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Most Cited NeuroImage: Clinical Articles
The most cited articles published since 2011, extracted from Scopus.
Widespread reductions in gray matter volume in depressionStuart M. Grieve | Mayuresh S. Korgaonkar | Stephen H. Koslow | Evian Gordon | Leanne M. Williams
Volume 3, Issue , October 2013, Pages 332-339
Abnormalities in functional limbic-anterior cingulate-prefrontal circuits associated with emotional reactivity, evaluation and regulation have been implicated in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD). However, existing knowledge about structural alterations in depression is equivocal and based on cohorts of limited sample size. This study used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and surface-based cortical thickness to investigate the structure of these circuits in a large and well-characterized patient cohort with MDD. Non-geriatric MDD outpatients (n = 102) and age- and gender-matched healthy control participants (n = 34) provided T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging data during their baseline visit as part of the International Study to Predict Optimized Treatment for Depression. Whole-brain VBM volumetric and surface-based cortical thickness assessments were performed voxel-wise and compared (at p < 0.05 corrected for multiple comparisons) between the MDD and control groups. MDD participants had reduced gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex, regions of the prefrontal circuits, including dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortices, and lateral and medial orbitofrontal cortices, but not in limbic regions. Additional reductions were observed cortically in the posterior temporal and parieto-occipital cortices and, subcortically in the basal ganglia and cerebellum. Focal cortical thinning in the medial orbitofrontal cortex was also observed for the MDD group. These alterations in volume and cortical thickness were not associated with severity of depressive symptoms. The findings demonstrate that widespread gray matter structural abnormalities are present in a well-powered study of patients with depression. The patterns of gray matter loss correspond to the same brain functional network regions that were previously established to be abnormal in MDD, which may support an underlying structural abnormality for these circuits. © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Effectiveness of regional DTI measures in distinguishing Alzheimer's disease, MCI, and normal agingTalia M. Nir | Neda Jahanshad | Julio E. Villalon-Reina | Arthur W. Toga | Clifford R. Jack | Michael W. Weiner | Paul M. Thompson
Volume 3, Issue , September 2013, Pages 180-195
The Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) recently added diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), among several other new imaging modalities, in an effort to identify sensitive biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease (AD). While anatomical MRI is the main structural neuroimaging method used in most AD studies and clinical trials, DTI is sensitive to microscopic white matter (WM) changes not detectable with standard MRI, offering additional markers of neurodegeneration. Prior DTI studies of AD report lower fractional anisotropy (FA), and increased mean, axial, and radial diffusivity (MD, AxD, RD) throughout WM. Here we assessed which DTI measures may best identify differences among AD, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and cognitively healthy elderly control (NC) groups, in region of interest (ROI) and voxel-based analyses of 155 ADNI participants (mean age: 73.5 ± 7.4; 90 M/65 F; 44 NC, 88 MCI, 23 AD). Both VBA and ROI analyses revealed widespread group differences in FA and all diffusivity measures. DTI maps were strongly correlated with widely-used clinical ratings (MMSE, CDR-sob, and ADAS-cog). When effect sizes were ranked, FA analyses were least sensitive for picking up group differences. Diffusivity measures could detect more subtle MCI differences, where FA could not. ROIs showing strongest group differentiation (lowest p-values) included tracts that pass through the temporal lobe, and posterior brain regions. The left hippocampal component of the cingulum showed consistently high effect sizes for distinguishing groups, across all diffusivity and anisotropy measures, and in correlations with cognitive scores. © 2013 The Authors.
Amyloid imaging in cognitively normal individuals, at-risk populations and preclinical Alzheimer's diseaseGaël Chételat | Renaud La Joie | Nicolas Villain | Audrey Perrotin | Vincent De La Sayette | Francis Eustache | Rik Vandenberghe
Volume 2, Issue 1, April 2013, Pages 356-365
Recent developments of PET amyloid ligands have made it possible to visualize the presence of Aβ deposition in the brain of living participants and to assess the consequences especially in individuals with no objective sign of cognitive deficits. The present review will focus on amyloid imaging in cognitively normal elderly, asymptomatic at-risk populations, and individuals with subjective cognitive decline. It will cover the prevalence of amyloid-positive cases amongst cognitively normal elderly, the influence of risk factors for AD, the relationships to cognition, atrophy and prognosis, longitudinal amyloid imaging and ethical aspects related to amyloid imaging in cognitively normal individuals. Almost ten years of research have led to a few consensual and relatively consistent findings: some cognitively normal elderly have Aβ deposition in their brain, the prevalence of amyloid-positive cases increases in at-risk populations, the prognosis for these individuals is worse than for those with no Aβ deposition, and significant increase in Aβ deposition over time is detectable in cognitively normal elderly. More inconsistent findings are still under debate; these include the relationship between Aβ deposition and cognition and brain volume, the sequence and cause-to-effect relations between the different AD biomarkers, and the individual outcome associated with an amyloid positive versus negative scan. Preclinical amyloid imaging also raises important ethical issues. While amyloid imaging is definitely useful to understand the role of Aβ in early stages, to define at-risk populations for research or for clinical trial, and to assess the effects of anti-amyloid treatments, we are not ready yet to translate research results into clinical practice and policy. More researches are needed to determine which information to disclose from an individual amyloid imaging scan, the way of disclosing such information and the impact on individuals and on society. © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Dynamic functional connectivity analysis reveals transient states of dysconnectivity in schizophreniaE. Damaraju | E. A. Allen | A. Belger | J. M. Ford | S. McEwen | D. H. Mathalon | B. A. Mueller | G. D. Pearlson | S. G. Potkin | A. Preda | J. A. Turner | J. G. Vaidya | T. G. Van Erp | V. D. Calhoun
Volume 5, Issue , January 2014, Pages 298-308
Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder characterized by functional dysconnectivity or abnormal integration between distant brain regions. Recent functional imaging studies have implicated large-scale thalamo-cortical connectivity as being disrupted in patients. However, observed connectivity differences in schizophrenia have been inconsistent between studies, with reports of hyperconnectivity and hypoconnectivity between the same brain regions. Using resting state eyes-closed functional imaging and independent component analysis on a multi-site data that included 151 schizophrenia patients and 163 age- and gender matched healthy controls, we decomposed the functional brain data into 100 components and identified 47 as functionally relevant intrinsic connectivity networks. We subsequently evaluated group differences in functional network connectivity, both in a static sense, computed as the pairwise Pearson correlations between the full network time courses (5.4 minutes in length), and a dynamic sense, computed using sliding windows (44 s in length) and k-means clustering to characterize five discrete functional connectivity states. Static connectivity analysis revealed that compared to healthy controls, patients show significantly stronger connectivity, i.e., hyperconnectivity, between the thalamus and sensory networks (auditory, motor and visual), as well as reduced connectivity (hypoconnectivity) between sensory networks from all modalities. Dynamic analysis suggests that (1), on average, schizophrenia patients spend much less time than healthy controls in states typified by strong, large-scale connectivity, and (2), that abnormal connectivity patterns are more pronounced during these connectivity states. In particular, states exhibiting cortical-subcortical antagonism (anti-correlations) and strong positive connectivity between sensory networks are those that show the group differences of thalamic hyperconnectivity and sensory hypoconnectivity. Group differences are weak or absent during other connectivity states. Dynamic analysis also revealed hypoconnectivity between the putamen and sensory networks during the same states of thalamic hyperconnectivity; notably, this finding cannot be observed in the static connectivity analysis. Finally, in post-hoc analyses we observed that the relationships between sub-cortical low frequency power and connectivity with sensory networks is altered in patients, suggesting different functional interactions between sub-cortical nuclei and sensorimotor cortex during specific connectivity states. While important differences between patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls have been identified, one should interpret the results with caution given the history of medication in patients. Taken together, our results support and expand current knowledge regarding dysconnectivity in schizophrenia, and strongly advocate the use of dynamic analyses to better account for and understand functional connectivity differences. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.
Accurate multimodal probabilistic prediction of conversion to Alzheimer's disease in patients with mild cognitive impairmentJonathan Young | Marc Modat | Manuel J. Cardoso | Alex Mendelson | Dave Cash | Sebastien Ourselin
Volume 2, Issue 1, June 2013, Pages 735-745
Accurately identifying the patients that have mild cognitive impairment (MCI) who will go on to develop Alzheimer's disease (AD) will become essential as new treatments will require identification of AD patients at earlier stages in the disease process. Most previous work in this area has centred around the same automated techniques used to diagnose AD patients from healthy controls, by coupling high dimensional brain image data or other relevant biomarker data to modern machine learning techniques. Such studies can now distinguish between AD patients and controls as accurately as an experienced clinician. Models trained on patients with AD and control subjects can also distinguish between MCI patients that will convert to AD within a given timeframe (MCI-c) and those that remain stable (MCI-s), although differences between these groups are smaller and thus, the corresponding accuracy is lower. The most common type of classifier used in these studies is the support vector machine, which gives categorical class decisions. In this paper, we introduce Gaussian process (GP) classification to the problem. This fully Bayesian method produces naturally probabilistic predictions, which we show correlate well with the actual chances of converting to AD within 3 years in a population of 96 MCI-s and 47 MCI-c subjects. Furthermore, we show that GPs can integrate multimodal data (in this study volumetric MRI, FDG-PET, cerebrospinal fluid, and APOE genotype with the classification process through the use of a mixed kernel). The GP approach aids combination of different data sources by learning parameters automatically from training data via type-II maximum likelihood, which we compare to a more conventional method based on cross validation and an SVM classifier. When the resulting probabilities from the GP are dichotomised to produce a binary classification, the results for predicting MCI conversion based on the combination of all three types of data show a balanced accuracy of 74%. This is a substantially higher accuracy than could be obtained using any individual modality or using a multikernel SVM, and is competitive with the highest accuracy yet achieved for predicting conversion within three years on the widely used ADNI dataset. © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Neuroimaging after mild traumatic brain injury: Review and meta-analysisCyrus Eierud | R. Cameron Craddock | Sean Fletcher | Manek Aulakh | Brooks King-Casas | Damon Kuehl | Stephen M. Laconte
Volume 4, Issue , February 2014, Pages 283-294
