4,383 research outputs found
Drag Force Minimizing Shape Identification of Body Located in Compressible Fluid Flow
Source: ICHE Conference Archive - https://mdi-de.baw.de/icheArchiv
Sexual abstinence behavior among never-married youths in a generalized HIV epidemic country: evidence from the 2005 Côte d'Ivoire AIDS indicator survey
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sexual abstinence is the best available option for preventing both pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. Identifying the factors associated with sexual abstinence among youths would have meaningful implications in a generalized HIV epidemic country such as the Côte d'Ivoire. Thus, we explored sexual abstinence behavior among never-married individuals aged 15 to 24 in Côte d'Ivoire and assessed factors that predict sexual abstinence.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We obtained data from the nationally representative and population-based 2005 Côte d'Ivoire AIDS Indicator Survey, conducted from September 2004 to October 2005. Our sample included 3041 never-married people aged 15 to 24. Of these, 990 reported never having sexual intercourse (primary abstinence) and 137 reported sexual experience but not in the 12 months prior to the survey (secondary abstinence). In all, 1127 youths reported sexual abstinence practice.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 3041 never-married youths, 54.4% were male and 45.6% were female. About 33.0%, 6.7%, and 37.1% of them were practicing primary, secondary, and sexual abstinence behavior, respectively. Females of higher education level were significantly 11.14 times as likely as those of no education to practice either primary or secondary abstinence. Males who were animists, had no religion, or were practicing religions other than Christianity or Muslim were significantly less likely than other male youths to practice sexual abstinence (OR = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.30–0.95). Living in the north-west region of the country significantly decreased the odds of sexual abstinence among female youths. Similarly, female youths living in rural areas were significantly 0.42 times as likely as those in the urban zones to practice sexual abstinence.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>HIV/AIDS prevention program components could include media campaigns, educational intervention improvement, as well as promoting policies that shape female youth livelihoods. Likewise, youth involvement in initiatives to design appropriate messages, and activities to promote positive behaviors or to change negative perceptions could impact on youths' decision to exert abstinence behavior.</p
Phase structure of matrix quantum mechanics at finite temperature
We study matrix quantum mechanics at finite temperature by Monte Carlo
simulation. The model is obtained by dimensionally reducing 10d U(N) pure
Yang-Mills theory to 1d. Following Aharony et al., one can view the same model
as describing the high temperature regime of (1+1)d U(N) super Yang-Mills
theory on a circle. In this interpretation an analog of the deconfinement
transition was conjectured to be a continuation of the black-hole/black-string
transition in the dual gravity theory. Our detailed analysis in the critical
regime up to N=32 suggests the existence of the non-uniform phase, in which the
eigenvalue distribution of the holonomy matrix is non-uniform but gapless. The
transition to the gapped phase is of second order. The internal energy is
constant (giving the ground state energy) in the uniform phase, and rises
quadratically in the non-uniform phase, which implies that the transition
between these two phases is of third order.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, (v2) refined arguments in section 3 ; reference
adde
Exact fuzzy sphere thermodynamics in matrix quantum mechanics
We study thermodynamical properties of a fuzzy sphere in matrix quantum
mechanics of the BFSS type including the Chern-Simons term. Various quantities
are calculated to all orders in perturbation theory exploiting the one-loop
saturation of the effective action in the large-N limit. The fuzzy sphere
becomes unstable at sufficiently strong coupling, and the critical point is
obtained explicitly as a function of the temperature. The whole phase diagram
is investigated by Monte Carlo simulation. Above the critical point, we obtain
perfect agreement with the all order results. In the region below the critical
point, which is not accessible by perturbation theory, we observe the Hagedorn
transition. In the high temperature limit our model is equivalent to a totally
reduced model, and the relationship to previously known results is clarified.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures, (v2) some typos correcte
Phylogenetic relationships among Aegilops-Triticum species based on sequence data of chloroplast DNA
Confirming the Detection of an Intergalactic X-ray Absorber Toward PKS 2155-304
We present new observations on PKS 2155-304 with the Chandra Low Energy
Transmission Grating Spectrometer (LETG), using the Advanced CCD Imaging
Spectrometer (ACIS). We confirm the detection of an absorption line plausibly
identified as OVIII Ly-alpha from the warm-hot intergalactic medium associated
with a small group of galaxies along the line of sight, as originally reported
by Fang et al. 2002 (here after FANG02). Combining the previous observations in
FANG02 and five new, long observations on the same target, we increase the
total exposure time by a factor of three, and the total counts per resolution
element by a factor of five. The measured line equivalent width is smaller than
that observed in FANG02, but still consistent at 90% confidence. We also
analyze the XMM-Newton observations on the same target, as well as observations
using the Chandra LETG and the High Resolution Camera (HRC) combination. These
observations have been used to challenge our reported detection. While no line
is seen in either the XMM-Newton and the Chandra LETG+HRC data, we find that
our result is consistent with the upper limits from both data sets. We
attribute the non-detection to (1) higher quality of the Chandra LETG+ACIS
spectrum, and (2) the rather extended wings of the line spread functions of
both the XMM RGS and the Chandra LETG+HRC. We discuss the implication of our
observation on the temperature and density of the absorber. We also confirm the
detection of z ~ 0 OVII absorption and, comparing with previous Chandra
analysis, we obtain much tighter constraints on the line properties.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Stabilized Kuramoto-Sivashinsky system
A model consisting of a mixed Kuramoto - Sivashinsky - KdV equation, linearly
coupled to an extra linear dissipative equation, is proposed. The model applies
to the description of surface waves on multilayered liquid films. The extra
equation makes its possible to stabilize the zero solution in the model,
opening way to the existence of stable solitary pulses (SPs). Treating the
dissipation and instability-generating gain in the model as small
perturbations, we demonstrate that balance between them selects two
steady-state solitons from their continuous family existing in the absence of
the dissipation and gain. The may be stable, provided that the zero solution is
stable. The prediction is completely confirmed by direct simulations. If the
integration domain is not very large, some pulses are stable even when the zero
background is unstable. Stable bound states of two and three pulses are found
too. The work was supported, in a part, by a joint grant from the Israeli
Minsitry of Science and Technology and Japan Society for Promotion of Science.Comment: A text file in the latex format and 20 eps files with figures.
Physical Review E, in pres
Smearing Effect in Plane-Wave Matrix Model
Motivated by the usual D2-D0 system, we consider a configuration composed of
flat membrane and fuzzy sphere membrane in plane-wave matrix model, and
investigate the interaction between them. The configuration is shown to lead to
a non-trivial interaction potential, which indicates that the fuzzy sphere
membrane really behaves like a graviton, giant graviton. Interestingly, the
interaction is of r^{-3} type rather than r^{-5} type. We interpret it as the
interaction incorporating the smearing effect due to the fact that the
considered supersymmetric flat membrane should span and spin in four
dimensional subspace of plane-wave geometry.Comment: 26 pages; added referenc
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