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In this paper I explore and defend the idea that those who struggle intellectually in theistic religious practice can be given a good reason to persist in it by treating their continuing practice as a way of paying tribute to people and projects and personal relationships and indeed to the whole moral dimension of human life, expressing how important and profoundly significant these things are to them. This ‘tribute of faith’ is a gesture that one makes with one’s life—a moral gesture. The key thought is that the sayings and other doings of a religious life allow one to treat the world as one in which the things, such as projects and people, that are, for one, most deeply imbued with moral value will achieve fulfilment—a fulfillment that without the truth of religious claims they would often be denied.

This is a fragment of J. L. Schellenberg’s paper “Divine Hiddenness and Human Philosophy” originally published in Adam Green and Eleonore Stump (eds.), Hidden Divinity and Religious Belief (Cambridge: CUP 2015), 23–25, 28. Reprinted by permission of the author Jest to fragment artykułu J.L. Schellenberga „Divine Hiddenness and Human Philosophy” pierwotnie opublikowanego w: Adam Green i Eleonore Stump (eds.), Hidden Divinity and Religious Belief (Cambridge: CUP 2015), 23–25, 28. Przedruk za zgodą autora.

Objective: To evaluate safety, dose response, and preliminary efficacy of reldesemtiv over 12 weeks in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Methods: Patients (≤2 years since diagnosis) with slow upright vital capacity (SVC) of ≥60% were randomized 1:1:1:1 to reldesemtiv 150, 300, or 450 mg twice daily (bid) or placebo; active treatment was 12 weeks with 4-week follow-up. Primary endpoint was change in percent predicted SVC at 12 weeks; secondary measures included ALS Functional Rating Scale-Revised (ALSFRS-R) and muscle strength mega-score. Results: Patients (N = 458) were enrolled; 85% completed 12-week treatment. The primary analysis failed to reach statistical significance (p = 0.11); secondary endpoints showed no statistically significant effects (ALSFRS-R, p = 0.09; muscle strength megascore, p = 0.31). Post hoc analyses pooling all active reldesemtiv-treated patients compared against placebo showed trends toward benefit in all endpoints (progression rate for SVC, ALSFRS-R, and muscle strength mega-score (nominal p values of 0.10, 0.01 and 0.20 respectively)). Reldesemtiv was well tolerated, with nausea and fatigue being the most common side effects. A dose-dependent decrease in estimated glomerular filtration rate was noted, and transaminase elevations were seen in approximately 5% of patients. Both hepatic and renal abnormalities trended toward resolution after study drug discontinuation. Conclusions: Although the primary efficacy analysis did not demonstrate statistical significance, there were trends favoring reldesemtiv for all three endpoints, with effect sizes generally regarded as clinically important. Tolerability was good; modest hepatic and renal abnormalities were reversible. The impact of reldesemtiv on patients with ALS should be assessed in a pivotal Phase 3 trial. (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03160898)

Distinguishing between the old atheism, the new atheism, and modest atheism, and also between belief and acceptance, and belief and acceptance tokens and types, I defend the disjunctive view that either modest atheistic belief or modest atheistic acceptance, construed as type, is today epistemically justified in the context of philosophical inquiry. Central to my defence is a deductive version of the hiddenness argument and an emphasis on the early stage of philosophical inquiry that we presently occupy.

Mark McCreary has argued that I cannot consistently advance both the hiddenness argument and certain arguments for religious scepticism found in my book The Wisdom to Doubt (WD). This reaction was expected, and in WD I explained its shortsightedness in that context. First, I noted how in Part III of WD, where theism is addressed, my principal aim is not to prove atheism but to show theists that they are not immune from the scepticism defended in Parts I and II. To the success of this aim, McCreary's arguments are not so much as relevant, for a thoroughgoing scepticism embracing even the hiddenness argument is quite compatible with its success. But I also explained how someone convinced that the hiddenness argument does prove atheism escapes the grip of religious scepticism because of that argument's reliance on apparent conceptual truths. McCreary's critique obscures this point but does not defuse it.