This paper broadly reviews the study of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), across the spectrum of neuroimaging modalities. Among the range of imaging methods, however, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is unique in its applicability to studying both structure and function. Thus we additionally performed meta-analyses of MRI results to examine 1) the issue of anatomical variability and consistency for functional MRI (fMRI) findings, 2) the analogous issue of anatomical consistency for white-matter findings, and 3) the importance of accounting for the time post injury in diffusion weighted imaging reports. As we discuss, the human neuroimaging literature consists of both small and large studies spanning acute to chronic time points that have examined both structural and functional changes with mTBI, using virtually every available medical imaging modality. Two key commonalities have been used across the majority of imaging studies. The first is the comparison between mTBI and control populations. The second is the attempt to link imaging results with neuropsychological assessments. Our fMRI meta-analysis demonstrates a frontal vulnerability to mTBI, demonstrated by decreased signal in prefrontal cortex compared to controls. This vulnerability is further highlighted by examining the frequency of reported mTBI white matter anisotropy, in which we show a strong anterior-to-posterior gradient (with anterior regions being more frequently reported in mTBI). Our final DTI meta-analysis examines a debated topic arising from inconsistent anisotropy findings across studies. Our results support the hypothesis that acute mTBI is associated with elevated anisotropy values and chronic mTBI complaints are correlated with depressed anisotropy. Thus, this review and set of meta-analyses demonstrate several important points about the ongoing use of neuroimaging to understand the functional and structural changes that occur throughout the time course of mTBI recovery. Based on the complexity of mTBI, however, much more work in this area is required to characterize injury mechanisms and recovery factors and to achieve clinically-relevant capabilities for diagnosis. © 2013 The Authors.
Computational modeling of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in obesity: Impact of head fat and dose guidelinesDennis Q. Truong | Greta Magerowski | George L. Blackburn | Marom Bikson | Miguel Alonso-Alonso
Volume 2, Issue 1, July 2013, Pages 759-766
Recent studies show that acute neuromodulation of the prefrontal cortex with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can decrease food craving, attentional bias to food, and actual food intake. These data suggest potential clinical applications for tDCS in the field of obesity. However, optimal stimulation parameters in obese individuals are uncertain. One fundamental concern is whether a thick, low-conductivity layer of subcutaneous fat around the head can affect current density distribution and require dose adjustments during tDCS administration. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of head fat on the distribution of current during tDCS and evaluate whether dosing standards for tDCS developed for adult individuals in general are adequate for the obese population. We used MRI-derived high-resolution computational models that delineated fat layers in five human heads from subjects with body mass index (BMI) ranging from "normal-lean" to "super-obese" (20.9 to 53.5 kg/m2). Data derived from these simulations suggest that head fat influences tDCS current density across the brain, but its relative contribution is small when other components of head anatomy are added. Current density variability between subjects does not appear to have a direct and/or simple link to BMI. These results indicate that guidelines for the use of tDCS can be extrapolated to obese subjects without sacrificing efficacy and/or treatment safety; the recommended standard parameters can lead to the delivery of adequate current flow to induce neuromodulation of brain activity in the obese population. © 2013 The Authors.
Hippocampal subfield volumetry in mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease and semantic dementiaRenaud La Joie | Audrey Perrotin | Vincent De La Sayette | Stéphanie Egret | Loïc Doeuvre | Serge Belliard | Francis Eustache | Béatrice Desgranges | Gaël Chételat
Volume 3, Issue , September 2013, Pages 155-162
Background Hippocampal atrophy is a well-known feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD), but sensitivity and specificity of hippocampal volumetry are limited. Neuropathological studies have shown that hippocampal subfields are differentially vulnerable to AD; hippocampal subfield volumetry may thus prove to be more accurate than global hippocampal volumetry to detect AD. Methods CA1, subiculum and other subfields were manually delineated from 40 healthy controls, 18 AD, 17 amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI), and 8 semantic dementia (SD) patients using a previously developed high resolution MRI procedure. Non-parametric group comparisons and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were conducted. Complementary analyses were conducted to evaluate differences of hemispheric asymmetry and anterior-predominance between AD and SD patients and to distinguish aMCI patients with or without β-amyloid deposition as assessed by Florbetapir-TEP. Results Global hippocampi were atrophied in all three patient groups and volume decreases were maximal in the CA1 subfield (22% loss in aMCI, 27% in both AD and SD; all p < 0.001). In aMCI, CA1 volumetry was more accurate than global hippocampal measurement to distinguish patients from controls (areas under the ROC curve = 0.88 and 0.76, respectively; p = 0.05) and preliminary analyses suggest that it was independent from the presence of β-amyloid deposition. In patients with SD, whereas the degree of CA1 and subiculum atrophy was similar to that found in AD patients, hemispheric and anterior-posterior asymmetry were significantly more marked than in AD with greater involvement of the left and anterior hippocampal subfields. Conclusions The findings suggest that CA1 measurement is more sensitive than global hippocampal volumetry to detect structural changes at the pre-dementia stage, although the predominance of CA1 atrophy does not appear to be specific to AD pathophysiological processes. © 2013 The Authors.
Altered functional and structural brain network organization in autismJ. D. Rudie | J. A. Brown | D. Beck-Pancer | L. M. Hernandez | E. L. Dennis | P. M. Thompson | S. Y. Bookheimer | M. Dapretto
Volume 2, Issue 1, January 2013, Pages 79-94
Structural and functional underconnectivity have been reported for multiple brain regions, functional systems, and white matter tracts in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Although recent developments in complex network analysis have established that the brain is a modular network exhibiting small-world properties, network level organization has not been carefully examined in ASD. Here we used resting-state functional MRI (n = 42 ASD, n = 37 typically developing; TD) to show that children and adolescents with ASD display reduced short and long-range connectivity within functional systems (i.e., reduced functional integration) and stronger connectivity between functional systems (i.e., reduced functional segregation), particularly in default and higher-order visual regions. Using graph theoretical methods, we show that pairwise group differences in functional connectivity are reflected in network level reductions in modularity and clustering (local efficiency), but shorter characteristic path lengths (higher global efficiency). Structural networks, generated from diffusion tensor MRI derived fiber tracts (n = 51 ASD, n = 43 TD), displayed lower levels of white matter integrity yet higher numbers of fibers. TD and ASD individuals exhibited similar levels of correlation between raw measures of structural and functional connectivity (n = 35 ASD, n = 35 TD). However, a principal component analysis combining structural and functional network properties revealed that the balance of local and global efficiency between structural and functional networks was reduced in ASD, positively correlated with age, and inversely correlated with ASD symptom severity. Overall, our findings suggest that modeling the brain as a complex network will be highly informative in unraveling the biological basis of ASD and other neuropsychiatric disorders. © 2012 Published by Elsevier Inc.
Neural mechanisms of symptom improvements in generalized anxiety disorder following mindfulness trainingBritta K. Hölzel | Elizabeth A. Hoge | Douglas N. Greve | Tim Gard | J. David Creswell | Kirk Warren Brown | Lisa Feldman Barrett | Carl Schwartz | Dieter Vaitl | Sara W. Lazar
Volume 2, Issue 1, April 2013, Pages 448-458
Mindfulness training aims to impact emotion regulation. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms can be successfully addressed through mindfulness-based interventions. This preliminary study is the first to investigate neural mechanisms of symptom improvements in GAD following mindfulness training. Furthermore, we compared brain activation between GAD patients and healthy participants at baseline. 26 patients with a current DSM-IV GAD diagnosis were randomized to an 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR, N = 15) or a stress management education (SME, N = 11) active control program. 26 healthy participants were included for baseline comparisons. BOLD response was assessed with fMRI during affect labeling of angry and neutral facial expressions. At baseline, GAD patients showed higher amygdala activation than healthy participants in response to neutral, but not angry faces, suggesting that ambiguous stimuli reveal stronger reactivity in GAD patients. In patients, amygdala activation in response to neutral faces decreased following both interventions. BOLD response in ventrolateral prefrontal regions (VLPFC) showed greater increase in MBSR than SME participants. Functional connectivity between amygdala and PFC regions increased significantly pre- to post-intervention within the MBSR, but not SME group. Both, change in VLPFC activation and amygdala-prefrontal connectivity were correlated with change in Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) scores, suggesting clinical relevance of these changes. Amygdala-prefrontal connectivity turned from negative coupling (typically seen in down-regulation of emotions), to positive coupling; potentially suggesting a unique mechanism of mindfulness. Findings suggest that in GAD, mindfulness training leads to changes in fronto-limbic areas crucial for the regulation of emotion; these changes correspond with reported symptom improvements. © 2013 The Authors.
Accurate white matter lesion segmentation by k nearest neighbor classification with tissue type priors (kNN-TTPs)Martijn D. Steenwijk | Petra J W Pouwels | Marita Daams | Jan Willem Van Dalen | Matthan W A Caan | Edo Richard | Frederik Barkhof | Hugo Vrenken
Volume 3, Issue , November 2013, Pages 462-469
Introduction The segmentation and volumetric quantification of white matter (WM) lesions play an important role in monitoring and studying neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS) or cerebrovascular disease. This is often interactively done using 2D magnetic resonance images. Recent developments in acquisition techniques allow for 3D imaging with much thinner sections, but the large number of images per subject makes manual lesion outlining infeasible. This warrants the need for a reliable automated approach. Here we aimed to improve k nearest neighbor (kNN) classification of WM lesions by optimizing intensity normalization and using spatial tissue type priors (TTPs). Methods The kNN-TTP method used kNN classification with 3.0 T 3DFLAIR and 3DT1 intensities as well as MNI-normalized spatial coordinates as features. Additionally, TTPs were computed by nonlinear registration of data from healthy controls. Intensity features were normalized using variance scaling, robust range normalization or histogram matching. The algorithm was then trained and evaluated using a leave-one-out experiment among 20 patients with MS against a reference segmentation that was created completely manually. The performance of each normalization method was evaluated both with and without TTPs in the feature set. Volumetric agreement was evaluated using intra-class coefficient (ICC), and voxelwise spatial agreement was evaluated using Dice similarity index (SI). Finally, the robustness of the method across different scanners and patient populations was evaluated using an independent sample of elderly subjects with hypertension. Results The intensity normalization method had a large influence on the segmentation performance, with average SI values ranging from 0.66 to 0.72 when no TTPs were used. Independent of the normalization method, the inclusion of TTPs as features increased performance particularly by reducing the lesion detection error. Best performance was achieved using variance scaled intensity features and including TTPs in the feature set: this yielded ICC = 0.93 and average SI = 0.75 ± 0.08. Validation of the method in an independent sample of elderly subjects with hypertension, yielded even higher ICC = 0.96 and SI = 0.84 ± 0.14. Conclusion Adding TTPs increases the performance of kNN based MS lesion segmentation methods. Best performance was achieved using variance scaling for intensity normalization and including TTPs in the feature set, showing excellent agreement with the reference segmentations across a wide range of lesion severity, irrespective of the scanner used or the pathological substrate of the lesions. © 2013 The Authors.
Impaired and facilitated functional networks in temporal lobe epilepsyLuigi Maccotta | Biyu J. He | Abraham Z. Snyder | Lawrence N. Eisenman | Tammie L. Benzinger | Beau M. Ances | Maurizio Corbetta | R. Edward Hogan
Volume 2, Issue 1, July 2013, Pages 862-872
