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We consider whether the long term perturbation of radiocarbon dates, which is known to be approximately a sin function of period about 8000 years and amplitude of about 8% peak-to-peak, could have been caused in any major part by vulcanism. We conclude that this is not the case. On the contrary, present day volcanoes are a far less important source of inert CO{sub 2} (about 100 fold less) than is man's burning of fossil fuels which has caused the Suess dilution of about 2%. (auth)

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From Winter meeting of American Society of Mechanical Engineers; Detroit, Michigan, USA (11 Nov 1973). The probability of failure corresponding to specified levels of allowable design stress was calculated for pressure vessels designed in accordance with the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code. The analysis was performed for maximum shear stress failure and for cyclic stress failure. The significance of such failure prediction is ddscussed and a rationale for selecting an allowable stress is presented. Examples are presented that demonstrate the estimation of vessel failure probability as a function of load variation, strength variation, and design safety factor. (auth)

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From symposium on environmentl surveillance around nuclear installation; Warsaw, Poland (5 Nov 1973). A new concept in the sizing of radioactive or nonradioactive airborne Particulate matter has been assembled into a mobile field unit and is being applied to present environmental and health physics particle size information needs. The glow-discharge perturbat ion method economically generates particle size data which can be directly accumulated and spectrometrically analyzed by a multichannel analyzer. The basics of the glow- discharge technique are touched upon and compared to other instrumentation presently available in this province of the environmental sciences. The physical description, operational characteristics and current uses of the apparatus are detailed, along with importnt design and operational parameters. Particle size distribution data and analysis techniques illustrating the utility of this system are presented. (auth)

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The history of radiocarbon dating from 1939 to the present is reviewed. The basic principles of radiocarbon dating are that cosmic rays make living things radioactive with {sup 14}C to a certain level fixed by the environment and that at death the intake of food stops so no replenishment of the {sup 14}C steadily lost by the immutable decay occurs. Therefore measurement of the degree of decay gives the time lapse since death, i.e., the radiocarbon age. The equipment developed and experiments performed to measure the specific activity of specimens to be dated are described. The results obtained by world-wide experimenters are discussed. These showed that on simultaneity radiocarbon dating is apparently reliable but that absolute dates may be incorrect by as much as 600 to 700 y. The value of radiocarbon dating to archaeologists, geologists, climatologists, and historians is stressed. (LCL)

Within the past few months two excellent summaries sup{(1,2)} of the state of our knowledge of the weak interactions have been presented. Correspondingly, we will not attempt a comprehensive review but instead concentrate this discussion on the status of CP violation; the question of the neutral currents, and the weak equivalence principle.

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