Quantum Decoherence in a Four-Dimensional Black Hole Background

We display a logarithmic divergence in the density matrix of a scalar field in the presence of an Einstein-Yang-Mills black hole in four dimensions. This divergence is related to a previously-found logarithmic divergence in the entropy of the scalar field, which cannot be absorbed into a renormalization of the Hawking-Bekenstein entropy of the black hole. As the latter decays, the logarithmic divergence induces a non-commutator term \nd{\delta H}\rho in the quantum Liouville equation for the density matrix $\rho$ of the scalar field, leading to quantum decoherence. The order of magnitude of \nd{\delta H} is $\mu^2/M_P$, where $\mu$ is the mass of the scalar particle.Comment: 13-pages LATE

The complete sequence of the Adoxophyes orana granulovirus genome

AbstractThe nucleotide sequence of the Adoxophyes orana granulovirus (AdorGV) DNA genome was determined and analysed. The genome contains 99,657 bp and has an A + T content of 65.5%. The analysis predicted 119 ORFs of 150 nucleotides or larger that showed minimal overlap. Of these putative genes, 104 (87%) were homologous to genes identified previously in other baculoviruses. The mean overall amino acid identity of AdorGV ORFs was highest with CpGV ORFs at 48%. Sixty-three ORFs were conserved among all lepidopteran baculoviruses and are considered to be common baculoviral genes. Several genes reported to have major roles in baculovirus biology were not found in the AdorGV genome. These included chitinase and cathepsin, which are involved in the liquefaction of the host, which explains why AdorGV-infected insects do not degrade in a typical manner. The AdorGV genome encoded two inhibitor of apoptosis (iap) genes iap-3 and iap-5. Among all of the granuloviruses genomes there was a very high level of gene collinearity. The genes shared by AdorGV and CpGV had exactly the same order along the genome with the exception of one gene, iap-3. The AdorGV genome did not contain typical homologous region (hr) sequences. However, it contained nine repetitive regions in the genome

Logarithmic Operators Fold D branes into AdS_3

We use logarithmic conformal field theory techniques to describe recoil effects in the scattering of two Dirichlet branes in D dimensions. In the particular case that a D1 brane strikes a D3 brane perpendicularly, thereby folding it, we find that the recoil space-time is maximally symmetric, with AdS_3 x E_{D-3} geometry. We comment on the possible applications of this result to the study of transitions between different background metrics.Comment: 10 pages revtex, one eps figure include

Decoherent Scattering of Light Particles in a D-Brane Background

We discuss the scattering of two light particles in a D-brane background. It is known that, if one light particle strikes the D brane at small impact parameter, quantum recoil effects induce entanglement entropy in both the excited D brane and the scattered particle. In this paper we compute the asymptotic `out' state of a second light particle scattering off the D brane at large impact parameter, showing that it also becomes mixed as a consequence of quantum D-brane recoil effects. We interpret this as a non-factorizing contribution to the superscattering operator S-dollar for the two light particles in a Liouville D-brane background, that appears when quantum D-brane excitations are taken into account.Comment: 18 pages LATEX, one figure (incorporated

Breaking the mould – Stakeholder engagement to build a case for, and then deliver the transformation of a 1960s library into a 21st century library and learning space

By 2005 the University of Kent’s traditional 1960s library was no longer fully supporting the diverse needs of the University’s academic community and satisfaction levels amongst users whose needs extended beyond silent individual study reflected the building’s limitations. Re-imagining the university library and transforming our service offer and the way we use our physical spaces was an initial response to the challenge of meeting our diverse user needs, but by doing so we more than doubled daily footfalls and started to fail users in new ways. The eventual solution of a flexible 21st Century Library would require us to challenge our perceptions and existing practice still further, broaden the stakeholder group, and form a specialist team of Library and IT staff, architects, engineers and other professionals to develop solutions to our complex and challenging problem. This paper describes the role of collaboration in the various stages of the project from initial envisioning and business case development through the design development stages and eventual building works and occupation and covers activities led by the client team and those led by Penoyre and Prasad, the project architects

Entropy of the Randall-Sundrum black brane world in the brick-wall method

We calculate the entropy of the brane-world black hole in the Randall-Sundrum(RS) model by using the brick-wall method. The modes along the extra dimension are semi-classically quantized on the extra dimension. The number of modes in the extra dimension is given as a simple form with the help of the RS mass relation, and then the entropy for the scalar modes in the five-dimensional spacetime is described by the two-dimensional area of the black brane world.Comment: 11pages, revtex, one word added in title, contents are slightly modified, to appear in Phys. Lett.