How epilepsy affects brain functional networks remains poorly understood. Here we investigated resting state functional connectivity of the temporal region in temporal lobe epilepsy. Thirty-two patients with unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy underwent resting state blood-oxygenation level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging. We defined regions of interest a priori focusing on structures involved, either structurally or metabolically, in temporal lobe epilepsy. These structures were identified in each patient based on their individual anatomy. Our principal findings are decreased local and inter-hemispheric functional connectivity and increased intra-hemispheric functional connectivity ipsilateral to the seizure focus compared to normal controls. Specifically, several regions in the affected temporal lobe showed increased functional coupling with the ipsilateral insula and immediately neighboring subcortical regions. Additionally there was significantly decreased functional connectivity between regions in the affected temporal lobe and their contralateral homologous counterparts. Intriguingly, decreased local and inter-hemispheric connectivity was not limited or even maximal for the hippocampus or medial temporal region, which is the typical seizure onset region. Rather it also involved several regions in temporal neo-cortex, while also retaining specificity, with neighboring regions such as the amygdala remaining unaffected. These findings support a view of temporal lobe epilepsy as a disease of a complex functional network, with alterations that extend well beyond the seizure onset area, and the specificity of the observed connectivity changes suggests the possibility of a functional imaging biomarker for temporal lobe epilepsy. © 2013 The Authors.
Amyloid PET in clinical practice: Its place in the multidimensional space of Alzheimer's diseaseRik Vandenberghe | Katarzyna Adamczuk | Patrick Dupont | Koen Van Laere | Gaël Chételat
Volume 2, Issue 1, May 2013, Pages 497-511
Amyloid imaging is currently introduced to the market for clinical use. We will review the evidence demonstrating that the different amyloid PET ligands that are currently available are valid biomarkers for Alzheimer-related β amyloidosis. Based on recent findings from cross-sectional and longitudinal imaging studies using different modalities, we will incorporate amyloid imaging into a multidimensional model of Alzheimer's disease. Aside from the critical role in improving clinical trial design for amyloid-lowering drugs, we will also propose a tentative algorithm for when it may be useful in a memory clinic environment. Gaps in our evidence-based knowledge of the added value of amyloid imaging in a clinical context will be identified and will need to be addressed by dedicated studies of clinical utility. © 2013 The Authors.
Functional brain imaging studies of youth depression: A systematic reviewRebecca Kerestes | Christopher G. Davey | Katerina Stephanou | Sarah Whittle | Ben J. Harrison
Volume 4, Issue , January 2014, Pages 209-231
Background There is growing interest in understanding the neurobiology of major depressive disorder (MDD) in youth, particularly in the context of neuroimaging studies. This systematic review provides a timely comprehensive account of the available functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) literature in youth MDD. Methods A literature search was conducted using PubMED, PsycINFO and Science Direct databases, to identify fMRI studies in younger and older youth with MDD, spanning 13-18 and 19-25 years of age, respectively. Results Twenty-eight studies focusing on 5 functional imaging domains were identified, namely emotion processing, cognitive control, affective cognition, reward processing and resting-state functional connectivity. Elevated activity in "extended medial network" regions including the anterior cingulate, ventromedial and orbitofrontal cortices, as well as the amygdala was most consistently implicated across these five domains. For the most part, findings in younger adolescents did not differ from those in older youth; however a general comparison of findings in both groups compared to adults indicated differences in the domains of cognitive control and affective cognition. Conclusions Youth MDD is characterized by abnormal activations in ventromedial frontal regions, the anterior cingulate and amygdala, which are broadly consistent with the implicated role of medial network regions in the pathophysiology of depression. Future longitudinal studies examining the effects of neurodevelopmental changes and pubertal maturation on brain systems implicated in youth MDD will provide a more comprehensive neurobiological model of youth depression. © 2013 The Authors.
Review Article Fronto-striatal dysregulation in drug addiction and pathological gambling: Consistent inconsistencies?Eve H. Limbrick-Oldfield | Ruth J. Van Holst | Luke Clark
Volume 2, Issue 1, April 2013, Pages 385-393
Alterations in appetitive processing are central to the major psychological theories of addiction, with differential predictions made by the reward deficiency, incentive salience, and impulsivity hypotheses. Functional MRI has become the chief means of testing these predictions, with experiments reliably highlighting disturbances at the level of the striatum, medial prefrontal cortex, and affiliated regions. However, demonstrations of hypo-reactivity and hyper-reactivity of this circuitry in drug addicted groups are reported in approximately equal measure. Similar findings are echoed in the emergent neuroimaging literature on pathological gambling, which has recently witnessed a coming of age. The first aim of this article is to consider some of the methodological aspects of these experiments that could influence the observed direction of group-level effects, including the baseline condition, trial structure and timing, and the nature of the appetitive cues (drug-related, monetary, or primary rewards). The second aim is to highlight the conceptual traction that is offered by pathological gambling, as a model of a 'toxicity free' addiction and an illness where tasks of monetary reinforcement afford a more direct mapping to the abused commodity. Our conclusion is that relatively subtle decisions in task design appear capable of driving group differences in fronto-striatal circuitry in entirely opposing directions, even with tasks and task variants that look ostensibly similar. Differentiation between the psychological theories of addiction will require a greater breadth of experimental designs, with more research needed on processing of primary appetitive cues, aversive processing, and in vulnerable/at-risk groups. © 2013 The Authors.
Imaging of non-tumorous and tumorous human brain tissues with full-field optical coherence tomographyOsnath Assayag | Kate Grieve | Bertrand Devaux | Fabrice Harms | Johan Pallud | Fabrice Chretien | Claude Boccara | Pascale Varlet
Volume 2, Issue 1, May 2013, Pages 549-557
A prospective study was performed on neurosurgical samples from 18 patients to evaluate the use of full-field optical coherence tomography (FF-OCT) in brain tumor diagnosis. FF-OCT captures en face slices of tissue samples at 1 μm resolution in 3D to a penetration depth of around 200 μm. A 1 cm 2 specimen is scanned at a single depth and processed in about 5 min. This rapid imaging process is non-invasive and requires neither contrast agent injection nor tissue preparation, which makes it particularly well suited to medical imaging applications. Temporal chronic epileptic parenchyma and brain tumors such as meningiomas, low-grade and high-grade gliomas, and choroid plexus papilloma were imaged. A subpopulation of neurons, myelin fibers and CNS vasculature were clearly identified. Cortex could be discriminated from white matter, but individual glial cells such as astrocytes (normal or reactive) or oligodendrocytes were not observable. This study reports for the first time on the feasibility of using FF-OCT in a real-time manner as a label-free non-invasive imaging technique in an intraoperative neurosurgical clinical setting to assess tumorous glial and epileptic margins. © 2013 The Authors.
GABA level, gamma oscillation, and working memory performance in schizophreniaChi Ming A Chen | Arielle D. Stanford | Xiangling Mao | Anissa Abi-Dargham | Dikoma C. Shungu | Sarah H. Lisanby | Charles E. Schroeder | Lawrence S. Kegeles
Volume 4, Issue , January 2014, Pages 531-539
A relationship between working memory impairment, disordered neuronal oscillations, and abnormal prefrontal GABA function has been hypothesized in schizophrenia; however, in vivo GABA measurements and gamma band neural synchrony have not yet been compared in schizophrenia. This case-control pilot study (N = 24) compared baseline and working memory task-induced neuronal oscillations acquired with high-density electroencephalograms (EEGs) to GABA levels measured in vivo with magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Working memory performance, baseline GABA level in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and measures of gamma oscillations from EEGs at baseline and during a working memory task were obtained. A major limitation of this study is a relatively small sample size for several analyses due to the integration of diverse methodologies and participant compliance. Working memory performance was significantly lower for patients than for controls. During the working memory task, patients (n = 7) had significantly lower amplitudes in gamma oscillations than controls (n = 9). However, both at rest and across working memory stages, there were significant correlations between gamma oscillation amplitude and left DLPFC GABA level. Peak gamma frequency during the encoding stage of the working memory task (n = 16) significantly correlated with GABA level and working memory performance. Despite gamma band amplitude deficits in patients across working memory stages, both baseline and working memory-induced gamma oscillations showed strong dependence on baseline GABA levels in patients and controls. These findings suggest a critical role for GABA function in gamma band oscillations, even under conditions of system and cognitive impairments as seen in schizophrenia. © 2014 Published by Elsevier Inc.
Diffusion tensor imaging of nigral degeneration in Parkinson's disease: A region-of-interest and voxel-based study at 3 T and systematic review with meta-analysisStefan T. Schwarz | Maryam Abaei | Vamsi Gontu | Paul S. Morgan | Nin Bajaj | Dorothee P. Auer
Volume 3, Issue , November 2013, Pages 481-488
There is increasing interest in developing a reliable, affordable and accessible disease biomarker of Parkinson's disease (PD) to facilitate disease modifying PD-trials. Imaging biomarkers using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) can describe parameters such as fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD) or apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). These parameters, when measured in the substantia nigra (SN), have not only shown promising but also varying and controversial results. To clarify the potential diagnostic value of nigral DTI in PD and its dependency on selection of region-of-interest, we undertook a high resolution DTI study at 3 T. 59 subjects (32 PD patients, 27 age and sex matched healthy controls) were analysed using manual outlining of SN and substructures, and voxel-based analysis (VBA). We also performed a systematic literature review and meta-analysis to estimate the effect size (DES) of disease related nigral DTI changes. We found a regional increase in nigral mean diffusivity in PD (mean ± SD, PD 0.80 ± 0.10 vs. controls 0.73 ± 0.06 · 10- 3 mm 2/s, p = 0.002), but no difference using a voxel based approach. No significant disease effect was seen using meta-analysis of nigral MD changes (10 studies, DES = + 0.26, p = 0.17, I2 = 30%). None of the nigral regional or voxel based analyses of this study showed altered fractional anisotropy. Meta-analysis of 11 studies on nigral FA changes revealed a significant PD induced FA decrease. There was, however, a very large variation in results (I2 = 86%) comparing all studies. After exclusion of five studies with unusual high values of nigral FA in the control group, an acceptable heterogeneity was reached, but there was non-significant disease effect (DES = - 0.5, p = 0.22, I2 = 28%). The small PD related nigral MD changes in conjunction with the negative findings on VBA and meta-analysis limit the usefulness of nigral MD measures as biomarker of Parkinson's disease. The negative results of nigral FA measurements at regional, sub-regional and voxel level in conjunction with the results of the meta-analysis of nigral FA changes question the stability and validity of this measure as a PD biomarker. © 2013 The email@example.com. uk.
Predicting outcome and recovery after stroke with lesions extracted from MRI imagesThomas M H Hope | Mohamed L. Seghier | Alex P. Leff | Cathy J. Price
Volume 2, Issue 1, April 2013, Pages 424-433
Here, we present and validate a method that lets us predict the severity of cognitive impairments after stroke, and the likely course of recovery over time. Our approach employs (a) a database that records the behavioural scores from a large population of patients who have, collectively, incurred a comprehensive range of focal brain lesions, (b) an automated procedure to convert structural brain scans from those patients into three-dimensional images of their lesions, and (c) a system to learn the relationship between patients' lesions, demographics and behavioural capacities at different times post-stroke. Validation against data collected from 270 stroke patients suggests that our first set of variables yielded predictions that match or exceed the predictive power reported in any comparable work in the available literature. Predictions are likely to improve when other determinants of recovery are included in the system. Many behavioural outcomes after stroke could be predicted using the proposed approach. © 2013 The Authors.