The problem of Divine hiddenness, or the hiddenness problem, is more and more commonly being treated as independent of the problem of evil, and as rivalling the latter in significance. Are we in error if we acquiesce in these tendencies? Only a careful investigation into relations between the hiddenness problem and the problem of evil can help us see. Such an investigation is undertaken here. What we will find is that when certain knots threatening to hamper intellectual movement are unravelled, the hiddenness problem emerges as a contender in its own right – one that may generate serious difficulties for theism regardless of conclusions drawn concerning the force of the problem of evil.

Little information is available about how farmers in transition to organic practices should manage short- and long-term N fertility. The objectives of this research were (1) to evaluate the leguminous cover crops lablab (Dolichos lablabL.), soybean (Glycine maxL.), sunn hemp (Crotalaria junceaL.) and a mixture of sunn hemp and cowpea (Vigna sinensisEndl.) as N sources; (2) to compare N availability and broccoli yield when cover crops were incorporated with conventional tillage (CT) or retained as a surface mulch using no-tillage (NT) practices; and (3) to quantify the amount of supplemental sidedress nitrogen required to maximize the yield of organic broccoli (Brassica oleraceaGroup Italica) on transition soils. Broccoli was grown during the first year after organic transition in the spring and fall of 2006 at the Kentland Agricultural Research Farm near Blacksburg, VA. Spring (PP−1, and showed a quadratic correlation with leaf N (P=R2=0.80 andP=R2=0.38, respectively). There was no difference in spring broccoli yield between CT and NT; however, CT produced the highest yield in the fall crop. At low sidedress N rates, leaf N was highest in CT plots, but tillage had no effect on N uptake at high N rates. This indicates that early season and perhaps total plant-available mineralized N was greater in CT than NT; however, potential N deficiency in NT soil may be compensated by sidedress N. Broccoli yield was not affected by leguminous cover crop, even though the quantity of cover crop biomass and N contribution was different among species. This suggests that N availability from leguminous cover crops may be impacted by other ecological processes such as soil microbial activity. This study shows that organic CT and NT growers can maximize broccoli yield in transition soils low in N availability, by using leguminous cover crops in combination with moderate amounts of sidedress N.

An open-market window has been identified in Virginia for fall broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica). Vegetable producers using plasticulture systems can capitalize on this opportunity by growing broccoli as a second crop after summer vegetables. The objective of this project was to evaluate suitability of two broccoli cultivars, Everest and Gypsy, for the fall production of large single-heads (>6 inches in diameter) for the fresh market. Planting density and rate of nitrogen (N) fertilizer (25, 60, and 100 lb/acre N) effects on yield characteristics were evaluated in a plasticulture system during a 3-year study (2003–05) conducted with broccoli transplants at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Kentland Agricultural Research Farm near Blacksburg, VA. The percentage of large heads was cultivar, plant density, and N rate dependent. The midseason ‘Gypsy’ produced significantly higher total yield and head weight compared with the early-season ‘Everest’. The optimum density to maximize floret production per area was 12,500 plants/acre and a supplemental N rate of 100 lb/acre. This N rate significantly (P < 0.002) improved marketable yield, large head yield, and leaf N accumulation compared with the lower rates. The data indicate that the feasibility of growing fall broccoli using a plasticulture system depends on the number of large heads produced for the fresh market. This in turn will depend on the choice of cultivar, stand establishment, and the requirement for supplemental N fertilizer over the residual level available in the soil after the first crop.

