Ballooning-Interchange Instability in the Near-Earth Plasma Sheet and Auroral Beads: Global Magnetospheric Modeling at the Limit of the MHD Approximation.

Explosive magnetotail activity has long been understood in the context of its auroral manifestations. While global models have been used to interpret and understand many magnetospheric processes, the temporal and spatial scales of some auroral forms have been inaccessible to global modeling creating a gulf between observational and theoretical studies of these phenomena. We present here an important step toward bridging this gulf using a newly developed global magnetosphere-ionosphere model with resolution capturing 30 km azimuthal scales in the auroral zone.

Global MHD modeling of resonant ULF waves: Simulations with and without a plasmasphere.

We investigate the plasmaspheric influence on the resonant mode coupling of magnetospheric ultralow frequency (ULF) waves using the Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry (LFM) global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model. We present results from two different versions of the model, both driven by the same solar wind conditions: one version that contains a plasmasphere (the LFM coupled to the Rice Convection Model, where the Gallagher plasmasphere model is also included) and another that does not (the stand-alone LFM). We find that the inclusion of a cold, dense plasmasphere has a significant impact on the nature of the simulated ULF waves.

Safety of cornea and iris in ocular surgery with 355-nm lasers.

A recent study showed that 355-nm nanosecond lasers cut cornea with similar precision to infrared femtosecond lasers. However, use of ultraviolet wavelength requires precise assessment of ocular safety to determine the range of possible ophthalmic applications. In this study, the 355-nm nanosecond laser was evaluated for corneal and iris damage in rabbit, porcine, and human donor eyes as determined by minimum visible lesion (MVL) observation, live/dead staining of the endothelium, and apoptosis assay.

Magnetosphere sawtooth oscillations induced by ionospheric outflow.

The sawtooth mode of convection of Earth's magnetosphere is a 2- to 4-hour planetary-scale oscillation powered by the solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere (SW-M-I) interaction. Using global simulations of geospace, we have shown that ionospheric O(+) outflows can generate sawtooth oscillations. As the outflowing ions fill the inner magnetosphere, their pressure distends the nightside magnetic field.

Femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery with integrated optical coherence tomography.

About one-third of people in the developed world will undergo cataract surgery in their lifetime. Although marked improvements in surgical technique have occurred since the development of the current approach to lens replacement in the late 1960s and early 1970s, some critical steps of the procedure can still only be executed with limited precision. Current practice requires manual formation of an opening in the anterior lens capsule, fragmentation and evacuation of the lens tissue with an ultrasound probe, and implantation of a plastic intraocular lens into the remaining capsular bag.