Abnormal white matter microstructure in children with sensory processing disordersJulia P. Owen | Elysa J. Marco | Shivani Desai | Emily Fourie | Julia Harris | Susanna S. Hill | Anne B. Arnett | Pratik Mukherjee
Volume 2, Issue 1, July 2013, Pages 844-853
Sensory processing disorders (SPD) affect 5-16% of school-aged children and can cause long-term deficits in intellectual and social development. Current theories of SPD implicate primary sensory cortical areas and higher-order multisensory integration (MSI) cortical regions. We investigate the role of white matter microstructural abnormalities in SPD using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). DTI was acquired in 16 boys, 8-11 years old, with SPD and 24 age-, gender-, handedness- and IQ-matched neurotypical controls. Behavior was characterized using a parent report sensory behavior measure, the Sensory Profile. Fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD) and radial diffusivity (RD) were calculated. Tract-based spatial statistics were used to detect significant group differences in white matter integrity and to determine if microstructural parameters were significantly correlated with behavioral measures. Significant decreases in FA and increases in MD and RD were found in the SPD cohort compared to controls, primarily involving posterior white matter including the posterior corpus callosum, posterior corona radiata and posterior thalamic radiations. Strong positive correlations were observed between FA of these posterior tracts and auditory, multisensory, and inattention scores (r = 0.51-0.78; p < 0.001) with strong negative correlations between RD and multisensory and inattention scores (r = - 0.61-0.71; p < 0.001). To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate reduced white matter microstructural integrity in children with SPD. We find that the disrupted white matter microstructure predominantly involves posterior cerebral tracts and correlates strongly with atypical unimodal and multisensory integration behavior. These findings suggest abnormal white matter as a biological basis for SPD and may also distinguish SPD from overlapping clinical conditions such as autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. © 2013 The Authors.
Neuroimaging of structural pathology and connectomics in traumatic brain injury: Toward personalized outcome predictionAndrei Irimia | Bo Wang | Stephen R. Aylward | Marcel W. Prastawa | Danielle F. Pace | Guido Gerig | David A. Hovda | Ron Kikinis | Paul M. Vespa | John D. Van Horn
Volume 1, Issue 1, December 2012, Pages 1-17
Recent contributions to the body of knowledge on traumatic brain injury (TBI) favor the view that multimodal neuroimaging using structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI and fMRI, respectively) as well as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has excellent potential to identify novel biomarkers and predictors of TBI outcome. This is particularly the case when such methods are appropriately combined with volumetric/morphometric analysis of brain structures and with the exploration of TBI-related changes in brain network properties at the level of the connectome. In this context, our present review summarizes recent developments on the roles of these two techniques in the search for novel structural neuroimaging biomarkers that have TBI outcome prognostication value. The themes being explored cover notable trends in this area of research, including (1) the role of advanced MRI processing methods in the analysis of structural pathology, (2) the use of brain connectomics and network analysis to identify outcome biomarkers, and (3) the application of multivariate statistics to predict outcome using neuroimaging metrics. The goal of the review is to draw the community's attention to these recent advances on TBI outcome prediction methods and to encourage the development of new methodologies whereby structural neuroimaging can be used to identify biomarkers of TBI outcome. © 2012 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Dissecting psychiatric spectrum disorders by generative embeddingKay H. Brodersen | Lorenz Deserno | Florian Schlagenhauf | Zhihao Lin | Will D. Penny | Joachim M. Buhmann | Klaas E. Stephan
Volume 4, Issue , January 2014, Pages 98-111
This proof-of-concept study examines the feasibility of defining subgroups in psychiatric spectrum disorders by generative embedding, using dynamical system models which infer neuronal circuit mechanisms from neuroimaging data. To this end, we re-analysed an fMRI dataset of 41 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and 42 healthy controls performing a numerical n-back working-memory task. In our generative-embedding approach, we used parameter estimates from a dynamic causal model (DCM) of a visual-parietal-prefrontal network to define a model-based feature space for the subsequent application of supervised and unsupervised learning techniques. First, using a linear support vector machine for classification, we were able to predict individual diagnostic labels significantly more accurately (78%) from DCM-based effective connectivity estimates than from functional connectivity between (62%) or local activity within the same regions (55%). Second, an unsupervised approach based on variational Bayesian Gaussian mixture modelling provided evidence for two clusters which mapped onto patients and controls with nearly the same accuracy (71%) as the supervised approach. Finally, when restricting the analysis only to the patients, Gaussian mixture modelling suggested the existence of three patient subgroups, each of which was characterised by a different architecture of the visual-parietal-prefrontal working-memory network. Critically, even though this analysis did not have access to information about the patients' clinical symptoms, the three neurophysiologically defined subgroups mapped onto three clinically distinct subgroups, distinguished by significant differences in negative symptom severity, as assessed on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). In summary, this study provides a concrete example of how psychiatric spectrum diseases may be split into subgroups that are defined in terms of neurophysiological mechanisms specified by a generative model of network dynamics such as DCM. The results corroborate our previous findings in stroke patients that generative embedding, compared to analyses of more conventional measures such as functional connectivity or regional activity, can significantly enhance both the interpretability and performance of computational approaches to clinical classification. © 2013 The Authors.
Magnetic resonance elastography reveals altered brain viscoelasticity in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitisKerstin Riek | Jason M. Millward | Isabell Hamann | Susanne Mueller | Caspar F. Pfueller | Friedemann Paul | Jürgen Braun | Carmen Infante-Duarte | Ingolf Sack
Volume 1, Issue 1, December 2012, Pages 81-90
Cerebral magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) measures the viscoelastic properties of brain tissues in vivo. It was recently shown that brain viscoelasticity is reduced in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), highlighting the potential of cerebral MRE to detect tissue pathology during neuroinflammation. To further investigate the relationship between inflammation and brain viscoelasticity, we applied MRE to a mouse model of MS, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). EAE was induced and monitored by MRE in a 7-tesla animal MRI scanner over 4 weeks. At the peak of the disease (day 14 after immunization), we detected a significant decrease in both the storage modulus (G′) and the loss modulus (G″), indicating that both the elasticity and the viscosity of the brain are reduced during acute inflammation. Interestingly, these parameters normalized at a later time point (day 28) corresponding to the clinical recovery phase. Consistent with this, we observed a clear correlation between viscoelastic tissue alteration and themagnitude of perivascular T cell infiltration at both day 14 and day 28. Hence, acute neuroinflammation is associated with reduced mechanical cohesion of brain tissues. Moreover, the reduction of brain viscoelasticity appears to be a reversible process, which is restored when inflammation resolves. For the first time, our study has demonstrated the applicability of cerebral MRE in EAE, and showed that this novel imaging technology is highly sensitive to early tissue alterations resulting from the inflammatory processes. Thus, MRE may serve to monitor early stages of perivascular immune infiltration during neuroinflammation. © 2012 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Multi-delay multi-parametric arterial spin-labeled perfusion MRI in acute ischemic stroke - Comparison with dynamic susceptibility contrast enhanced perfusion imagingDanny J J Wang | Jeffry R. Alger | Joe X. Qiao | Matthias Gunther | Whitney B. Pope | Jeffrey L. Saver | Noriko Salamon | David S. Liebeskind
Volume 3, Issue , August 2013, Pages 1-7
The purpose of the present study was to present a multi-delay multi-parametric pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (pCASL) protocol with background suppressed 3D GRASE (gradient and spin echo) readout for perfusion imaging in acute ischemic stroke. PCASL data at 4 post-labeling delay times (PLD = 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3 s) were acquired within 4.5 min in 24 patients (mean age 79.7 ± 11.4 years; 11 men) with acute middle cerebral artery (MCA) stroke who also underwent dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) enhanced perfusion imaging. Arterial transit times (ATT) were estimated through the calculation of weighted delays across the 4 PLDs, which were included in the calculation of cerebral blood flow (CBF) and arterial cerebral blood volume (CBV). Mean perfusion parameters derived using pCASL and DSC were measured within MCA territories and infarct regions identified on diffusion weighted MRI. The results showed highly significant correlations between pCASL and DSC CBF measurements (r > = 0.70, p < = 0.0001) and moderately significant correlations between pCASL and DSC CBV measurements (r > = 0.45, p < = 0.027) in both MCA territories and infarct regions. ASL ATT showed correlations with DSC time to the maximum of tissue residual function (Tmax)(r = 0.66, p = 0.0005) and mean transit time (MTT)(r = 0.59, p = 0.0023) in leptomeningeal MCA territories. The present study demonstrated the feasibility for noninvasive multi-parametric perfusion imaging using ASL for acute stroke imaging. © 2013 The Authors.
Medical image analysis methods in MR/CT-imaged acute-subacute ischemic stroke lesion: Segmentation, prediction and insights into dynamic evolution simulation models. A critical appraisalIslem Rekik | Stéphanie Allassonnière | Trevor K. Carpenter | Joanna M. Wardlaw
Volume 1, Issue 1, December 2012, Pages 164-178
Over the last 15 years, basic thresholding techniques in combination with standard statistical correlation-based data analysis tools have beenwidely used to investigate different aspects of evolution of acute or subacute to late stage ischemic stroke in both human and animal data. Yet, awave of biology-dependent and imaging-dependent issues is still untackled pointing towards the key question: "how does an ischemic stroke evolve?" Paving the way for potential answers to this question, bothmagnetic resonance (MRI) and CT (computed tomography) images have been used to visualize the lesion extent, either with or without spatial distinction between dead and salvageable tissue. Combining diffusion and perfusion imaging modalities may provide the possibility of predicting further tissue recovery or eventual necrosis. Going beyond these basic thresholding techniques, in this critical appraisal, we explore different semi-automatic or fully automatic 2D/3D medical image analysis methods and mathematical models applied to human, animal (rats/rodents) and/or synthetic ischemic stroke to tackle one of the following three problems: (1) segmentation of infarcted and/or salvageable (also called penumbral) tissue, (2) prediction of final ischemic tissue fate (death or recovery) and (3) dynamic simulation of the lesion core and/or penumbra evolution. To highlight the key features in the reviewed segmentation and prediction methods, we propose a common categorization pattern. We also emphasize some key aspects of the methods such as the imaging modalities required to build and test the presented approach, the number of patients/animals or synthetic samples, the use of external user interaction and the methods of assessment (clinical or imaging-based). Furthermore, we investigate how any key difficulties, posed by the evolution of stroke such as swelling or reperfusion, were detected (or not) by eachmethod. In the absence of any imaging-based macroscopic dynamicmodel applied to ischemic stroke, we have insights into relevant microscopic dynamic models simulating the evolution of brain ischemia in the hope to further promising and challenging 4D imaging-based dynamic models. By depicting the major pitfalls and the advanced aspects of the different reviewed methods, we present an overall critique of their performances and concluded our discussion by suggesting some recommendations for future research work focusing on one or more of the three addressed problems. © 2012 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