Chris Tucker's paper on the hiddenness argument seeks to turn aside a way of defending the latter which he calls the value argument. But the value argument can withstand Tucker's criticisms. In any case, an alternative argument capable of doing the same job is suggested by his own emphasis on free will. The many ways in which creatures might choose and the little we know about their likely choices are central themes in Chris Tucker's paper. His argu ment can be summarized as follows. For all we know, there is in some world including God a spiritually capable and non-resistant creature S who likely would at some time t fail to relate herself to God despite having the opportunity to do so, and God knows this before t. Now God is provided with little reason to act by value that will likely not be realized. Thus if God knows before t that the value of relationship with S will likely not be realized at t, and knows also that keeping S in the 'relating position' anyway would not improve anyone else's spiritual state, God is provided with little reason to keep S in the relating position at t by relationship-related value. Furthermore, in such circumstances even relatively weak competing con siderations would override what little reason God has to keep S in the relating position. Now, as Tucker notes, I have sought to deal with various purported competing considerations by means of an accommodationist strategy. Do we know that this countermove works? We do not, says Tucker, for the free choices of various individuals affected by any attempted accommodation need to be made in certain particular ways in order for it to work. And we do not know or, at least, we do not know without appeal to arguments other than those concerned with the value of divine-creature relationship that they would likely be made thus. Hence, he concludes, for all we know, the value of divine-creature relationship provides no reason at all to keep S in the relating position at ty and the argument that we are justified in supposing it necessarily provides sufficient reason to do so always and for all creatures like S is shown to be without force.1 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.181 on Thu, 29 Sep 2016 06:18:27 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 290 J. L. SCHELLENBERG Tucker's aim in all of this is to assess the prospects of the latter argument, which he calls the value argument. As is evident, he construes this argument as an independent defence of the hiddenness argument's universal claim. I do not myself have a horse in this race, having emphasized in my work on the hidden ness argument not only the benevolence here at issue but also certain important features of divine love distinct from benevolence.2 But let us begin by considering how the independent force of the value argument can be defended against Tucker's criticisms.3 I agree, of course, with the idea that if God knows that some relationship that would be valuable cannot be realized, God will not pursue the relationship for the sake of its value. But in trying to press this idea into philosophical service in connection with the hiddenness problem, Tucker overlooks some pretty import ant contextual facts. For example, even before we decide how much reason the value of possible divine-creature relationship gives God to perform the specific action of keeping someone in the relating position, we need to think about certain other actions it gives God reason to perform. Tucker himself allows that God needs to be in a situation where an especially good thing cannot be got' no matter what He does' before the good thing provides no reason for its pursuit (274). Well then, what might God do to make it more likely that when S is kept in the relating position at ty S's response is the desired one which realizes the value of divine-creature relationship at f? Surely there is a lot that can be done. After all, we are talking about God here. (Tucker's God, I'm afraid, sometimes sounds like one finite, limited actor among others.) Just for example, God might ahead of time make experientially accessible for S more of the achingly beautiful divine nature (this can always be done, no matter how susceptible to distraction the subject may be, because there must always be more beauty to be revealed in a divine reality). Thinking about such facilitating actions which God might do, it becomes less and less plausible that, for all we know, there are spiritually capable and also non-resistant creatures who likely would yet at some time be so indifferent to divine overtures as to fail to respond positively to God.4 Assuming, as Tucker does, that judgments of likelihood are possible here, we must surely say that the varying degrees and possible contents of religious experience are such that a free positive response on the part of such individuals is not at all unlikely, if God does everything God can do to assure this result. How can we suppose otherwise without either seriously and in appropriately downgrading our conception of divine greatness and beauty or neglecting the import of that phrase ' spiritually capable and non-resistant' ? On these grounds, I suggest, Tucker's criticisms of the value argument must be held to fail. Whatever plausibility they may seem to have comes from giving such points insufficient attention. But let us suppose, for the sake of further argument, that I am mistaken about this. What I want to do next is to show how even if the value argument is unsuccessful, by looking more closely at the very free will This content downloaded from 157.55.39.181 on Thu, 29 Sep 2016 06:18:27 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

In this brief reply I argue that criticisms of the hiddenness argument recently published in this journal by Imran Aijaz and Markus Weidler are without force. As will be shown, their critique of my conceptual version of the argument misses the mark by missing crucial distinctions. Their critique of my analogical version of the argument misunderstands that argument and also misapplies the work of W. H. Vanstone. And their critique of my view that belief is necessary for a certain kind of relationship with God overlooks both some central features of that kind of relationship and some good reasons for not accepting acceptance or anything similarly nonbelieving as a substitute for belief in this context.

