No abstract available

[en] Since March 1989 when Professors Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann made their dramatic announcement regarding the production of excess heat from their heavy water electrolysis experiments, using a palladium cathode and platinum anode in a simple calorimeter, there have been numerous attempts to repeat their work in laboratories throughout the world. Many of these attempts have failed, or produced ambiguous results, but some have appeared to be successful. The Third International Conference on Cold Fusion, held in Japan, October 1992, provided an ideal opportunity to review the present status of work on this topic. Fleischmann and Pons postulated a nuclear fusion explanation to account for their results, presumably involving deuterons, and research work has been devoted both towards verifying the excess heat effects and to identifying nuclear particles produced by these systems. As a result of the adverse publicity given to the early work, most of the later work has been underfunded or performed in investigators' spare time, and as a result sometimes lacks thoroughness. There have been some notable exceptions, however, and some of the presentations at this conference represented work which had been very carefully executed. Results described included evidence for excess heat, and for nuclear particle and helium production. (author)

No abstract available

No abstract available

[en] Spectrophotometric scans were obtained at 8 A resolution from 3295 to 8880 A on twenty nights before, during, and after the recent eclipse of epsilon Aurigae, beginning with a pre-eclipse observation on 5 March 1982 U.T. The observations were reduced to absolute flux using the standard stars 109 Vir or xi(2) Ceti. The data confirm that the eclipse is essentially gray over the entire visible spectrum, as others have noted from broadband photometry. High resolution echellograms (450 to 6700 A) made through mid-eclipse and the scans show changes in the equivalent widths of H alpha, Na D, and O I as large as a factor of two

[en] The ''Solid-State Fusion'' or ''Cold Fusion'' phenomenon, including excess heat generation and the production of nuclear particles, was first reported by Professors Martin Fleischmann and B. Stanley Pons in March 1989. The phenomenon described (the anomalous effects observed when deuterium oxide (heavy water) is electrolysed using a palladium cathode and a platinum anode in the presence of lithium deuteroxide) has many fascinating facets, not least of which is the fact that investigators are unable to produce the effects ''on demand''. Many of the experimental variables which seem to be significant were described and discussed at the ''First Annual Conference on Cold Fusion'' which was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, from 29th to 31st March 1990. The information presented at the conference is summarised here. Some papers addressed the excess heat effects observed, some the nuclear particles, and others the theoretical aspects. These are reviewed. At the end of the conference Fleischmann summarised all the areas where apparent evidence for solid state fusion had been obtained during the past year, namely: excess enthalpy, bursts in enthalpy; tritium, bursts in tritium; neutrons, bursts in neutrons; X-rays, gamma rays and bursts in these. He recommended that emphasis should now be concentrated on confirming reaction products, such as He⁴. New theories were emerging, but one year was too short a time in which to evaluate them fully. (author)

[en] Several geophysical experiments were performed over the Mariano Lake orebody before mining. Surface self-potential methods, surface-to-hole induced-polarization methods, and reflection-seismic methods were used. These geophysical techniques provided data which relate to the conceptual model of this orebody. Currents generated in the productive formation by oxidation-reduction reactions do not generate measurable potential anomalies at the surface. Surface-to-hole induced-polarization measurements apparently can detect an oxidation-reduction front in the vicinity of an exploration borehole. Reflection-seismic techniques can provide information concening the paleostructure of the area

[en] A significant anti-correlation between solar activity and the brightnesses of two Solar System objects has been observed. Both the planet Neptune and Saturn's satellite Titan increased in brightness by several per cent between 1972 and 1976 and subsequently became fainter by comparable amounts. This period corresponds to the decline of solar activity at the end of solar cycle 20 (1972-76), followed by the rapid increase of activity at the beginning of cycle 21. Solar minimum and the maximum observed brightness of Titan Neptune both occurred in 1976. It is suggested that what has been observed are changes in planetary albedos induced by solar activity. Such changes may have an important bearing on the energy balances of the outer planets and their satellites. (UK)

[en] For almost two decades, Neptune's brightness varied inversely, at the level of a few per cent, with the solar cycle. The anticorrelation was so striking that some causal mechanism seems necessary, and several suggestions were made. Two different but plausible ideas involving solar-induced global changes in Neptune's atmosphere were a cyclic darkening ('tanning') of stratospheric aerosols caused by varying ultraviolet radiation and a variation in the rate of ion-induced nucleation of atmospheric aerosols due to the modulation of galactic cosmic-ray flux by solar activity. In 1990, with the current solar cycle near its peak, however, Neptune departed unexpectedly from the previous cyclic behaviour, attaining its greatest brightness since 1972. Further observations will be needed to decide if the present deviation signals a unique atmospheric phenomenon, and to see if the cyclic anticorrelation will be restored. (author)

[en] Sine 1972, the brightness of Neptune at 4720 and 5510 A has slowly varied with an amplitude of 4 percent, apparently anticorrelated with cyclic solar activity. In addition, there is a secular trend towards redder color. The night-to-night variation of brightness tends to be greater in seasons when the planet is relatively bright. From annual spectrophotometric observations at 8 A resolution, 3295-8880 A, the geometrical albedo spectrum was computed for 1982, when the planet was relatively faint, and for 1987, when it was relatively bright. The two spectra do not differ substantially from each other, but yield a significantly higher albedo in the ultraviolet compared with the values published by Neff et al. based on 1981 observations and a different solar irradiance spectrum. 32 refs