction of plastic powders in tapered dies. It was found that an equation of the type

could be used to prodict the transmitted pressured in a tapered die from a knowledge of the compaction characteristics for a cylindrical die.     

Q value of the superallowed decay of 46V and its influence on Vud and the unitarity of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix

The masses of the radioactive nuclei (46)V and its decay daughter (46)Ti have been measured with the Canadian Penning Trap on-line Penning trap mass spectrometer to a precision of 1 x 10(-8). A Q(EC) value of 7052.90(40) keV for the superallowed beta decay of (46)V is obtained from the difference of these two masses. With this precise Q value, the Ft value for this decay is determined with improved precision. An investigation of an earlier Q-value measurement for (46)V uncovers a set of 7 measurements that cannot be reconciled with modern data and affects previous evaluations of V(ud) from superallowed Fermi decays. A new evaluation, adding our new data and removing the discredited subset, yields new values for G(V) and V(ud). When combined with recent results for V(us), this yields modified constraints for the unitarity of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix and other extensions of the standard model.     

Cross sections and transverse single-spin asymmetries in forward neutral-pion production from proton collisions at sqrt[s]=200 GeV

Measurements of the production of forward high-energy pi(0) mesons from transversely polarized proton collisions at sqrt[s]=200 GeV are reported. The cross section is generally consistent with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations. The analyzing power is small at x(F) below about 0.3, and becomes positive and large at higher x(F), similar to the trend in data at sqrt[s]< or =20 GeV. The analyzing power is in qualitative agreement with perturbative QCD model expectations. This is the first significant spin result seen for particles produced with p(T)>1 GeV/c at a polarized proton collider.