BronchUK:protocol for an observational cohort study and biobank in bronchiectasis

Bronchiectasis has been a largely overlooked disease area in respiratory medicine. This is reflected by a shortage of large-scale studies and lack of approved therapies, in turn leading to a variation of treatment across centres. BronchUK (Bronchiectasis Observational Cohort and Biobank UK) is a multicentre, prospective, observational cohort study working collaboratively with the European Multicentre Bronchiectasis Audit and Research Collaboration project. The inclusion criteria for patients entering the study are a clinical history consistent with bronchiectasis and computed tomography demonstrating bronchiectasis. Main exclusion criteria are 1) patients unable to provide informed consent, 2) bronchiectasis due to known cystic fibrosis or where bronchiectasis is not the main or co-dominant respiratory disease, 3) age <18 years, and 4) prior lung transplantation for bronchiectasis. The study is aligned to standard UK National Health Service (NHS) practice with an aim to recruit a minimum of 1500 patients from across at least nine secondary care centres. Patient data collected at baseline includes demographics, aetiology testing, comorbidities, lung function, radiology, treatments, microbiology and quality of life. Patients are followed up annually for a maximum of 5 years and, where able, blood and/or sputa samples are collected and stored in a central biobank. BronchUK aims to collect robust longitudinal data that can be used for analysis into current NHS practice and patient outcomes, and to become an integral resource to better inform future interventional studies in bronchiectasis

Artemisinin Combination Therapies for Treatment of Uncomplicated Malaria in Uganda

OBJECTIVES: To compare the efficacy and safety of artemisinin combination therapies for the treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria in Uganda. DESIGN: Randomized single-blind controlled trial. SETTING: Tororo, Uganda, an area of high-level malaria transmission. PARTICIPANTS: Children aged one to ten years with confirmed uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria. INTERVENTIONS: Amodiaquine + artesunate or artemether–lumefantrine. OUTCOME MEASURES: Risks of recurrent symptomatic malaria and recurrent parasitemia at 28 days, unadjusted and adjusted by genotyping to distinguish recrudescences and new infections. RESULTS: Of 408 participants enrolled, 403 with unadjusted efficacy outcomes were included in the per-protocol analysis. Both treatment regimens were highly efficacious; no recrudescences occurred in patients treated with amodiaquine + artesunate, and only two occurred in those treated with artemether–lumefantrine. However, recurrent malaria due to new infections was common. The unadjusted risk of recurrent symptomatic malaria was significantly lower for participants treated with artemether–lumefantrine than for those treated with amodiaquine + artesunate (27% versus 42%, risk difference 15%, 95% CI 5.9%–24.2%). Similar results were seen for the risk of recurrent parasitemia (51% artemether–lumefantrine versus 66% amodiaquine + artesunate, risk difference 16%, 95% CI 6.2%–25.2%). Amodiaquine + artesunate and artemether–lumefantrine were both well-tolerated. Serious adverse events were uncommon with both regimens. CONCLUSIONS: Amodiaquine + artesunate and artemether–lumefantrine were both highly efficacious for treatment of uncomplicated malaria. However, in this holoendemic area, despite the excellent performance of both regimens in terms of efficacy, many patients experienced recurrent parasitemia due to new infections. Artemether–lumefantrine was superior to amodiaquine + artesunate for prevention of new infections. To maximize the benefit of artemisinin combination therapy in Africa, treatment should be integrated with strategies to prevent malaria transmission. The impact of frequent repeated therapy on the efficacy, safety, and cost-effectiveness of new artemisinin regimens should be further investigated

Paper-based sensors for rapid detection of virulence factor produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Pyocyanin is a toxin produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Here we describe a novel paper-based electrochemical sensor for pyocyanin detection, manufactured with a simple and inexpensive approach based on electrode printing on paper. The resulting sensors constitute an effective electrochemical method to quantify pyocyanin in bacterial cultures without the conventional time consuming pretreatment of the samples. The electrochemical properties of the paper-based sensors were evaluated by ferri/ferrocyanide as a redox mediator, and showed reliable sensing performance. The paper-based sensors readily allow for the determination of pyocyanin in bacterial cultures with high reproducibility, achieving a limit of detection of 95 nM and a sensitivity of 4.30 μA/μM in standard culture media. Compared to the similar commercial ceramic based sensors, it is a 2.3-fold enhanced performance. The simple in-house fabrication of sensors for pyocyanin quantification allows researchers to understand in vitro adaptation of P. aeruginosa infections via rapid screenings of bacterial cultures that otherwise are expensive and time-consuming

Quasinormal modes of black holes absorbing dark energy

We study perturbations of black holes absorbing dark energy. Due to the accretion of dark energy, the black hole mass changes. We observe distinct perturbation behaviors for absorption of different forms of dark energy into the black holes. This provides the possibility of extracting information whether dark energy lies above or below the cosmological constant boundary $w=-1$. In particular, we find in the late time tail analysis that, differently from the other dark energy models, the accretion of phantom energy exhibits a growing mode in the perturbation tail. The instability behavior found in this work is consistent with the Big Rip scenario, in which all of the bound objects are torn apart with the presence of the phantom dark energy.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, revised version, accepted for publication in Phys.Lett.