Immune Cognition and Pathogenic Challenge: Sudden and Chronic Infection

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.

Available Versions of this Item

• Immune Cognition and Pathogenic Challenge: Sudden and Chronic Infection. (deposited 10 Jan 2002) [Currently Displayed]
  • Chronic infection: punctuated interpenetration and pathogen virulence. (deposited 06 Feb 2003)