Experimental investigation of a magnetically balanced arc in a transverse argon flow

"Reprinted from Journal of Engineering for Power January, 1966.""An experimental study of an electric arc in crossed convective and magnetic fields has been made. An electric arc was established across a rectangular test section through which argon gas was flowing at approximately atmospheric pressure and velocities up to 100 m/sec. Magnetic field strengths up to 3 webers/m2, oriented so that the Lorentz force opposed the convective force on the arc, were applied perpendicular lo both the arc and the direction of the argon gas flow. The test apparatus and the procedure used to obtain the experimental relationship between the velocity of the argon flow and the balancing magnetic field are described. An analysis which assumed the magnetically balanced arc lo be a gaseous cylinder positioned between the electrodes and with a diameter varying directly as the arc current satisfactorily explained the observed dependence of the balancing magnetic field on the gas velocity."--Page 1

Two cases of fungal keratitis caused by Metarhizium anisopliae

We present two cases of keratitis due to Metarhizium anisopliae in geographically separated areas of the United States. The isolates were microscopically similar but morphologically different and were identified by ribosomal DNA sequencing. Both isolates had low minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values to caspofungin and micafungin, but high MIC values to amphotericin B. The morphologic and antifungal susceptibility differences between the two isolates indicate possible polyphylogeny of the group. Keywords: Metarhizium, Fungal keratitis, Keratomycosis, Antifungal susceptibilit

Dating the Cryptococcus gattii Dispersal to the North American Pacific Northwest.

The emergence of Cryptococcus gattii, previously regarded as a predominantly tropical pathogen, in the temperate climate of the North American Pacific Northwest (PNW) in 1999 prompted several questions. The most prevalent among these was the timing of the introduction of this pathogen to this novel environment. Here, we infer tip-dated timing estimates for the three clonal C. gattii populations observed in the PNW, VGIIa, VGIIb, and VGIIc, based on whole-genome sequencing of 134 C. gattii isolates and using Bayesian evolutionary analysis by sampling trees (BEAST). We estimated the nucleotide substitution rate for each lineage (1.59 × 10-8, 1.59 × 10-8, and 2.70 × 10-8, respectively) to be an order of magnitude higher than common neutral fungal mutation rates (2.0 × 10-9), indicating a microevolutionary rate (e.g., successive clonal generations in a laboratory) in comparison to a species' slower, macroevolutionary rate (e.g., when using fossil records). The clonal nature of the PNW C. gattii emergence over a narrow number of years would therefore possibly explain our higher mutation rates. Our results suggest that the mean time to most recent common ancestor for all three sublineages occurred within the last 60 to 100 years. While the cause of C. gattii dispersal to the PNW is still unclear, our research estimates that the arrival is neither ancient nor very recent (i.e., <25 years ago), making a strong case for an anthropogenic introduction. IMPORTANCE The recent emergence of the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus gattii in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) resulted in numerous investigations into the epidemiological and enzootic impacts, as well as multiple genomic explorations of the three primary molecular subtypes of the fungus that were discovered. These studies lead to the general conclusion that the subtypes identified likely emerged out of Brazil. Here, we conducted genomic dating analyses to determine the ages of the various lineages seen in the PNW and propose hypothetical causes for the dispersal events. Bayesian evolutionary analysis strongly suggests that these independent fungal populations in the PNW are all 60 to 100 years old, providing a timing that is subsequent to the opening of the Panama Canal, which allowed for more direct shipping between Brazil and the western North American coastline, a possible driving event for these fungal translocation events

Variable-mesh difference equation for the stream function in axially symmetric flow

"December 6, 1964.""Reprinted from AIAA Journal 1964."A finite difference equation is developed for the stream function in cylindrical coordinates with axial symmetry which is applicable to an irregular mesh having different length and radial dimensions. In addition, the length and radial dimensions may be varied, and the mesh made finer in any interior region. The equation also takes into account an irregular boundary