Catastrophic Emission of Charges from Near-Extremal Nariai Black Holes

Using the in-out formalism and also the monodromy method, we study the emission of charges from near-extremal charged Nariai black holes with the black hole and cosmological horizons close to each other. The emission becomes catastrophic for a charge with energy greater than its chemical potential, whose leading exponential factor increases inversely proportional to the separation of two horizons. This implies that near-extremal Nariai black holes quickly evaporate through the charge emission and end in the de Sitter space, in contrast to near-extremal RN-dS black holes that have the Breitenlohner-Friedman bound below which they become stable against Hawking radiation and Schwinger effect of charge emission. We illuminate the origin of the catastrophic emission in the phase-integral formulation by comparing near-extremal charged Nariai black holes with near-extremal RN-dS black holes.Comment: 15 page

Measurement-device-independent QKD with Modified Coherent State

The measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) protocol has been proposed for the purpose of removing the detector side channel attacks. Due to the multi-photon events of coherent states sources, real-life implementations of MDI-QKD protocol must employ decoy states to beat the photon-number-splitting attack. Decoy states for MDI-QKD based on the weak coherent states have been studied recently. In this paper, we propose to perform MDI-QKD protocol with modified coherent states (MCS) sources. We simulate the performance of MDI-QKD with the decoy states based on MCS sources. And our simulation indicates that both the secure-key rate and transmission distance can be improved evidently with MCS sources.The physics behind this improvement is that the probability of multi-photon events of the MCS is lower than that of weak coherent states while at the same time the probability of single-photon is higher

The resting sites and blood-meal sources of Anopheles minimus in Taiwan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The WHO declared Taiwan free from malaria in 1965, but in 2003 the reporting of two introduced cases in a rural area suggested a possible local transmission of this disease. Therefore, understanding the resting sites and the blood sources of <it>Anopheles minimus </it>is crucial in order to provide information for implementing vector control strategies.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>During a two-year survey, mosquitoes were collected in houses and their surrounding areas and at the bank of larval habitats by backpack aspirators in 17 villages in rural areas of southern and eastern Taiwan for 1 hr. On the same day, blacklight traps were hung downward overnight. Blood-fed mosquito samples were analysed by PCR.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 195 total households surveyed by backpack aspirators, no <it>Anopheles </it>adults were collected inside the houses, while a single <it>Anopheles minimus </it>and a single <it>Anopheles maculatus </it>were collected outside of the houses. On the same day, 23 <it>An. minimus</it>, two <it>An. maculatus</it>, two <it>Anopheles ludlowae</it>, two <it>Anopheles sinensis</it>, and one <it>Anopheles tessellatus </it>were collected along the bank of larval habitats. In blacklight traps hung outside of the houses in the villages, 69 <it>An. minimus</it>, 62 <it>An. ludlowae</it>, 31 <it>An. sinensis</it>, and 19 <it>An. maculatus </it>were collected. In larval habitats, 98 <it>An. ludlowae</it>, 64 <it>An. minimus</it>, 49 <it>An. sinensis</it>, and 14 <it>An. maculatus </it>were collected. Of a total of 10 blood-fed samples, <it>An. minimus </it>fed on four animals including bovine (60%), dogs (20%), pig (10%), and non-chicken avian (10%).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p><it>Anopheles minimus</it>, an opportunist feeder in Taiwan, was not collected inside the houses, but was found outside of the houses in villages and surrounding larval habitats. Therefore, an outdoor transmission of malaria is likely to occur and, thus, the bed nets, which are favoured for controlling the late biting of <it>An. minimus</it>, should be a very efficient and effective method for those local residents who sleep outdoors. Additionally, space spray of insecticides for <it>Anopheles </it>at night, as well as residual spray inside animal huts and selective larval habitats, are also helpful to control female adults.</p

Cheese-induced body weight gain is not accompanied by an increase of gastric cells producing leptin, ghrelin, gastrin, or pancreastatin in mice