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Tanner Herriott is a director, cinematographer, and producer based in Oklahoma City.
Tanner has years of experience directing commercial, non-profit, narrative, and music video projects through the entire creative process, from brainstorming, scripting and casting through set management, lighting and sound direction, filming, and post-production.
His professionalism has attracted the attention of business and community leaders across the U.S. and abroad and led to extensive travel around the world.

subset: commoncrawl


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On 8 August 2014, the Director General, World Health Organization declared the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) Outbreak in West Africa a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), under the provisions of the International Health Regulations (2005).
Best Airport by Region (over 2 million passengers per year)
Below is the list of the 2015 ASQ Award winners for "Best Airport in Europe."
1st place
2nd place
3rd place
ASQ has statically validated the winners to ensure accuracy; as such, a tie indicates that no statistical difference has been found between the scores of two or more airports.


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Fort Hays State University > About FHSU > Academic Divisions > Graduate School > Workshops
The Office of Scholarship and Sponsored Projects provides different workshops for Fort Hays State University faculty, staff and students:
Registration form Register for a workshop!
Suggestions for topics are welcome!
Grants 101: Introduction to Grant WritingThursday, September 8, 20163:30-5:00pm MU Prairie Room
Wednesday, September 14, 20163:30-5:00pm MU Smoky Hill Room
Wednesday, February 1, 20173:30-5:00pm MU Prairie Room
Thursday, February 2, 20173:30-5:00pm MU Prairie Room
Suitable for the Beginning Grant Writer - Faculty and staff only
Finding Funding Wednesday, September 21, 20163:30-5:00pm MU Prairie Room
This workshop demonstrates how to search for grants using InfoEd, GRC, Grants.gov, Foundation Center and other strategies. Discussion will also cover trends in funding. Faculty and staff only.
Federal GrantsThursday, October 6, 20163:30-5:00pm MU Prairie Room
Federal grant opportunities such as NSF, NIH, NEA, NEH, Department of Education, and others will be discussed. Strategies for funding federal grants and developing competitive proposals will be shared. Faculty and staff only.
Advanced Grant WritingWednesday, October 26, 20163:30-5:00pm MU Prairie Room
Thursday, October 27, 20163:30-5:00pm MU Prairie Room
Wednesday, February 8, 20173:30-5:00pm MU Prairie Room
Thursday, February 9, 20173:30-5:00pm MU Prairie Room
This workshop will cover strategies for proposal development and writing. It is recommended that participants have a basic knowledge and/or some experience with grant proposals. Faculty and staff only.
Using IRBNet at FHSU Wednesday, September 28, 20163:30-5:00pm MU Prairie Room All human subjects research at FHSU must be submitted using IRBNet. Open to faculty, staff and students who conduct research involving human subjects.
Introduction to Human Subjects Research: IRB Date and time TBD This workshop covers basic information regarding human subjects research, including the background, regulations, and the differences between exempt, expedited and full IRB reviews. Suitable for faculty, staff, and students.
Secondary Reviewer Training Date and time TBD
This workshop is given by invitation only.
Undergraduate Research Experience (URE) Grant Information Tuesday, August 30, 20163:30-5:00pm MU Prairie Room
This session provides information on the FHSU Undergraduate Research Grant process. Tips for writing a competitive proposal are provided! Faculty and staff only.
CITI Training is now available


