315 research outputs found
Sport as a means of immigrant youth integration: an empirical study of sports, intercultural relations, and immigrant youth integration in Switzerland
The objective of this paper is to examine the role of sport in immigrant youths integration into a host society. The analyses are based on a survey of 454 first-generation immigrant youths from secondary, vocational, and pre-apprenticeship schools located in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. In short, our results indicate that for most immigrant youth, sport is an important part of their free time, even though the proportion of female immigrant youth doing sport in sports clubs is twice as low as that of male immigrant youth. Our findings also illustrate that female and male immigrant youth who do sports in clubs have considerably more personal contact with Swiss peers during these sporting activities. Moreover, the young people who have frequent personal contact with Swiss peers during sporting activities reported having considerably more intercultural contacts in their free time and among their close friends. Finally, immigrant youths' contacts with Swiss peers during sporting activities increase their feeling of being integrated in Switzerland
Spin Two Glueball Mass and Glueball Regge Trajectory from Supergravity
We calculate the mass of the lowest lying spin two glueball in N=1 super
Yang-Mills from the dual Klebanov-Strassler background. We show that the Regge
trajectory obtained is linear; the 0++, 1-- and 2++ states lie on a line of
slope 0.23 -measured in units of the conifold deformation. We also compare mass
ratios with lattice data and find agreement within one standard deviation.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figure
Drag Force in a Charged N=4 SYM Plasma
Following recent developments, we employ the AdS/CFT correspondence to
determine the drag force exerted on an external quark that moves through an N=4
super-Yang-Mills plasma with a non-zero R-charge density (or, equivalently, a
non-zero chemical potential). We find that the drag force is larger than in the
case where the plasma is neutral, but the dependence on the charge is
non-monotonic.Comment: 16 pages, 1 eps figure; v2: references added, typos fixed; v3: more
general ansatz, new nontrivial solution obtained, nonmonotonicity of the drag
force made explicit in new figure, version to appear in JHE
New Supergravity Backgrounds Dual to N=1 SQCD-like Theories with N_f=2N_c
We present new supergravity backgrounds generated by N_c D5-branes, wrapping
the S^2 of the resolved conifold, in the presence of N_f = 2 N_c smeared flavor
D5-branes. The smearing allows us to take their backreaction on the geometry
into account. We discuss the consistency, stability, and supersymmetry of these
types of setups. We find near horizon geometries that we expect to be
supergravity duals of SQCD-like theories with N_f= 2N_c. From these backgrounds
we numerically extract rectangular Wilson loops and beta functions of the dual
field theory for the regime where our approximations are valid.Comment: 22+24 pages, 17 figures, Figure 12 replace
Quantum Fluctuations and the Unruh Effect in Strongly-Coupled Conformal Field Theories
Through the AdS/CFT correspondence, we study a uniformly accelerated quark in
the vacuum of strongly-coupled conformal field theories in various dimensions,
and determine the resulting stochastic fluctuations of the quark trajectory.
From the perspective of an inertial observer, these are quantum fluctuations
induced by the gluonic radiation emitted by the accelerated quark. From the
point of view of the quark itself, they originate from the thermal medium
predicted by the Unruh effect. We scrutinize the relation between these two
descriptions in the gravity side of the correspondence, and show in particular
that upon transforming the conformal field theory from Rindler space to the
open Einstein universe, the acceleration horizon disappears from the boundary
theory but is preserved in the bulk. This transformation allows us to directly
connect our calculation of radiation-induced fluctuations in vacuum with the
analysis by de Boer et al. of the Brownian motion of a quark that is on average
static within a thermal medium. Combining this same bulk transformation with
previous results of Emparan, we are also able to compute the stress-energy
tensor of the Unruh thermal medium.Comment: 1+31 pages; v2: reference adde
Exploring the Foundation of Genomics: A Northern Blot Reference set for the Comparative Analysis of Transcript Profiling Technologies
In this paper we aim to create a reference data collection of Northern blot results
and demonstrate how such a collection can enable a quantitative comparison of
modern expression profiling techniques, a central component of functional genomics
studies. Historically, Northern blots were the de facto standard for determining RNA
transcript levels. However, driven by the demand for analysis of large sets of genes in
parallel, high-throughput methods, such as microarrays, dominate modern profiling
efforts. To facilitate assessment of these methods, in comparison to Northern blots,
we created a database of published Northern results obtained with a standardized
commercial multiple tissue blot (dbMTN). In order to demonstrate the utility of the
dbMTN collection for technology comparison, we also generated expression profiles
for genes across a set of human tissues, using multiple profiling techniques. No method
produced profiles that were strongly correlated with the Northern blot data. The
highest correlations to the Northern blot data were determined with microarrays
for the subset of genes observed to be specifically expressed in a single tissue in
the Northern analyses. The database and expression profiling data are available
via the project website (http://www.cisreg.ca). We believe that emphasis on multitechnique
validation of expression profiles is justified, as the correlation results
between platforms are not encouraging on the whole. Supplementary material for this
article can be found at: http://www.interscience.wiley.com/jpages/1531-6912/suppma
The Non-SUSY Baryonic Branch: Soft Supersymmetry Breaking of N=1 Gauge Theories
We study a non-supersymmetric deformation of the field theory dual to the
baryonic branch of Klebanov-Strassler. Using a combination of analytical
(series expansions) and numerical methods we construct non-supersymmetric
backgrounds that smoothly interpolate between the desired UV and IR behaviors.
