Synaesthesia Metaphor：cross-perception model

Among different types of metaphor, a certain kind of interesting example of physical-physical polysemy is so-called synaesthetic metaphors. In a synaesthetic metaphor, a certain perceptual mode is initially specified (or may be assumed), but the imagery is linguistically related in terms belonging to one or more differing perceptual modes. “Bright sounds” and “warm orange” make perfect sense to us. This understanding uniform commonly relies on perceptual equivalence, which makes cross-modal association possible. Tabulations of the frequency of types of synaesthesia and synaesthetic metaphors in English reveal the inner trend of how the perceptual similarities is realised in English language use. Key words: synaesthesia, synaesthetic metaphor, perceptual similarity Résumé: De nos jours, le mot « belle », appellation des femmes, est très populaire en Chine. Le mot « belle », n’étant plus réservé aux femmes jeunes et jolies, devient une appellation polie pour toutes les femmes. Le présent article, en combinant la méthode quantitative et la méthode qualitative de recherche, examine profondément l’utilisation de ce mot dans 4 villes chinoises et sa fonction pragmatique dans la communication. L’auteur étudie aussi des informations sur le locuteur et l’interlocuteur, telles que le sexe, l’âge, leur relation, etc. Mots-clés: mot d’appellation, belle, fonction pragmatique 摘要： 在眾多不同類型的隱喻表達中，有一種有趣的物質性對物質性的多義詞現象叫做通感隱喻，又稱移覺，即一種感官模式可以在語言上以另一種感官模式得以體現。顏色似乎會有溫度，聲音似乎會有形象，冷暖似乎會有重量，氣味似乎會有鋒芒。我們完全可以理解“Bright sounds”（嘹亮的聲音） 和“warm orange”(暖洋洋的橙色)所表達的意思。人們解讀通感修辭方面驚人的一致性取決於感知上的對等，同時這種感知相似性使得人們能夠進行交叉感知聯想。關於英文通感隱喻使用頻率和類型的統計揭示了該感知相似性體現在英語應用中的內在趨勢。關鍵詞：通感；通感隱喻；感知相似

High-contrast coronagraph for ground-based imaging of Jupiter-like planets

We propose a high-contrast coronagraph for direct imaging of young Jupiter-like planets orbiting nearby bright stars. The coronagraph employs a step-transmission filter in which the intensity is apodized with a finite number of steps of identical transmission in each step. It should be installed on a large ground-based telescope equipped with state-of-the-art adaptive optics systems. In that case, contrast ratios around 10^-6 should be accessible within 0.1 arc seconds of the central star. In recent progress, a coronagraph with circular apodizing filter has been developing, which can be used for a ground-based telescope with central obstruction and spider structure. It is shown that ground-based direct imaging of Jupiter-like planets is promising with current technology

The effects of large extra dimensions on associated ttˉh0t\bar{t} h^0 production at linear colliders

In the framework of the large extra dimensions (LED) model, the effects of LED on the processes \rrtth and \eetth at future linear colliders are investigated in both polarized and unpolarized collision modes. The results show that the virtual Kaluza-Klein (KK) graviton exchange can significantly modify the standard model expectations for these processes with certain polarizations of initial states. The process \rrtth with $\sqrt{s}=3.5 TeV$ allows the effective scale $\Lambda_T$ to be probed up to 7.8 and 8.6 TeV in the unpolarized and $P_{\gamma} = 0.9$, J=2 polarized $\gamma \gamma$ collision modes, respectively. For the \eetth process with $\sqrt{s}=3.5 TeV$, the upper limits of $\Lambda_T$ to be observed can be 6.7 and 7.0 TeV in the unpolarized and $P_{e^+} = 0.6$, $P_{e^-} = 0.8$, $-+$ polarized $e^+e^-$ collision modes, respectively. We find the \rrtth channel in J=2 polarized photon collision mode provides a possibility to improve the sensitivity to the graviton tower exchange.Comment: To be appeard in Physical Review

Inhibition of activity of GABA transporter GAT1 by δ-opioid receptor

Analgesia is a well-documented effect of acupuncture. A critical role in pain sensation plays the nervous system, including the GABAergic system and opioid receptor (OR) activation. Here we investigated regulation of GABA transporter GAT1 by δOR in rats and in Xenopus oocytes. Synaptosomes of brain from rats chronically exposed to opiates exhibited reduced GABA uptake, indicating that GABA transport might be regulated by opioid receptors. For further investigation we have expressed GAT1 of mouse brain together with mouse δOR and μOR in Xenopus oocytes. The function of GAT1 was analyzed in terms of Na(+)-dependent [(3)H]GABA uptake as well as GAT1-mediated currents. Coexpression of δOR led to reduced number of fully functional GAT1 transporters, reduced substrate translocation, and GAT1-mediated current. Activation of δOR further reduced the rate of GABA uptake as well as GAT1-mediated current. Coexpression of μOR, as well as μOR activation, affected neither the number of transporters, nor rate of GABA uptake, nor GAT1-mediated current. Inhibition of GAT1-mediated current by activation of δOR was confirmed in whole-cell patch-clamp experiments on rat brain slices of periaqueductal gray. We conclude that inhibition of GAT1 function will strengthen the inhibitory action of the GABAergic system and hence may contribute to acupuncture-induced analgesia