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Now showing items 1-10 of 5865
Evaluation and recommendations for improving the accuracy of an inexpensive water temperature logger
(American Meteorological Society, 2013-07)
Onset's HOBO U22 Water Temp Pros are small, reliable, relatively inexpensive, self-contained temperature loggers that are widely used in studies of oceans, lakes, and streams. An in-house temperature bath calibration of ...
Atmospheric carbon dioxide variability in the Community Earth System Model : evaluation and transient dynamics during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries
(American Meteorological Society, 2013-07-01)
Changes in atmospheric CO2 variability during the twenty-first century may provide insight about ecosystem responses to climate change and have implications for the design of carbon monitoring programs. This paper describes ...
Dissolved strontium in the subterranean estuary- implications for the marine strontium isotope budget
Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) to the ocean supplies Sr with less radiogenic 87Sr/86Sr than seawater, and thus constitutes an important term in the Sr isotope budget in the modern ocean. However, few data exist for ...
Crustal structure across the Costa Rican Volcanic Arc
(John Wiley & Sons, 2013-04-29)
Island arcs are proposed to be essential building blocks for the crustal growth of continents; however, island arcs and continents are fundamentally different in bulk composition: mafic and felsic, respectively. The substrate ...
MODE Hot Line News Table of Contents Nos. 1-85
(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1976)
Table of Contents and List of Contributors for issues 1-85 (1972-1975)
Dynamic intermediate ocean circulation in the North Atlantic during Heinrich Stadial 1 : a radiocarbon and neodymium isotope perspective
(John Wiley & Sons, 2014-11-20)
The last deglaciation was characterized by a series of millennial-scale climate events that have been linked to deep ocean variability. While often implied in interpretations, few direct constraints exist on circulation ...
Meridional overturning circulation in the South Atlantic at the last glacial maximum
(American Geophysical Union, 2006-10-03)
The geostrophic shear associated with the meridional overturning circulation is reflected in the difference in density between the eastern and western margins of the ocean basin. Here we examine how the density difference ...
Common humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) sound types for passive acoustic monitoring
(Acoustical Society of America, 2011-01)
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are one of several baleen whale species in the Northwest Atlantic that coexist with vessel traffic and anthropogenic noise. Passive acoustic monitoring strategies can be used in ...
Abrupt changes in deep Atlantic circulation during the transition to full glacial conditions
(John Wiley & Sons, 2013-05-30)
Six Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) sites, in the Northwest Atlantic have been used to investigate kinematic and chemical changes in the "Western Boundary Undercurrent" (WBUC) during the development of full glacial conditions ...
Constraints on the vital effect in coccolithophore and dinoflagellate calcite by oxygen isotopic modification of seawater
In this study, we show that there are independent controls of 18O/16O and 13C/12C fractionation in coccolithophore and dinoflagellate calcite due to the contrasting kinetics of each isotope system. We demonstrate that ...


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My Mom's New Husband #4 - DrillMyHole
Models: Doug Acre and Billy Santoro
Studio: Drill My Hole
Doug knows exactly what to say to rile up his new stepdad, Billy. After telling Billy his mom is cheating on him, he suggests a great way to get back at her. Billy sends his new stepson to his room for his wisecracks, but when Doug invites him to join, he figures he'll just discipline his ass with a good dicking.


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The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department got plenty of attention in the spring when it announced plans to use Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to help them search for criminals and missing persons. Those plans underscore a dramatic surge in UAVs, which are playing an increasingly important role in their primary function in military applications.
Drones are seeing dramatic growth in Afghanistan, Iraq and other regions where the military wants surveillance information. As the U.S. focuses on what it calls network-centric warfare, UAVs play a key role in intelligence gathering. Developers are responding by making UAVs more versatile, using technologies like Ethernet and field programmable gate arrays so operators can easily alter drones for specific missions.
Their growing role is underscored by the wide range of unmanned planes now in use. "There are a great number of UAVs out there, more than 18 different versions are being used in various theaters today," says Robert McKee, platform and operational units program manager at Mitre Corp.
The tests in Los Angeles are among many trials being run by police forces in places as far away as Israel. Many say law enforcement is only one of the civilian applications where UAVs are being examined. "We're seeing more interest for civil applications like border patrols and firefighting," says Doug Fronius, Navy Fire Scout program manager at Northrop Grumman.
As this potential market emerges, developers continue to come up with new techniques making it possible to do more surveillance without putting humans where they might be in harm's way. As in the past, the military is pushing the technology. "We're working on UAVs that can hover, as well as fly, so they can sit outside a window," says Robert Leheny, DARPA's deputy director.
As more drones are used, developers are making sure they can adapt to take on new roles. That can mean anything from adding new types of sensors to carrying missiles or bombs. "When the Predator was built, designers had no clue that the Air Force would want to put firepower on it. That highlights the need for adaptability," says Glen Logan, senior systems engineer for the Open Systems Joint Task Force.
One of the many reasons for the increased use is that drone designs have improved greatly. Early versions were not overly dependable, but today's models are quite trustworthy. "Ten to 20 years ago, UAVs were considered, to some degree, expendable, trading reliability for cost. Today, they want systems as reliable as manned platforms," Fronius says.
Technical improvements also continue to augment the cost and safety issues that originally made UAVs attractive. Today's systems are far more versatile, operating autonomously or responding to user commands. "Hunter has the option of full manual control or it can be pre-programmed," says Drew Telford, chief technologist for Hunter UAV at Northrop Grumman.
The success of drones is helping speed up development. As the market shows signs of expansion, boardmakers are paying more attention, coming up with new designs. "We're doing a variety of modules that have extended temperature ranges so they can go into UAVs," says Rodger Hosking, vice president of Pentek Inc. of Upper Saddle River, NJ.
As the aerospace and defense industries become more comfortable designing with commercial off-the-shelf technologies, design engineers are turning to standards to gain the same benefits standardization brings throughout the electronics industry.
"We want to be able to adopt new technologies, coming close to plug-and-play. The backbone of GlobalHawk is Fast Ethernet," says Ed Walby, business development director for Northrop Grumman's High Altitude Long Endurance Systems.
Ethernet provides a standard interface that can easily and affordably be added to any new technologies, making it simple to add and remove elements over the long lifetime of the craft. The speed of Ethernet also makes it possible to use one bus for many systems. Earlier UAVs often used several different buses dedicated to various technologies, making it more difficult to share and transmit data quickly.
Two of the critical design parameters for drones are versatility and mission duration. Like other aircraft, UAVs have fairly long lifetimes, so engineers have to come up with ways to make sure that new technologies can be integrated as they become available. While users will be adding new elements to vehicles, there's also a push to make them lighter so they can fly longer.
Though electronics are, by nature, lighter than engines and fuel, they account for a large portion of the overall weight of these aircraft, which don't carry much beyond equipment such as radar, cameras, storage, a variety of sensors, and systems that do some processing on this data. "Every ounce you can take off the electronics translates to more fuel for longer missions," Leheny says.
Keeping weight down can be a real challenge, however. Though drones are generally smaller than fighter jets, operators often want them to carry as much gear as the large Airborne Warning and Control Systems that are carried by large bombers.
"UAVs like GlobalHawk have a lot of radar systems, yet the amount of weight they can handle is far less than an AWACS carrier. Because of the weight and size constraints, there's a big push to use FPGAs to do a lot of signal processing," says Mike Jadon, director of product marketing, Micro Memory LLC of Chatsworth, CA.
FPGAs aren't just desirable because of their speed. "FPGAs let you put several discrete parts and logic chips into one part," says Randy Robertson, vice president of engineering at Honeywell Aerospace. They also make it simpler to upgrade systems such as radios, since the hardware can be reprogrammed almost as easily as software can be altered.
As design engineers attempt to do more with faster chips and denser boards, they run into the cooling dilemma that plagues most system developers. Though UAVs often operate in cool, upper atmospheres, many often idle for lengthy periods in desert airports while they're checked out and prepared for action.
Radar systems are a particular problem. Many of these radar systems run extremely hot, so engineers are looking at ways to use liquid cooling without sacrificing replaceability. To help keep small radar systems running for long periods, the VMEbus International Trade Association is developing packaging that integrates electrical connections and leak-proof liquid cooling pipes that are encased in metal housings. "With cans, it's much easier to change out liquid-cooled modules," says Ray Alderman, executive director of VITA, headquartered in Fountain Hills, AZ.
For more information on Micro Memory, go to http://rbi.ims.ca/4930-520.
For more on aeronautics, join our Electronics Forum at http://rbi.ims.ca/4930-521.


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Think twice before you "starve" yourself during and after workouts.
Use this tried and true advice to keep your gas tank full when competing.
Liquid refreshment for before, during or after your run.
Uncover the truth about fueling for your endurance endeavors.
The short answer is "no." But there is a long answer.
Which type of nutrition is better for endurance athletes?
Perform better by taking stuff that makes running feel easier.
The missing piece from most training plans? An effective fueling strategy.
Learn how each works and when it's best to use one versus the other.


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Plant Protection Products
Plant protection products are substances which are intended to protect plants or plant products against animals, plants, micro-organisms or diseases. Substances which destroy plants, regulate growth or inhibit germination are also regarded as plant protection products.
Plant protection products may only be distributed and used if they have been authorised
The competent authority in Germany is the BVL (Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety) which collaborates with three evaluation authorities: the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, the Julius Kühn Institute and the Federal Environmental Agency. Apart from supervising the procedure the BVL is responsible for risk management, that is, for authorisation decisions and administrative measures. Important aims in this respect are a sufficient protection of crops, avoiding harmful effects on human health and avoiding unacceptable effects on the environment. Reports prepared by the three evaluation authorities involved and recommendations made by an independent scientific advisory committee form the basis for management decisions of the BVL. The BVL can make the authorisation of a plant protection product subject to certain conditions in order to ensure its safe use. After the authorisation of a plant protection product its application is surveyed by means of control and monitoring programmes. In the case of unexpected effects the BVL can change the authorisation or, if necessary, withdraw it.
Plant protection products in the EU are subject to a uniform body of legislation
All Member States apply the same evaluation procedures and authorisation criteria. A joint positive list of active substances permitted in plant protection products is also part of the harmonisation process. Active substances are evaluated in a joint procedure and a decision on their inclusion in the positive list is made. The BVL is the German co-ordinating office for this European cooperation.
Plant resistance improvers and adjuvants
Besides plant protection products, the Plant Protection Act also provides for adjuvants and plant resistance improvers. Adjuvants are added to plant protection products, for instance, in order to improve wetting of leaf surfaces. Plant resistance improvers are substances which improve the resistance of plants. Products for use on cut flowers also belong to this category. Adjuvants and plant resistance improvers may only be placed on the market if they have been included in a list with the BVL. This listing procedure is less complex than the authorisation procedure for plant protection products.


