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Immune Cognition and Pathogenic Challenge: Sudden and Chronic Infection

Wallace, Rodrick (2002) Immune Cognition and Pathogenic Challenge: Sudden and Chronic Infection. [Preprint]

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Abstract

We continue to study the implications of IR Cohen's theory of immune cognition, in the presence of both sudden and chronic pathogenic challenge, through a mathematical model derived from the Large Deviations Program of applied probability. The analysis makes explicit the linkage between an individual's 'immunocultural condensation' and embedding social or historical structures and processes, in particular power relations between groups. We use methods adapted from the theory of ecosystem resilience to explore the consequences of the sudden 'perturbation' caused by infection in the context of such embedding, and examine a 'stage' model for chronic infection involving multiple phase transitions analogous to 'learning plateaus' in neural networks or 'punctuated equilibria' in adaptive systems.

Item Type:Preprint
Keywords:immune cognition, infection, chronic disease, Apartheid
Subjects:Biology > Theoretical Biology
ID Code:2008
Deposited By: Wallace, Rodrick
Deposited On:10 Jan 2002
Last Modified:11 Mar 2011 08:54

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