We calculate various observables of the field theory and propose a picture of
soft breaking by gaugino masses that is consistent with the various
calculations on the string side.Comment: 32 pages plus many appendixes. One figur
Excitatory-inhibitory balance within EEG microstates and resting-state fMRI networks: assessed via simultaneous trimodal PET-MR-EEG imaging
The symbiosis of neuronal activities and glucose energy metabolism is reflected in the generation of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) signals. However, their association with the balance between neuronal excitation and inhibition (E/I-B), which is closely related to the activities of glutamate and Îł-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and the receptor availability (RA) of GABAA and mGluR5, remains unexplored. This research investigates these associations during the resting state (RS) condition using simultaneously recorded PET/MR/EEG (trimodal) data. The trimodal data were acquired from three studies using different radio-tracers such as, [11C]ABP688 (ABP) (N = 9), [11C]Flumazenil (FMZ) (N = 10) and 2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) (N = 10) targeted to study the mGluR5, GABAA receptors and glucose metabolism respectively. Glucose metabolism and neuroreceptor binding availability (non-displaceable binding potential (BPND)) of GABAA and mGluR5 were found to be significantly higher and closely linked within core resting-state networks (RSNs). The neuronal generators of EEG microstates and the fMRI measures were most tightly associated with the BPND of GABAA relative to mGluR5 BPND and the glucose metabolism, emphasising a predominance of inhibitory processes within in the core RSNs at rest. Changes in the neuroreceptors leading to an altered coupling with glucose metabolism may render the RSNs vulnerable to psychiatric conditions. The paradigm employed here will likely help identify the precise neurobiological mechanisms behind these alterations in fMRI functional connectivity and EEG oscillations, potentially benefitting individualised healthcare treatment measures
Fat Mass and Obesity-Associated Gene (FTO) in Eating Disorders: Evidence for Association of the rs9939609 Obesity Risk Allele with Bulimia nervosa and Anorexia nervosa
Objective: The common single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs9939609 in the fat mass and obesity-associated gene (FTO) is associated with obesity. As genetic variants associated with weight regulation might also be implicated in the etiology of eating disorders, we evaluated whether SNP rs9939609 is associated with bulimia nervosa (BN) and anorexia nervosa (AN). Methods: Association of rs9939609 with BN and AN was assessed in 689 patients with AN, 477 patients with BN, 984 healthy non-population-based controls, and 3,951 population-based controls (KORA-S4). Based on the familial and premorbid occurrence of obesity in patients with BN, we hypothesized an association of the obesity risk A-allele with BN. Results: In accordance with our hypothesis, we observed evidence for association of the rs9939609 A-allele with BN when compared to the non-population-based controls (unadjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.142, one-sided 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.001-infinity; one-sided p = 0.049) and a trend in the population-based controls (OR = 1.124, one-sided 95% CI 0.932-infinity; one-sided p = 0.056). Interestingly, compared to both control groups, we further detected a nominal association of the rs9939609 A-allele to AN (OR = 1.181, 95% CI 1.027-1.359, two-sided p = 0.020 or OR = 1.673, 95% CI 1.101-2.541, two-sided p = 0.015,). Conclusion: Our data suggest that the obesity-predisposing FTO allele might be relevant in both AN and BN. Copyright (C) 2012 S. Karger GmbH, Freibur
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