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Fairfield Guest Accommodations
4755 Business Center Drive
Fairfield, California 94534
Contact: Reservations
Phone: 707/863-0300
Request more information
Guest rooms start at $119/night depending on day of the week, time of year and accommodations selected.
Minimum number of rooms and/or nights required for room block discount: 10 rooms.
Complimentary room or suite provided for the couple? No
Couple will be billed for unused rooms? Dependent on the number of rooms contracted.
Venue will distribute guest bags to rooms? Yes
Please contact the hotel for details.
Bicycle Rental
85 Suites
85 Total
50 miles to Sacramento Airport (SMF)
On-site lot


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What is Boy Scouts?: Boy Scouts is program for boys 11 through 17 designed to achieve the aims of Scouting through a vigorous outdoor program and peer group leadership with the counsel of an adult Scoutmaster. Learn more on our Scouting Links Page.
Who Can Join: All boys ages 11 though 17. (Boys also may become Boy Scouts if they have earned the Arrow of Light Award or have completed the fifth grade.)
About Troop 37 Troop 37 is a medium sized troop with approximately 75 active scouts and 35+ registered leaders, primarily made up from scouts and leaders in the Tri-Cities area (Geneva, St. Charles & Batavia). Our troop is non-denominational and is open to all boys and scouts regardless of race, ethnicity, creed or religion.
Troop Meetings: Troop meeting are held every Tuesday night from 7:00pm-8:30pm and generally follow the Geneva School District Calendar. When School is in session, the troop meets. The only exception is the Tuesday following a campout. These Tuesdays are reserved for PLC or Patrol Leaders Council. Check the calendar for the latest schedule.
Where the Troop Meets: Troop Meeting are held at Geneva Lutheran Church located at 301 S. Third Street, Geneva, IL 60134. Enter through the Franklin Street side entrance and go down the stairs to the Fellowship Hall.
How to Visit or Join: You may visit or join at any regular troop meeting. Our meetings are always open to visitors and guests.
Call For More Info
Ron Kutz 630.235.6843 email@example.com
Committee Chair:
John Easton 630.715.9663 firstname.lastname@example.com


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AG 'Graduate' Slim Straight Leg Jeans (17 Years Hard Ground)
Men's Acne Studios 'Ace' Slim Fit Jeans, Size
Bright orange topstitching, brassy hardware and an ever-so-slightly faded wash create a classic, casual vibe on slim, slightly tapered jeans tailored from rich dark-blue denim. Color(s): blue. Brand: ACNE. Style Name:Acne Studios 'Ace' Slim Fit Jeans. Style Number: 5221386. Available in stores. Learn More
Men's Rvca 'Daggers' Slim Fit Jeans, Size 32
Soft, stretchy washed-black denim shapes casual slim-fitting jeans designed with a nice mid rise so they won't hang off when riding your skateboard. Color(s): beaten black, vintage blue. Brand: RVCA. Style Name:Rvca 'Daggers' Slim Fit Jeans (Vintage Blue) (Online Only). Style Number: 1110098_1. Available in stores. Learn More
Men's Givenchy Slim Fit Jeans With Star Detail,
A band of stitched stars brands the back pocket of slim, slightly tapered jeans tailored from flawless black stretch denim. Bright metal hardware adds a touch of understated shine to the clean, classic design. Color(s): black. Brand: GIVENCHY. Style Name:Givenchy Slim Fit Jeans With Star Detail. Style Number: 5177882. Available ... Learn More
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Vt. revenues up in most categories in JanuaryFebruary 16,2013MONTPELIER New figures show that Vermont state revenues were up in most categories last month, coming in slightly ahead of projections.
In the results released Thursday, Administration Secretary Jeb Spaulding said January was a good month for the state treasury.
General Fund revenues in January were $2.3 million, or 1.6 percent, above forecasts. Seven months into the current fiscal year that ends June 30, general fund revenues total $750 million, three-tenths of one percent above the target figure.
The non-dedicated transportation fund receipts in January exceeded forecasts by about three-quarters of one percent. Year-to-date the fund is about one-tenth of one percent above target.
But the non-property tax education fund receipts for January were about one-tenth of one percent below expectations. For the year, the fund is just below even.MORE IN This Just InWindsor and Hartford earned the top seeds when the Division III and I football pairings were... Full StoryEven to skeptics, the presidential campaign of Sen. Full StoryThe opioid overdose crisis is rapidly becoming the No. 1 issue facing Vermonters. Full Story
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A Jet All the Way
To announce his starting quarterback for the season opener, Dolphins coach Tony Sparano told reporters simply, Its Chad, leaving them to guess just which Chad Pennington or Henne would actually get the first snap. Turns out duh it was Pennington, he of the 69 percent completion rate in 2007, the latest (13th, actually) would-be savior at quarterback since Dan Marino retired. The Dolphins were bound to start Pennington ever since finding him bagged neatly on the curb after eight years with the New York Jets; which was shortly after those same ungrateful Jets signed legend/drama queen Brett Favre as their quarterback of the moment.
Penningtons been a pro long enough to know when to give Dullsville quotes, so he probably wont indicate as much but do you think he might be a little psyched for this one? Its not often the first game of the year is also the must-see, but considering the personnel and the fact that the Fins dont get another home game until Oct. 5 this one might be the exception. Catch the latest Jets-Dolphins grudge match Sunday at 1 p.m. at Dolphin Stadium (2269 NW 199th St., Miami). Tickets start at $41. Call 888-FINS-TIX, or visit www.miamidolphins.com.
Sun., Sept. 7, 1 p.m., 2008
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Architecture Design: The New Apartment
Arian Mostaedi
Product details
Format: Book
Pages: 168
Publisher: Links International
Date Published: Feb 2010
Stock Code: 69365
Binding: Paperback
Total votes: 0
This book presents a selection of the most interesting proposals in interior design. They show a return to more humanised concepts based on the profound relationship between people and space. In offering solutions to different types of apartments, the book successfully strikes a balance between function and aesthetics, between the essential and the non-essential. Included are floor plans, technical specifications, materials used and commentary on each project, all provided by the designing architects themselves. Eldridge Smerin, Drewes Architects, GAP Architetti Associati are just two of the architectural luminaries who have contributed to this fine selection.
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Stanford University Libraries is pleased to introduce Opening Night! Opera & Oratorio Premieres, a cross-index of data for over 38,000 opera and oratorio premieres. It allows complex searches across multiple categories or simple browsing within any single category, such as genre, composer, librettist, premiere date, country, oratorio subject, or theater. The database is linked to SearchWorks, Stanford University Libraries catalog, allowing users to easily find related scores, recordings, and writings.
The Glen McLaughlin Map Collection of California as an Island is now available online.The 731 maps were collected by Glen McLaughlin over a period of 40 years and acquired by Stanford in 2012. It is the largest known private collection of maps showing California as an island. It is now available for anyone to search, find, view and download via the Stanford University Library's catalog. Please visit californiaisland.stanford.edu to read more about the collection. Viewing the paper maps will be on a per-request basis.
Transformation is a common theme among the eight final student team projects of this year's ME310 cohort. Take, for example, Idéum, which proposes how to transform an old building in a Swedish coastal town into an innovation center for Volvo workers who insist "that they [are] not innovative people." The students ask, and then answer, "How might we build confidence and make a user feel like an innovative genius, with a tool that actually helps develop creative skills?"
BrowZine is a tablet application that lets you browse, read and monitor thousands of scholarly journals available from the Stanford University Libraries.
• Browse titles by subject to easily find journals of interest
• Create a personal bookshelf of favorite journals
• Be alerted when a new issue of a journal is published
• Save articles in your personal library. BrowZine can easily be synced up with Box.com, Mendeley, Zotero, and other services to help keep all of your information together in one place.
Some of the latest work underway in Digital Library Systems and Services involves adding digital collections to SearchWorks. Last week saw the addition of five new collections to SearchWorks, all created and deposited to the Stanford Digital Repository using the Self-Deposit web application.
Of the five, we're highlighting Preserving Virtual Worlds, a collection produced by curator Henry Lowood and a team of collaborators in a multi-institution project funded by the Library of Congress. Original software, gameplay samples, technical documentation, web sites, and other contextual information for games like SimCity, DOOM, and Star Raiders are archived for the ages. Henry's blog announcement sums up the project and collection nicely.
Stanford University Libraries has partnered with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to preserve one of the world's largest collections of software. Funded by the National Software Reference Laboratory (NSRL), Stanford and NIST will spend two years digitally preserving the 15,000 software titles in the Stephen M. Cabrinety Collection in the History of Microcomputing held by Stanford University Libraries (SUL).
The Cabrinety Collection is one of the largest pristine historical collections of microcomputing software in the world, including titles from virtually all of the major microcomputer platforms, including home computer and video game consoles. The collection was assembled by Stephen M. Cabrinety (1966-1995), who began collecting software as a young teenager and maintained an intensive interest in computer history throughout his life. Stanford University acquired the entire collection as a gift from the Cabrinety family in 1998.
The University Archives is pleased to showcase the results of ongoing efforts to collect and make available online born-digital materials from Stanford student organizations. The first such collection to be made available via the Stanford Digital Repository is records of the annual "Listen to the Silence" conference organized by the Asian American Students' Association (AASA).
The Undergraduate Theses collections for Physics and Engineering Physics are now open for deposit. This year's crop of top undergraduates in the Department of Physics and in the Engineering Physics program have the distinction of being the first undergrads to deposit their theses in the SDR. These two are the first of several honors theses collections opening this quarter. (The School of Education is assembling their collection together now, and two other departments may follow suit.)
Librarian Stella Ota manages the collections, working with faculty, staff, and the selected students to use the Self Deposit application. She has been collecting digital honors theses offline since 2010. When the ETD system launched in fall 2009, Stella had a vision for using a similar process to collect the Physics undergraduate theses for access and preservation in the SDR. Yet without a deposit interface, it proved to be challenging to track down each student, to have them sign a hard-copy deposit agreement, to collect the PDF files by thumbdrive or email, and to create the metadata. The Self Deposit workflow promises to make the whole process of collecting and archiving these works more systematic, more secure, and more efficient.


