Experiments with a simple pulsed magnetic field in cusped geometry are described. The plasma is generated inside the containment region rather than injected from an external source. It was found that creation of the plasma by a linear pinch discharge is most successful. Only qualitative studies have been carried out so far, using time-resolved visual observation of the plasma. Well-defined plasma bodies located in the central region between the cells were photographed. In order to make them clearly visible, a few percent of argon was added to the hydrogen.

This report summarizes the original construction and recent modifications of the electron-electron coincidence spectrometer BRS-IV located in Building 70 of the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory. In addition to new information on the modified spectrometer, this report also contains a large amount of material taken from two previous UCRL reports.

The problem of the reduction of an arbitrary truth function to the minimal union of basic cells is discussed. The solution to this problem has applications to pattern recognition and logical circuit design. An algorithm is presented that solves the problem and generates the class of minimal unions. It partitions an arbitrary truth function into a well-defined set of subfunctions (components) in such a way that the partition is invariant under all transformations that preserve the topology of the original truth function.

The theoretical half lives for alpha emissions have been calculated for nearly all of the complex alpha spectra. The spin independent equations of Preston were used for the calculations. The nuclear radius for the even-even nuclei was determined with the assumption that the alpha transition to the ground state is unhindered. For odd mass nuclides the average of the nuclear radii of the adjacent even-even nuclides was used. For odd-odd nuclides the average of the nuclear radii of the adjacent odd mass nuclides of the same atomic number was used.