I argue that Poston and Dougherty are mistaken in supposing that the hiddenness argument contains ambiguities about the nature of belief. And the attempt to extract from their mistaken account some reasons for favouring a broad, disjunctive view of divine – creature relationship that will be convincing for individuals not in the grip of theological assumptions comes up dry.

More than a few philosophers have sought to answer the atheistic argument from reasonable non-belief (a.k.a. the argument from divine hiddenness or the hiddenness argument) presented in my 1993 book Divine Hiddenness and Human Reason. In this first of two essays in response, I focus on objections sharing the defect – sometimes well-hidden – of irrelevance, using their shortcomings to highlight important features of the argument that are commonly overlooked.

This paper criticizes the assumption,omnipresent in contemporary philosophy ofreligion, that a perfectly good and loving Godwould wish to confer on (at least some) finitepersons free will. An alternative mode ofDivine-human relationship is introduced andshown to be as conducive to the realization ofvalue as one involving free will.Certain implications of this result are thenrevealed, to wit, that the theist’s free willdefence against the problem of evil isunsuccessful, and what is more, that free will,if it exists, provides positive support foratheism.

This paper begins by surveying some of the problems facing Swinburne's general approach, finding unfortunate the absence from his tetralogy of a strategy (suggested at the end of the previous trilogy) that might have helped to alleviate them, namely an attempt to show that a traditional Christian creed is more probable than the creed of any other religion. It then discusses certain particular arguments of the tetralogy arguments offered in defence of the traditional Christian doctrine of the Atonement which are central to the detailed working out of the approach, concluding that they are unacceptable. Richard Swinburne is an unusually disciplined and single-minded philos opher. As a recent autobiographical statement reveals, the articles and books he has produced over the last forty years, though many and varied, are all most fundamentally motivated by one aim an apologetic aim. They all fall within what he calls his 'programme', which has been 'to use the criteria of modern natural science, analysed with the careful rigour of modern philosophy, to show the meaningfulness and justification of Christian theology'.' It is therefore not inap propriate to view Swinburne's recently completed tetralogy, in which Christian doctrine is for the first time front and centre, as the culmination of all the work for which he is known and admired in philosophy.2 Everything else, in one way or another, has been leading up to this. (All that philosophy of science, for example, was done with an eye to the confirmation of Christianity; and his The Coherence of Theism was just stage one, awaiting fulfilment in The Christian God.) And, for the most part anyway, here it all ends. As he has expressed it: 'When that last book [of the tetralogy] is completed, I do not see myself as having anything further to say at book length on the philosophy of religion. I shall have said what I have to say. '3 But if Swinburne is now able to relax (does anyone think he really will?), his assessors are just getting geared up. And what they will naturally want to know

In this paper I discuss a neglected form of argument against religious belief-generically, 'the probabilistic argument from pluralism'. If the denial of a belief is equivalent to the disjunction of its alternatives, and if we may gain some idea as to the probabilities of such disjunctions by adding the separate probabilities of their mutually exclusive disjuncts, and if, moreover, the denials of many religious beliefs are disjunctions known to have two or more mutually exclusive members each possessing a significant degree or probability, then at any rate in many such cases, the denial of a religious belief can be shown to be more probable than it is - which is to say that the belief can be shown to be improbable. I consider a large number of responses to arguments of this form, concluding that none suffices to overthrow it altogether. Indeed, the argument remains as a significant threat to any religious belief confronted by a plurality of alternatives.

