940 research outputs found
Thirty years on … the social representation of AIDS among French teenagers
Teenagers, who are particularly concerned by the HIV virus, are targeted by plans of HIV prevention, as they are just beginning their sex lives. Since certain recent studies reveal that teenagers are not using HIV prevention methods, we analyse social representations of HIV/AIDS among a group of 100 French high school pupils, thirty years after it appeared and after the first studies of the social representation of AIDS. The results of a free associations test show that both girls and boys have the same social representation of AIDS. The results of a complementary questionnaire tend to show that this disease has become less frightening and less stigmatizing and that girls have a more preventive state of mind
Distributed Nested Rollout Policy for Same Game
Nested Rollout Policy Adaptation (NRPA) is a Monte Carlo search heuristic for puzzles and other optimization problems. It achieves state-of-the-art performance on several games including SameGame. In this paper, we design several parallel and distributed NRPA-based search techniques, and we provide a number of experimental insights about their execution. Finally, we use our best implementation to discover 15 better scores for 20 standard SameGame boards
On fractional Choquard equations
We investigate a class of nonlinear Schrodinger equations with a generalized
Choquard nonlinearity and fractional diffusion. We obtain regularity,
existence, nonexistence, symmetry as well as decays properties.Comment: revised version, 22 page
On convergence towards a self-similar solution for a nonlinear wave equation - a case study
We consider the problem of asymptotic stability of a self-similar attractor
for a simple semilinear radial wave equation which arises in the study of the
Yang-Mills equations in 5+1 dimensions. Our analysis consists of two steps. In
the first step we determine the spectrum of linearized perturbations about the
attractor using a method of continued fractions. In the second step we
demonstrate numerically that the resulting eigensystem provides an accurate
description of the dynamics of convergence towards the attractor.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
Hybrid robotic and electrical stimulation assistance can enhance performance and reduce mental demand
Combining functional electrical stimulation (FES) and robotics may enhance recovery after stroke, by providing neural feedback with the former while improv- ing quality of motion and minimizing muscular fatigue with the latter. Here, we explored whether and how FES, robot assistance and their combination, affect users’ per- formance, effort, fatigue and user experience. 15 healthy participants performed a wrist flexion/extension tracking task with FES and/or robotic assistance. Tracking per- formance improved during the hybrid FES-robot and the robot-only assistance conditions in comparison to no assistance, but no improvement is observed when only FES is used. Fatigue, muscular and voluntary effort are estimated from electromyographic recording. Total muscle contraction and volitional activity are lowest with robotic assistance, whereas fatigue level do not change between the conditions. The NASA-Task Load Index answers indi- cate that participants found the task less mentally demand- ing during the hybrid and robot conditions than the FES condition. The addition of robotic assistance to FES train- ing might thus facilitate an increased user engagement compared to robot training and allow longer motor training session than with FES assistance
Solitary wave dynamics in time-dependent potentials
We rigorously study the long time dynamics of solitary wave solutions of the
nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation in {\it time-dependent} external potentials.
To set the stage, we first establish the well-posedness of the Cauchy problem
for a generalized nonautonomous nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation. We then show
that in the {\it space-adiabatic} regime where the external potential varies
slowly in space compared to the size of the soliton, the dynamics of the center
of the soliton is described by Hamilton's equations, plus terms due to
radiation damping. We finally remark on two physical applications of our
analysis. The first is adiabatic transportation of solitons, and the second is
Mathieu instability of trapped solitons due to time-periodic perturbations.Comment: 38 pages, some typos corrected, one reference added, one remark adde
Gene induction during differentiation of human monocytes into dendritic cells: an integrated study at the RNA and protein levels
Changes in gene expression occurring during differentiation of human
monocytes into dendritic cells were studied at the RNA and protein levels.
These studies showed the induction of several gene classes corresponding to
various biological functions. These functions encompass antigen processing and
presentation, cytoskeleton, cell signalling and signal transduction, but also
an increase in mitochondrial function and in the protein synthesis machinery,
including some, but not all, chaperones. These changes put in perspective the
events occurring during this differentiation process. On a more technical
point, it appears that the studies carried out at the RNA and protein levels
are highly complementary.Comment: website publisher:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/ha0d2c351qhjhjdm
Clusters of cytokines determine malaria severity in Plasmodium falciparum - Infected patients from endemic areas of central India
We investigated the role of interferon (IFN)- gamma , interleukin (IL)-1 beta , IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)- alpha , and transforming growth factor (TGF)- beta in clinically well-defined groups of Plasmodium falciparum-infected patients manifesting mild malaria (MM), severe noncerebral malaria (SM), or cerebral malaria (CM) and in control subjects from Gondia, a malaria-endemic site in India, as well as in healthy subjects from non-malaria-endemic areas. Two-way coupled cluster analysis revealed 2 clusters of cytokines relevant to clinical subgroups of disease. The first cluster was composed of IFN- gamma , IL-2, IL-5, IL-6, and IL-12, the levels of which were significantly increased during infection but were predominant in patients with MM and allowed us to distinguish them from patients with SM or CM. The second cluster was composed of TGF- beta , TNF- alpha , IL-10, and IL-1 beta , the levels of which were highly correlated with each other in the different clinical groups of patients and significantly increased with disease severity, particularly in CM. Discriminant analyses allowed us to propose a minimal model. Levels of cytokines such as IL-5, IL-1 beta , IL-10, and IL-2 increase with infection. Levels of IL-12, IL-5, and IL-6 discriminate severe forms of malaria from MM. Finally, levels of IL-1 beta , IL-12, and IFN- gamma are relevant for the discrimination of CM from SM: high IL-1 beta levels are associated with CM, and high IL-12 and IFN- gamma levels are associated with S
Higher order Schrodinger and Hartree-Fock equations
The domain of validity of the higher-order Schrodinger equations is analyzed
for harmonic-oscillator and Coulomb potentials as typical examples. Then the
Cauchy theory for higher-order Hartree-Fock equations with bounded and Coulomb
potentials is developed. Finally, the existence of associated ground states for
the odd-order equations is proved. This renders these quantum equations
relevant for physics.Comment: 19 pages, to appear in J. Math. Phy
Nonlinear Schroedinger equation with two symmetric point interactions in one dimension
We consider a time-dependent one-dimensional nonlinear Schroedinger equation
with a symmetric potential double well represented by two delta interactions.
Among our results we give an explicit formula for the integral kernel of the
unitary semigroup associated with the linear part of the Hamiltonian. Then we
establish the corresponding Strichartz-type estimate and we prove local
existence and uniqueness of the solution to the original nonlinear problem
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