Classification of the Fungi lmperfecti

In recent years, some dissatisfaction has been expressed concerning the commonly used classification of the Fungi Imperfecti. The discontent with the present system has arisen from the fact that the characteristics used to delimit taxa (i.e. spore color and septation, arrangement of the conidiophores, etc.) often results in the separation of morphologically similar genera, while at the same time placing together what seem to be unrelated genera. The present system was proposed by Saccardo when the major interest in the Fungi Imperfecti was in their role as plant pathogens. Now these fungi are being studied more intensively than ever before, not only as plant pathogens, but also with reference to the other roles which they play in nature. Members of the imperfect fungi have been found to be among the most common of the soil fungi; they have been found to play a major role in the decomposition of military equipment; they have long been known to play an important role in food spoilage; recently, the biochemical activities of many of these fungi have been recognized as having industrial value

Combined fit to the spectrum and composition data measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory including magnetic horizon effects

The measurements by the Pierre Auger Observatory of the energy spectrum and mass composition of cosmic rays can be interpreted assuming the presence of two extragalactic source populations, one dominating the flux at energies above a few EeV and the other below. To fit the data ignoring magnetic field effects, the high-energy population needs to accelerate a mixture of nuclei with very hard spectra, at odds with the approximate E$^{-2}$ shape expected from diffusive shock acceleration. The presence of turbulent extragalactic magnetic fields in the region between the closest sources and the Earth can significantly modify the observed CR spectrum with respect to that emitted by the sources, reducing the flux of low-rigidity particles that reach the Earth. We here take into account this magnetic horizon effect in the combined fit of the spectrum and shower depth distributions, exploring the possibility that a spectrum for the high-energy population sources with a shape closer to E$^{-2}$ be able to explain the observations