I cannot resist remarking at the outset upon Howard-Snyder's label for the argument. If the latter were from Divine hiddenness, it could hardly be for atheism. The claim that God is hidden entails that God exists! But let that pass. I am more interested in commenting on (i) the way HowardSnyder sets up the discussion, his characterization of the argument and of the conditions necessary for its success; and on (ii) his (relevant) proposed defeaters. Let's begin with (i). While he relies on my work2 in clarifying the argument and in showing how certain of its premises might be defended, Howard-Snyder (presumably acting on the Principle of Charity) adds a clause to one of the premises I employ, and also inserts into the argument a premise I do not employ. Now this sort of move is in itself

William Alston's Perceiving God: The Epistemology of Religious Experience (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991) is a most significant contribution to the philosophy of religion. The product of 50 years' reflection on its topic (xi), this work provides a very thorough explication and defence of what Alston calls the ‘mystical perceptual practice’ (MP) – the practice of forming beliefs about the Ultimate on the basis of putative ‘direct experiential awareness’ thereof (pp. 103, 258). Alston argues, in particular, for the (epistemic) rationality of engaging in the Christian form of MP (CMP). On his view, those who participate in CMP are (in the absence of specific overriding considerations from within CMP) justified in forming beliefs as they do because their practice is ‘socially established’, has a ‘functioning overrider system’ and a ‘significant degree of self-support’; and because of the ‘lack of sufficient reasons to take the practice as unreliable’ (p. 224).

Background: The Five Hills Health Region of Saskatchewan reported the highest West Nile virus (WNV) case rates in the 2003 outbreak. A serologic and telephone survey was undertaken to assess the seroprevalence of the virus and the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of the residents. Methods: Respondents had to be at least 18 years of age, and residents of the Five Hills Health Region between July 1 st and September 15 th , 2003. Blood samples of respondents were tested at the National Microbiology Laboratory for flavivirus immunoglobulin using a WNV IgG ELISA and plaque reduction neutralization test. Descriptive analyses performed related to respondents’ demographics, knowledge, attitudes, behaviours, and seropositivity. WNV infection risk was assessed using odds ratio. Results: There were 619 questionnaire respondents, of whom 501 donated a blood sample. The seroprevalence of WNV in the Five Hills Health Region was 9.98% (95% CI 7.37-12.59%). Seropositivity of rural areas was 16.8% and urban was 3.2%. Most (97%) of participants thought WNV was an important health issue. Forty-eight percent of the participants used insect repellents containing DEET most of the time. There was good knowledge regarding WNV transmission and prevention of the spread of WNV. Rural compared to urban residents were six times more likely to be positive for WNV (OR=6.13, 95% CI 2.82-13.34). Interpretation: This is the highest seroprevalence rate of West Nile virus recorded in North America thus far. Many factors could have influenced this outbreak, such as eco-region, early prolonged hot weather, level of mosquito control programs, urban and rural community differences, and personal protective behaviours. MeSH terms: West Nile virus; seroepidemiologic study; Saskatchewan; knowledge, attitude, behavior

We report on an experiment at the Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland measuring x rays from muon transfer from deuterium to helium. Both the ground state transfer via the exotic dmu3,4He* molecules and the excited state transfer from mud* were measured. The use of CCD detectors allowed x rays from 1.5 keV to 11 keV to be detected with sufficient energy resolution to separate the transitions to different final states in both deuterium and helium. The x-ray peaks of the dmu3He* and dmu4He* molecules were measured with good statistics. For the D2+3He mixture, the peak has its maximum at E_dmu3He = 6768 +- 12 eV with FWHM Gamma_dmu3He = 863 +- 10 eV. Furthermore the radiative branching ratio was found to be kappa_dmu3He = 0.301 +- 0.061. For the D_2+4He mixture, the maximum of the peak lies at E_dmu4He = 6831 +- 8 eV and the FWHM is Gamma_dmu4He = 856 +- 10 eV. The radiative branching ratio is kappa_dmu4He = 0.636 +- 0.097. The excited state transfer is limited by the probability to reach the deuterium ground state, q_1s. This coefficient was determined for both mixtures: q^3He_1s = 68.9 +- 2.7% and q^4He_1s = 90.1 +- 1.5., Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures

