Observation of Scaling Violations in Scaled Momentum Distributions at HERA

Charged particle production has been measured in deep inelastic scattering (DIS) events over a large range of $x$ and $Q^2$ using the ZEUS detector. The evolution of the scaled momentum, $x_p$, with $Q^2,$ in the range 10 to 1280 $GeV^2$, has been investigated in the current fragmentation region of the Breit frame. The results show clear evidence, in a single experiment, for scaling violations in scaled momenta as a function of $Q^2$.Comment: 21 pages including 4 figures, to be published in Physics Letters B. Two references adde

The Human Microbiome and Recurrent Abdominal Pain in Children

This project explores the nature of the human intestinal microbiome in healthy children and children with recurrent abdominal pain. The overall goal is to obtain a robust knowledge base of the intestinal microbiome in children without evidence of pain or gastrointestinal disease and in those with recurrent abdominal pain (functional abdominal pain (FAP) and FAP associated with changes in bowel habits, i.e., irritable bowel syndrome or IBS). Specific aims include: 1. Characterize the composition of the gut microbiome in healthy children by DNA sequencing. 2. Determine the presence of disease-specific organism signatures of variable gut microbiomes in children with recurrent abdominal pain. 3. Perform functional gut metagenomics by evaluation of whole community gene expression profiles and discovery of disease-specific pathway signatures. Multiple strategies have been deployed to navigate and understand the nature of the intestinal microbiome in childhood. These strategies included 454 pyrosequencing-based strategies to sequence 16S rRNA genes and understand the detailed composition of microbes in healthy and disease groups. Microarray-based hybridization with the PhyloChip and quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) probes were applied as complementary strategies to gain an understanding of the intestinal microbiome from various perspectives. Data collected and analyzed during the HMP UH2 Demo project, from a set of healthy and IBS children (7-12 yo) may enable the identification of core microbiomes in children, in addition to variable components that may distinguish healthy from diseased pediatric states. Twenty-two children with IBS and twenty-two healthy children were enrolled and analyzed in the UH2 phase of this study. The planned enrollment targets for the UH2/3 phases include 50 healthy children, 50 children with FAP and 50 children with IBS (minimum of 3 time points per child). We are currently analyzing the dataset for the presence of disease-specific signatures in the human microbiome, and correlating these microbial signatures with pediatric health or IBS disease status in addition to IBS subtype (e.g., diarrhea-vs constipation-predominant). In the next phase, whole genome shotgun sequencing and metatranscriptomics will be performed with a subset of children in each group. This study explores the nature of core and variable human microbiome in pre-adolescent healthy children and children with IBS. 
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Plasma-Like Negative Capacitance in Nano-Colloids

A negative capacitance has been observed in a nano-colloid between 0.1 and 10^-5 Hz. The response is linear over a broad range of conditions. The low-omega dispersions of both the resistance and capacitance are consistent with the free-carrier plasma model, while the transient behavior demonstrates an unusual energy storage mechanism. A collective excitation, therefore, is suggested.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure

Supporting Collaborative Reflections: Case Writing in an Urban Professional Development School

Teaching often does not include the opportunity to share with a colleague its joy and despair; how to address the multitude of split second decisions you must make on a daily basis; what to do when a lesson fails; how to address the concerns of an irate parents; or where to find resources when needed.... Time works against us.... Hallways and lounge conversations aren\u27t adequate. Through case writing, we have finally found the precious time to reflect on our experiences

Street Vendors Unite! Recommendations for Improving the Regulations on Street Vending in New York City

Both the Street Vendor Project of the Urban Justice Center and Local 169 of the Union of Needle trades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE), have committed resources and time on behalf of the city's vendors in an attempt to break the bureaucratic lock which stifles the entrepreneurial spirit of men and women whose only wish is to survive in a city increasingly turned over to corporate interests. Below are our modest proposals developed with and on behalf of the thousands of vendors who provide a real service to our great city, but who continue to be denied the respect and justice they deserve

Evidence for somatic selection of natural autoantibodies.

Natural autoantibodies are primarily immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies that bind to a variety of self-antigens, including self-IgG. Accounting for a large proportion of the early B cell repertoire, such polyspecific autoantibodies are speculated to contribute to the homeostasis and/or competence of the primary humoral immune system. Recent studies indicate that the leukemia cells from most patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) also express such IgM autoantibodies. Similarly, the leukemia cells from many CLL patients react with murine monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) specific for crossreactive idiotypes (CRIs) associated with human IgM autoantibodies. In particular, leukemic cells frequently react with G6, a mAb specific for an Ig heavy chain (H chain)-associated CRI, and/or with 17.109, a mAb that defines a kappa light chain (L chain)-associated CRI. Generated against IgM rheumatoid factor (RF) paraproteins, G6 and 17.109 each recognize a major CRI that is present in many IgM RF paraproteins. Furthermore, over 90% of the IgM paraproteins found to bear both H and L chain-associated CRIs also are found to have RF activity. Molecular characterization of these CRIs demonstrates that each is a serologic marker for expression of a highly conserved Ig V gene. As such, the frequent production of IgM polyspecific autoantibodies in CLL simply may reflect the frequent use of such highly conserved autoantibody-encoding Ig V genes with little or no somatic mutation. To test this hypothesis, we generated murine transfectomas to pair the 17.109-reactive kappa L chain of SMI, a 17.109/G6-reactive CLL population, with the Ig H chain of SMI or other G6-reactive leukemia cells or tonsillar lymphocytes. Cotransfection of vectors encoding the Ig H and L chains of SMI generated transfectomas that produce IgM kappa RF autoantibodies reactive with human IgG1 and IgG4. In contrast to G6/17.109-reactive IgM kappa RF Waldenstrom's paraproteins, the SMI IgM kappa also reacts with several other self-antigens, including myoglobin, actin, and ssDNA. However, cotransfection of the SMI L chain with a vector encoding any one of 10 different G6-reactive Ig H chains generated transfectomas that produce IgM kappa antibodies without detectable polyspecific autoantibody activity. These results indicate that polyspecific antiself-reactivity of G6/17.019-reactive Ig is dependent on the somatically generated Ig third complementarity determining region. Collectively, these studies imply that selection may be responsible for the frequent expression of polyspecific autoantibodies in CLL and early B cell ontogeny

Environmental enteric dysfunction and the fecal microbiota in malawian children

Environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) is often measured with a dual sugar absorption test and implicated as a causative factor in childhood stunting. Disturbances in the gut microbiota are hypothesized to be a mechanism by which EED is exacerbated, although this supposition lacks support. We performed 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing of fecal samples from 81 rural Malawian children with varying degrees of EED to determine which bacterial taxa were associated with EED. At the phyla level, Proteobacteria abundance is reduced with severe EED. Among bacterial genera, Megasphaera, Mitsuokella, and Sutterella were higher in EED and Succinivibrio, Klebsiella, and Clostridium_XI were lower in EED. Bacterial diversity did not vary with the extent of EED. Though EED is a condition that is typically believed to affect the proximal small bowel, and our focus was on stool, our data do suggest that there are intraluminal microbial differences that reflect, or plausibly lead to, EED

Ontology: Towards a new synthesis

This introduction to the second international conference on Formal Ontology and Information Systems presents a brief history of ontology as a discipline spanning the boundaries of philosophy and information science. We sketch some of the reasons for the growth of ontology in the information science field, and offer a preliminary stocktaking of how the term ‘ontology’ is currently used. We conclude by suggesting some grounds for optimism as concerns the future collaboration between philosophical ontologists and information scientists