The stomach is a source of several circulating peptides/hormones, such as gastrin, pancreastatin, leptin and ghrelin, which are thought to play important roles in the regulation of food intake and body growth. The present study was undertaken in mice in order to examine the effects of diet composition on the body weight gain and the gastric cells that produce these peptides/hormones.Both young and adult female mice (BALB/cABBom strain) were given a standard pelleted dry diet, with or without cheese ad libitum, during a 7 week period. The diet supplement consisted either of carbohydrate- free white cheese containing 27% fat or sweet-tasting but sucrose-free Norwegian “brown cheese” containing 29% fat and 39% carbohydrate, mainly lactose. The total intake of the various types of food and the change in body weight were recorded. At the end of the observation period, blood samples were obtained for determination of gastric hormone levels by radioimmunoassay, and the stomachs were removed for examination of hormone producing cells by immunohistochemistry.The young mice increased their body weight more than the adult mice. In the groups offered white cheese, both young and adult mice increased their body weight more than the animals kept on the standard diet alone. In contrast, the “brown cheese” supplement led to a relative overweight only in adult mice. Despite the changes in body weight gain, there were no differences with respect to the circulating levels of gastrin, leptin or ghrelin, and to the numbers of cells stained with antibodies to pancreastatin (including ECL cells and G cells), leptin (subpopulation of chief cells) and ghrelin (A-like cells) in all groups.Body weight gain was increased in both young and adult mice by a white cheese diet supplement, whereas ‘brown cheese’ produced overweight only in adult mice. The increased body weight gain was not accompanied by an icrease of gastric cells producing leptin, ghrelin, gastrin, or pancreastatin

{μ-6,6′-Dimeth­oxy-2,2′-[ethane-1,2-diylbis(nitrilo­methyl­idyne)]diphenolato}-μ-nitrato-dinitratoeuropium(III)zinc(II)

In the title heteronuclear ZnII–EuIII complex [systematic name: {6,6′-dimeth­oxy-2,2′-[ethane-1,2-diylbis(nitrilo­methyl­idyne)]diphenolato-κ4 O 1,O 1′,O 6,O 6′:2κ4 O 1,N,N′,O 1′}-μ-nitrato-1:2κ2 O:O′-dini­trato-1κ4 O,O′-europium(III)zinc(II)], [EuZn(C18H18N2O4)(NO3)3], with the hexa­dentate Schiff base compartmental ligand N,N′-bis­(3-methoxy­salicyl­idene)ethyl­enediamine (H2 L), the Eu and Zn atoms are triply bridged by two phenolate O atoms of the Schiff base ligand and one nitrate ion. The five-coordinate Zn atom is in a square-pyramidal geometry with the donor centers of two imine N atoms, two phenolate O atoms and one of the bridging nitrate O atoms. The EuIII center has a ninefold coordination environment of O atoms, involving the phenol­ate O atoms, two meth­oxy O atoms, two O atoms from two nitrate ions and one from the bridging nitrate ion. Weak inter­molecular C—H⋯O inter­actions generate a two-dimensional double-layer structure

Signaling transduction regulated by 5-hydroxytryptamine 1A receptor and orexin receptor 2 heterodimers

As G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), 5-hydroxytryptamine 1A receptor (5-HT1AR) and orexin receptor 2 (OX2R) regulate the levels of the cellular downstream molecules. The heterodimers of different GPCRs play important roles in various of neurological diseases. Moreover, 5-HT1AR and OX2R are involved in the pathogenesis of neurological diseases such as depression with deficiency of hippocampus plasticity. However, the direct interaction of the two receptors remains elusive. In the present study, we firstly demonstrated the heterodimer formation of 5-HT1AR and OX2R. Exchange protein directly activated by cAMP (Epac) cAMP bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) biosensor analysis revealed that the expression levels of cellular cAMP significantly increased in HEK293T cells transfected with the two receptors compared with the 5-HT1AR group. Additionally, the cellular level of calcium was upregulated robustly in HEK293T cells co-transfected with 5-HT1AR and OX2R group after agonist treatment. Furthermore, western blotting data showed that 5-HT1AR and OX2R heterodimer decreased the levels of phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and cAMP-response element-binding protein (CREB). These results not only unraveled the formation of 5-HT1AR and OX2R heterodimer but also suggested that the heterodimer affected the downstream signaling pathway, which will provide new insights into the function of the two receptors in the brain

霧台魯凱接觸衍生韻律的語音實證

This paper investigates the contact-induced prosody in Budai Rukai, an Austronesian language spoken in Taiwan. By providing phonetic representations of word stress shift in Budai Rukai, the contact-induced prosody has been further verified. The contrastiv本篇論文調查原住民語言霧台魯凱重音韻律接觸的型態。透過對於重音接觸語音表述的實證，韻律接觸的假設得到進一步證實。霧台魯凱方言的對比重音，正在發展可預測性的倒數第二音節型態重音，此類新型態的發展，在近期的移居地或遷村後的部落特別顯著。調查結果發現，常與排灣族人接觸的霧台魯凱族人傾向於發出排灣語的型態重音，在此類的韻律變體中，選擇性的排除韻律公制已被應用，歷史發展的附和元音被視爲本體真實元音。在三音節及更長的韻律字當中，韻律接觸型態已由倒數第三音節轉移至倒數第二音節重音型態，由排除韻律公制中釋放。研究結果顯