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Auburn is in the market for a highly-ranked quarterback and one of the nation's best unofficially visited the Plains on Monday in Columbia (Mo.) standout Logan Gray.
Auburn makes big impression on four-star QB
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Playing in a Giant Sandbox
At Dig This, grown-ups pay to bulldoze, dig and move rocks
Steamboat Springs, Colo.
A few years ago, Ed Mumm bought a piece of property in this stunning ski town and rented an excavator to clear the land.
Scooping dirt by the ton, tossing boulders like pebbles, Mr. Mumm had an epiphany: This was fun. And then another: People might pay to do this.
Three years and $500,000 later, Mr. Mumm, 42 years old, spends his days draping orange vests around wealthy thrill-seekers at Dig This, which he bills as the first, and only, heavy-equipment playground in the U.S.
On a 10-acre plot of dirt, framed by distant mountains, Mr. Mumm guides his guests to a fleet of Tonka toys come to life -- a skid-steer loader, a 115-horsepower excavator and Caterpillar's D5G bulldozer, 10 tons of glinting muscle.
"I wanted to create a place where people could come and play -- relive their sandbox days, but for real," Mr. Mumm says.
Play time isn't cheap: Hoisting, digging and razing costs $280 to $650, depending on the machine and the number of hours spent aboard. Even at those prices, Mr. Mumm doesn't expect to turn a profit for at least another year -- he's had about 90 paying customers so far. But he feels confident that he's tapped into an underserved corner of the American psyche.
His customers have ranged from corporate chief executives to an 84-year-old woman. Many find it tough to say why it's such a thrill to play with rocks. "I'm giggly when you ask about it," says Hank Edwards, a recent customer.
Mr. Edwards's wife, D.J., bought him a day at Dig This for his 60th birthday. ("Because he was older than dirt," she says.) Mr. Edwards was no stranger to construction sites; he used to make his living building houses. Still, it was a shock to experience the power and size of the Caterpillar 315CL Hydraulic Excavator.
"I'd never driven anything like that," he says. "It's just off the scale."
Dig This instructors open with a safety briefing and then guide customers through a series of exercises designed to stretch different skills.
Excavator operators dig a ditch, then pick up rocks the size of prize-winning pumpkins. Bulldozer drivers push a 1-ton boulder -- as big as a small buffalo -- around an obstacle course of traffic cones. They also build an 8-foot ramp, drive up it and teeter on the top for a breathless moment before crashing down the other side. "If you like it, you can do it again," Mr. Mumm says.
Mr. Mumm says that he stuck to machines that run on tracks -- not wheels -- because their top speed is lumbering. "We can outrun them," he says. Even so, instructors stand way off to the side, offering advice via a two-way radio tucked into each customer's fluorescent safety vest. The six instructors come from a variety of backgrounds; some worked in construction and others taught snowboarding.
They say most drivers get their bearings within the first 20 minutes. It's not easy. The joystick controls require a gentle touch and infinite patience. A degree in geometry wouldn't hurt, either. The dozer blade, for instance, can be moved up or down, left or right -- but also tilted any number of ways. To dig a smooth trench or nudge a jagged boulder across rough terrain, you have to calculate the best angle and keep maneuvering the blade just so.
"You're humbled by it," Mr. Edwards says. "You think, 'Oh, pah, digging a trench -- that's pretty simple.' It's not."
Mr. Mumm also sets up competitive team-building exercises for corporate clients. The Marquette Group, an ad agency in Peoria, Ill., recently sent 32 managers through the course in hard hats to help foster team spirit. "Everyone got into this thing full-choke," says Chris Cummings, the CEO.
Mr. Mumm advertises the Dig This experience as "empowering," with a side order of adrenaline.
It took him awhile to get others to buy into that vision. After years of running a fence-building business and raising reindeer on the side, Mr. Mumm, originally from New Zealand, was in a position to make a substantial investment in machinery. But insurers were leery of the project. So many turned him down that Mr. Mumm was on the verge of giving up. Finally he found a company willing to sell him general liability insurance for participants, plus insurance on the equipment, for $15,000 a year. No one has been injured since he opened last fall.
As business expands, Mr. Mumm hopes to sell franchises. He'd also like to add more equipment -- a dump truck, maybe. He's even dreaming about creating a save-your-marriage course, with a licensed counselor coaching couples through exercises that require good communication.
For now, he's sticking to teaching the Walter Mittys of the world how to dig trenches.
When I tried Dig This for myself, I found climbing into the excavator a rush, just as Mr. Mumm promised -- though for me, it was a rush of panic. The 315CL is, in a word, huge. It weighs nearly 37,000 pounds. And the claw looks enormous as it swings back and forth, metal teeth bared like a hungry T-Rex.
It's noisy in the cab: There was the thrum of the engine, the thunk of the claw, the thump-thump-bang of the hydraulics bouncing as I maneuvered the joystick controls with more frenzy than finesse. It's frustrating, too; time and again, I would proudly scoop an enormous load of dirt, only to have the claw get stuck under the weight.
I couldn't help but notice that the guy next to me dug a perfect trench, 8 feet long, smooth and even. I made a couple of gashes in the soil.
But then we moved to the rock challenge, and by some quirk of hand-eye coordination, I could do this: I could clasp a rock in the claw, swivel the excavator and dump it right where I wanted it to go (or, close enough). It was so much fun, I found myself wishing for a bigger pile of rocks.
As I climbed out of the cab, feeling flush with accomplishment, I thought of how I'd describe the morning to my kids. My gash in the soil, I decided, was rightly more of a canyon. And the rocks? In retrospect, more like boulders.
Jim Gill, a Caterpillar dealer in Hayden, Colo., who sold Mr. Mumm some of his machines, had warned me this might happen. Initially skeptical of Mr. Mumm's idea, he caught some of Mr. Mumm's enthusiasm for the project when he began to envision how a couple of hours moving dirt might seem to "some guy in a three-piece suit working 60 floors above Wall Street." While it would be a thrill to make noise and kick up dust, Mr. Gill figured the real fun would be in retelling the adventure around the water cooler.
"What started out as a 30,000-pound tractor," he predicted, "will become 100,000 pounds on the flight back to New York."
Write to Stephanie Simon at email@example.com


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About GRANDMANAN
By: GRANDMANAN , 10:48 AM GMT on April 24, 2014
Forecast remains correct, a cool 2C with a NW breeze 20KPH giving a temp on the minus side, showers till this evening, clear for Fri. and Sat. more rain for Sunday. The warmer temps once again alluding the forecast with no indication of double digit plus temps for next several days at least.
Boats have been tied up with wind being a factor these last few days, however the price and catch levels remains to the liking of those capturing the critters. Weir building activity still low key, with nothing going on infront of the island, haven't heard of any building on back of the island either.
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Each Monday we publish Sunday's Coming, an email-only post on the upcoming readings, written by our current Living by the Word columnist.
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Exodus 17:1-7; Psalm 95; Romans 5:1-11; John 4:5-42
Leadership as a spiritual practice
Is leadership, specifically pastoral leadership, a spiritual practice? Dorothy Bass has defined practices as "those shared activities that address fundamental human needs and that, woven together, form a way of life." Does leadership address a fundamental human need?
Romans 5:1-8
When I take a long road trip, the route I choose depends on whether I am driving my car or riding my motorcycle. If I have a tight time line, I drive my car. I prefer to travel on interstate highways if possible. My priority is to get to my destination quickly; I map out a route, set the cruise control, turn on the radio, fly through the countryside and stop only when absolutely necessary.
Psalm 95; John 4:5-42
It is tempting to sit in judgment on others. Sometimes we do it in jest, as Mark Twain did when commenting on Adam. "Adam was but human—this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple's sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden. The mistake was in not forbidding the serpent; then he would have eaten the serpent." But sometimes the serpent eats us, and then we judge in earnest.
John 4:5-42
Once again, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness for a critical encounter. This time he meets not Satan, but a most unlikely angel. In the heat of the day, a messenger of God joins him for a life-giving exchange.
Psalm 95Exodus 17:1-7Romans 5:1-11John 4:5–42
A stranger approaches Jacob's Well at high noon. He is tired and thirsty. There he meets a woman who has come to draw water. Something happens between them. . . . The original readers of the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman must have felt themselves on familiar ground.
Revised Common Lectionary © 1992 the Consultation on Common Texts. Used by permission.


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Comics.com Merchandise > Rose is Rose > Rose Is Rose Art > Rose on The Go > Rose on the Go Jr.Spaghetti Strap
Celebrate with Rose and Pasquale with this custom character art from the charming Rose is Rose comic strip. Makes a great birthday gift!
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