8,081 research outputs found
Long Term and Short Term Effects of Perturbations in a Immune Network Model
In this paper we review the trajectory of a model proposed by Stauffer and
Weisbuch in 1992 to describe the evolution of the immune repertoire and present
new results about its dynamical behavior. Ten years later this model, which is
based on the ideas of the immune network as proposed by Jerne, has been able to
describe a multi-connected network and could be used to reproduce immunization
and aging experiments performed with mice. Besides its biological implications,
the physical aspects of the complex dynamics of this network is very
interesting {\it per se}. The immunization protocol is simulated by introducing
small and large perturbations (damages), and in this work we discuss the role
of both. In a very recent paper we studied the aging effects by using
auto-correlation functions, and the results obtained apparently indicated that
the small perturbations would be more important than the large ones, since
their cumulative effects may change the attractor of the dynamics. However our
new results indicate that both types of perturbations are important. It is the
cooperative effects between both that lead to the complex behavior which allows
to reproduce experimental results.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure
ScannerS: Constraining the phase diagram of a complex scalar singlet at the LHC
We present the first version of a new tool to scan the parameter space of
generic scalar potentials, ScannerS. The main goal of ScannerS is to help
distinguish between different patterns of symmetry breaking for each scalar
potential. In this work we use it to investigate the possibility of excluding
regions of the phase diagram of several versions of a complex singlet extension
of the Standard Model, with future LHC results. We find that if another scalar
is found, one can exclude a phase with a dark matter candidate in definite
regions of the parameter space, while predicting whether a third scalar to be
found must be lighter or heavier. The first version of the code is publicly
available and contains various generic core routines for tree level vacuum
stability analysis, as well as implementations of collider bounds, dark matter
constraints, electroweak precision constraints and tree level unitarity.Comment: 24 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables. Project development webpage -
http://gravitation.web.ua.pt/Scanner
Vowel epenthesis in children’s oral and written productions of consonant clusters
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
How can Kiehl's engage pharmacies skin care consumers and bring them to the brand? Appendix
Field lab: Consulting la
Unraveling the potential of nucleic acid mimics to target Helicobacter pylori infections : the effect of biological barriers
Measuring and testing for gender discrimination in physician pay: English family doctors
In 2008 the income of female GPs was 70%, and their wages (income per hour) were 89%, of those of male GPs. We estimate Oaxaca decompositions using OLS models of wages (income/hours) and 2SLS models of income. The elasticity of income with respect to hours is 0.91 for female GPs and 0.29 for male GPs, so that log wage models are misspecified. The conventional discrimination measure (the unexplained difference in mean log income) is sensitive to the counterfactual (30% using male returns vs 11% using female returns), to the use of OLS vs. 2SLS (19% vs 11%, female counterfactual), but not to dropping insignificant female interactions. The unexplained pro-male difference arises because the pro male difference in regression constants offsets the pro-female difference in the effect of hours on income. We propose a set of new direct tests for within workplace gender discrimination based on a comparison of the differences in income of female and male GPs in practices with varying proportions of female GPs and with female or male senior partners. The direct tests produce mixed results. An indirect test, comparing GPs actual income with the income they report as an acceptable reward for their job, shows that female GPs are not more likely than male GPs to report that their actual income is less than acceptable income, whereas GPs from ethnic minorities and overseas qualified GPs are significantly more likely to do so.Gender discrimination. Family doctors. General practitioners. Income. Wages.
On the vulval morphology of some species of Bursaphelenchus (Nematoda: Parasitaphelenchinae)
The vulval pattern of six species of the genus Bursaphelenchus (B. abruptus, B. conicaudatus, B. fraudulentus,
B. luxuriosae, B. mucronatus and B. xylophilus) was studied using scanning electron microscopy. A terminology for the vulval region
structures observed is proposed herein and illustrated by micrographs and line drawings. It was shown that, of the studied species, only
B. mucronatus and B. xylophilus share an identical morphology of the vulval region, all other species differing significantly from each
other and from both B. mucronatus and B. xylophilus. This study indicates the diagnostic potential for variation in vulval morphology
within Bursaphelenchus and it is recommended that such features are recorded in all future descriptions
On the Aging Dynamics in an Immune Network Model
Recently we have used a cellular automata model which describes the dynamics
of a multi-connected network to reproduce the refractory behavior and aging
effects obtained in immunization experiments performed with mice when subjected
to multiple perturbations. In this paper we investigate the similarities
between the aging dynamics observed in this multi-connected network and the one
observed in glassy systems, by using the usual tools applied to analyze the
latter. An interesting feature we show here is that the model reproduces the
biological aspects observed in the experiments during the long transient time
it takes to reach the stationary state. Depending on the initial conditions,
and without any perturbation, the system may reach one of a family of
long-period attractors. The pertrubations may drive the system from its natural
attractor to other attractors of the same family. We discuss the different
roles played by the small random perturbations (noise) and by the large
periodic perturbations (immunizations)
- …