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Background: Globular clusters are known to exhibit anomalous abundance trends such as the sodium-oxygen anticorrelation. This trend is thought to arise via pollution of the cluster interstellar medium from a previous generation of stars. Intermediate-mass asymptotic giant branch stars undergoing hot bottom burning (HBB) are a prime candidate for producing sodium-rich oxygen-poor material, and then expelling this material via strong stellar winds. The amount of 23 Na produced in this environment has been shown to be sensitive to uncertainties in the 22 Ne(p, γ ) 23 Na reaction rate. The 22 Ne(p, γ ) 23 Na reaction is also activated in classical nova nucleosynthesis, strongly influencing predicted isotopic abundance ratios in the Na-Al region. Therefore, improved nuclear physics uncertainties for this reaction rate are of critical importance for the identification and classification of pre-solar grains produced by classical novae. Purpose: At temperatures relevant for both HBB in AGB stars and classical nova nucleosynthesis, the 22 Ne(p, γ ) 23 Na reaction rate is dominated by narrow resonances, with additional contribution from direct capture. This study presents new strength values for seven resonances, as well as a study of direct capture. Method: The experiment was performed in inverse kinematics by impinging an intense isotopically pure beam of 22 Ne onto a windowless H 2 gas target. The 23 Na recoils and prompt γ rays were detected in coincidence using a recoil mass separator coupled to a 4π bismuth-germanate scintillator array surrounding the target. Results: For the low-energy resonances, located at center of mass energies of 149, 181, and 248 keV, we recover stength values of ωγ 149 = 0.17 +0.05 −0.04 , ωγ 181 = 2.2 ± 0.4, and ωγ 248 = 8.2 ± 0.7 μeV, respectively. These results are in broad agreement with recent studies performed by the LUNA and TUNL groups. However, for the important reference resonance at 458 keV we obtain a strength value of ωγ 458 = 0.44 ± 0.02 eV, which is significantly lower than recently reported values. This is the first time that this resonance has been studied completely independently from other resonance strengths. For the 632-keV resonance we recover a strength value of ωγ 632 = 0.48 ± 0.02 eV, which is an order of magnitude higher than a recent study. For reference resonances at 610-and 1222-keV, our strength values are in agreement with the literature. In the case of direct capture, we recover an S factor of 60 keV b, consistent with prior forward kinematics experiments. Conclusions: In summary, we have performed the first direct measurement of 22 Ne(p, γ ) 23 Na in inverse kinematics. Our results are in broad agreement with the literature, with the notable exception of the 458-keV

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An experiment was performed to determine whether quality differences between boars and castrates when used for bacon production are true castration effects or due to the greater leanness of boars. Sixty-four commercial hybrid male pigs, half of which were castrated at 10 days of age, were given different levels of feeding so that at 87 kg live weight there was a 2-mm difference in P 2 fat thickness between two groups of 16 boars and two groups of 16 castrates. The leanest group of castrates and the fattest group of boars had similar fat thickness and carcass composition. This design allowed the separation of castration and feeding treatment (carcass composition) effects. Skin thickness and weight (boars greater) and kidney weight (boars heavier) were much more influenced by castration than feeding treatment. Other effects that were more influenced by castration, although less strongly, were killing-out proportion (boars lower because of testes), leg and loin length (boars shorter), joint weight distribution (boars lighter in flank) and lean weight distribution (boars slightly less lean in leg, and more in foreloin and belly). Lean to bone ratio in the side was influenced less by castration than by feeding treatment but boars had more intermuscular fat in relation to subcutaneous fat than castrates. The lean content of the leg was closely related to that of the side, and there were different relationships in boars and castrates. 55