Compared with conventional modes of patient-initiated mechanical ventilation, respiratory mechanical unloading aims at improving the match between ventilator pressure profiles and the specific derangements in lung mechanics. This may reduce lung barotrauma. The ventilator pressure increases either in proportion to the volume or to the flow of spontaneous breathing (elastic or resistive unloading), thereby selectively decreasing elastic or resistive work of breathing. The clinician sets a gain of increase in pressure per unit of volume or flow. In an attempt to develop criteria for selecting an appropriate gain, we investigated the effects of unloading using increasing gains that either partially compensated or overcompensated lung elastance or resistance. We studied spontaneously breathing, anesthetized, and tracheotomized rabbits. Compared with continuous positive airway pressure, respiratory unloading decreased the electromyographic activity of the diaphragm and increased minute ventilation in normal (n = 5) and surfactant-depleted (n = 6) animals when the gain was partially compensating. Fluctuations in systemic blood pressure associated with breathing decreased. The end-expiratory lung volume remained unchanged. Overcompensation of lung elastic recoil during elastic unloading with an excessive gain caused large tidal volumes associated with a cyclic decrease in blood pressure. Overcompensation of resistance induced oscillations. Complete inhibition of spontaneous breathing occurred with a further increase in gain. We conclude that respiratory unloading with an appropriate gain enhances the effect of diaphragmatic muscle activity on ventilation. A stable breathing pattern ensues whenever a regular spontaneous effort is present. However, excessive gain causes large tidal volumes during elastic unloading or oscillations during resistive unloading.

Experiments are described which use a solid hydrogen layer to form muonic hydrogen isotopes in vacuum. The method relies on transfer of the muon from protium to either a deuteron or a triton. The resulting muonic deuterium or muonic tritium will not immediately thermalize because of the very low elastic cross sections, and may be emitted from the surface of the layer. Measurements which detect decay electrons, muonic x-rays, and fusion products have been used to study the processes. A target has been constructed which exploits muonic atom emission in order to study the energy dependence of transfer and muon molecular formation.

Weed suppression and nitrogen (N) management present the greatest challenges to organic growers. Cover crops, the strategic use of tillage, and multiple nitrogen sources are being investigated in order to develop integrated management practices. Combinations of legume and grass cover crops are being utilized as alternative N sources and as tools for weed suppression. Another objective is to compare conventional and no-till practices to determine when the strategic use of tillage is most beneficial for N management and weed control. The last objective is to evaluate the fate of applied N and N released from cover decomposition on crop development. The best combinations of cover crop species, the frequency and intensity of tillage, and optimum N rates will be determined for the production of organic broccoli. This project will aid growers interested in transitioning to organic farming. In addition, integrated management practices that balance the short-term needs for crop productivity and the long-term interests of sustainable production will be reported.

The Tables summarize experimental results from muonic atom transition energies, nuclear charge parameters from elastic electron scattering, and K x-ray isotope shifts in so far as they provide information on nuclear ground-state charge radii. Numerous experimental results for optical isotope shifts have been published elsewhere; for eight elements the relevant information is condensed ("projected") here to one optical line per element. A model-independent analysis which combines data from all three experimental methods is applied to these elements and is presented as an illustration of the improved accuracy for the rms radii and Barrett radii which result from this analysis.

The X-ray spectrum of muonic 237 Np has been investigated with stopped muons in a NpO 2 target, containing about 10 g of 237 Np. The probability of the radiationless muonic 3d→1s transition in 237 Np , (9±4)% , was obtained by comparing the relative intensities of the main muonic X-ray transitions in singles and coincidence spectra. The coincidences were gated by the 2p→1s transitions.

NaI(Tl) and Ge(Li) detectors have been used singly and in a two-parameter configuration to study the gamma rays associated with the decay of 2.9-day 97Ru. Thirteen transitions have been observed and accounted for in a decay scheme involving levels at 96.4, 215.8, 324.4, 656.7, 785.1, 855.4, 969.7, and 994.4 keV. Spin and parity assignments are discussed.

