1,290 research outputs found
Interconversion of Prony series for relaxation and creep
Various algorithms have been proposed to solve the interconversion equation of linear viscoelasticity when Prony series are used for the relaxation and creep moduli, G(t) and J(t). With respect to a Prony series for G(t), the key step in recovering the corresponding Prony series for J(t) is the determination of the coefficients {jk} of terms in J(t). Here, the need to solve a poorly conditioned matrix equation for the {jk} is circumvented by deriving elementary and easily evaluated analytic formulae for the {jk} in terms of the derivative dG(s)/ds of the Laplace transform G(s) of G(t)
Communication of the ECMM-ISHAM Working Group on Pseudallescheria/Scedosporium Infections. Update on Scedosporium/Pseudallescheria Infections
Date du colloque : 04/2008</p
The neurotropic black yeast Exophiala dermatitidis has a possible origin in the tropical rain forest
The black yeast Exophiala dermatitidis is known as a rare
etiologic agent of neurotropic infections in humans, occurring particularly in
East and Southeast Asia. In search of its natural habitat, a large sampling
was undertaken in temperate as well as in tropical climates. Sampling sites
were selected on the basis of the origins of previously isolated strains, and
on the basis of physiological properties of the species, which also determined
a selective isolation protocol. The species was absent from outdoor
environments in the temperate climate, but present at low abundance in
comparable habitats in the tropics. Positive outdoor sites particularly
included faeces of frugivorous birds and bats, in urban as well as in natural
areas. Tropical fruits were found E. dermatitidis positive at low
incidence. Of the human-made environments sampled, railway ties contaminated
by human faeces and oily debris in the tropics were massively positive, while
the known abundance of the fungus in steam baths was confirmed. On the basis
of the species' oligotrophy, thermotolerance, acidotolerance, moderate
osmotolerance, melanization and capsular yeast cells a natural life cycle in
association with frugivorous animals in foci in the tropical rain forest,
involving passage of living cells through the intestinal tract was
hypothesized. The human-dominated environment may have become contaminated by
ingestion of wild berries carrying fungal propagule
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