Experiments using Ge(Li) and Nal(Tl) detectors singly and in a 2-parameter coincidence arrangement have been carried out to establish the role of a number of weak transitions in the decay of 143Ce. Twenty-six of the twenty-seven observed γ rays have been placed in a decay scheme with levels at 57.4, 350.6, 490.2, 721.8, 739.9, 847.9, 937.3, 1059.8, (1156.5), 1160.1, 1381.6, and 1397.4 keV. The K-conversion coefficients of the 293 and 350 keV transitions, measured with a Si(Li) detector, are 0.10 ± 02 and 0.024 ± 0.03 respectively.

Es wird eine Anordnung zur Erzeugung monochromatischer (d,d)-Neutronen beschrieben. Sie beruht auf einer Koinzidenzmethode, bei der als Koinzidenzpartner die in der (d,d)-Reaktion gleichzeitig entstehenden He3-Kerne und Neutronen benützt werden. In der angeführten Anordnung werden die He3-Kerne unter 90° zum einfallenden Deuteronenstrahl beobachtet. Als Target wird ein D2-Gastarget benutzt. Die berechnete Energiebreite der Neutronen für die gewählte Anordnung beträgt ca. 10 keV. Für eine Deuteronenenergie von 900 keV und 5 μA Stromstärke ergeben sich ca. l Koinzidenzimpuls pro Sekunde. Es sollte möglich sein, diese Zahl durch Vergrößerung des benutzten Neutronenzählers um einen Faktor 10 zu erhöhen, ohne das Energieauflösungsvermögen zu verschlechtern. Die Zahl der zufälligen Koinzidenzen variiert zwischen 5 — 10% der wahren Koinzidenzen.

The scientific program and the experimental setup of the DEAR (DAΦNE Exotic Atom Research) experiment at the new φ-factory DAΦNE of Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati are described. The objective of DEAR is to perform a 1% measurement of the Kα line shift due to the strong interaction in kaonic hydrogen. A measurement will also be performed on kaonic deuterium for the first time. The aim is to investigate low-energy \(\overline K N\) physics and to understand SU(3) chiral symmetry breaking. The setup takes advantage of the unique features of the “kaon beam” from the φ decay in DAΦNE; of a low-temperature pressurized gaseous target; and of a detector for soft X-rays – the Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) – characterized by a very good energy (and spatial) resolution and by an unprecedented background rejection capability. The DEAR experiment represents a major effort in the study of low energy \(\overline K N\) interactions and has the potential to produce a breakthrough in the field.

In muonic 190,192Os the magnetic hf-spliting of the 2+ → 0+ nuclear transition was measured. The hf-splittings ΔE( 190 Os ) = 665 ± 80 eV and ΔE( 192 Os ) = 800 ± 80 eV of the 2+ state are reduced at 59% compared to a point-like magnetic moment in agreement with the assumption of a magnetization density of a magnetization density distribution proportional to R2 ϱcharge(R) as calculated from a rigid rotator. The influence of these results on the analysis of muonic isomer shifts is pointed out.

Energies of the 5g-4f muonic X-rays have been measured in nat Hg and 203 Tl with an accuracy of about 25 eV. They are found to be smaller than theoretical energies including recently revised calculations of higher-order vacuum polarization, by about two standard deviations.

The X-ray spectrum of pionic 208 Pb has been measured. The deduced values of the strong interaction monopole shift with respect to the point Coulomb energy are ϵ 0 (4f) = 1.49±0.02 keV and ϵ 0 (3d) = 19.4±1.2 keV. The observed s strong interaction absorption widths of this spherical nucleus are found to be Γ 0 (4f) = 1.25±0.02 keV and Γ 0 (3d) = 47.0±3.6 keV. Important in the analysis of the pionic 4f level is the intensity balance for this level, giving an additional check on the measured absorption width of the pionic 4f level. For the more peripheral 4f state the measured strong interaction shifts and widths are well explained by standard optical model calculations. The values for the 3d state, however, are not in agreement with these calculations.