text:
Manchester City defender Micah Richards is reportedly travelling to Florence today to complete a move to Fiorentina.
La Viola have been linked with attempts this summer to strengthen their full-back department, with Davide Santon amongst the most prominent players listed in reports.
Indications in recent days were that the Florence outfit were still shopping in the Premier League and that they had earmarked Manchester City's former England international Richards, for a late summer transfer window bid.
Richards has also been linked with Everton, Sunderland and West Ham, with chances of first team action under Manuel Pellegrini looking slim, but it is La Viola who are expected to complete a move today.
Reports in both the UK and Italy are that the 26-year-old is flying out to Florence this morning to complete formalities on an initial season-long loan deal, which could be made permanent next summer.
Speculation is that Fiorentina are paying City an initial fee of £1m, around €1.2m for the loan.
Should a move for the 26-year-old not materialise, the club are anticipated as following through on interest in Lazio's Abdoulay Konko, or former Inter man Giulio Donati, now at Bayer Leverkusen.


text:
MySite.com :: View topic - The excellent Asst Well-known Titleist 909H A mix of both As
Forum FAQ
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
The excellent Asst Well-known Titleist 909H A mix of both As
MySite.com Forum Index
Chinese Culture
View previous topic
View next topic
Joined: Jun 15, 2012
Posts: 78
Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 4:15 pm
Post subject: The excellent Asst Well-known Titleist 909H A mix of both As
Titleist made the particular collections regarding
titleist 909h hybrid
that's basic and straight forward. There aren't any artwork models, or materials styles that make your membership head look innovative. Large with the mind fits the actual vintage smoked greyish seem of most Titleist Solid wood along with Crossbreed heads. It experienced comfortable.
titleist 909h hybrid for sale
continues to be meant to provide the golfer with the ideal start as well as spin and rewrite throughout the numerous lofts available. It's transformation participants have been waiting for. An incredible executing club that looks like a hybrid is imply to check. The team brain has a modern search containing previously turned out well-liked about excursion and also which offers a new deeper heart of gravity to help increase balance. The idea plays as well as feels like the flexible flat iron, yet has the streamlined seems to be and also playability of the wooden. It's wise an organization that offers the player self-confidence and gives incredible forgiveness upon each and every chance. The actual stainless-steel and contractor metal body along with face provides the club outstanding really feel so it helps raise the ball speed. During the entire array the particular
cheap titleist 909h hybrid
gives exceptional flight, permits the actual golfer to work your golf ball and gives total kick off management.
Zero solid top range, simply no weights lower and also back, simply no big sudo-fairway heads, just a elegant hunting membership that produces you would like to strike all this morning. Low-cost club sets the size and style, shape, counteract as well as middle involving gravitational pressure (CG) area development with the lofts to provide appropriate flight, workability and also velocity control. Present day, Tour-proven account creates a more deeply CG for further stability.
titleist 909h price
A greater mind and also extended confront enhance self-confidence along with forgiveness, whilst the Carpenter material confront put increases golf ball pace longer length. It was quite forgiving along with retained your golf ball over a lovely trajectory, a better view compared to a good metal but nonetheless breaking through. It had been very easy to steer the particular ball every means and as well as minimal along with the overall performance ended up being extremely steady when you had the particular lofts. Wonderful canal into it way too. This can be proper on the websites for as one of the greatest hybrids pertaining to far better people on the market otherwise in recent history. Absolutely essential attempt.
Back to top
Display posts from previous:
All Posts
1 Day
7 Days
2 Weeks
1 Month
3 Months
6 Months
1 Year
Oldest First
Newest First
MySite.com Forum Index
Chinese Culture
All times are GMT + 10 Hours
Jump to:
Select a forum
Live in Milwaukee
MCCC Discussion Board
Chinese Language
Chinese Culture
In Milwaukee
post new topics in this forum
reply to topics in this forum
edit your posts in this forum
delete your posts in this forum
vote in polls in this forum
Powered by
© 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
Forums ©
Powered by
and designed by SiteGround
web hosting

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Corcept Therapeutics Slightly Up After FDA News (CORT)
Shares of Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated (NASDAQ: CORT) are barely up, gaining 4 cents to $4.23, but had been as high as $4.68 earlier in the session on the back of seemingly positive FDA endpoint news earlier today.
The company said that its drug Corlux, which is used for Cushing's Syndrome, is on track for FDA approval in the first quarter of 2011.
Cushing's Syndrome is the overproduction of the hormone cortisol, or overexposure to cortisol. Its symptoms can include high blood sugar, high blood pressure, fatigue, and weak muscles.
The FDA has already granted an orphan drug designation for Corlux for the treatment of Cushing's syndrome.
© 2017 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.


text:
CARSON, Calif. – David Beckham's contract is up at the end of the season and he apparently has no shortage of suitors for his services in 2012 and beyond.
Beckham has been linked to several European clubs in recent weeks and his current employers are also interested in bringing him back, but the English midfielder insisted he will wait until after the season to decide on his future.
"At the moment I'm a Galaxy player and I will continue to be until … the end of the season," Beckham said. "Obviously my contract is up, but I'm happy here. We'll just have to wait and see."
Beckham has been linked to English sides Tottehnam Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers as well as French side Paris Saint-Germain. Spurs' manager Harry Redknapp and PSG boss Leonardo have told various media outlets of their respective interest in the former England captain, and QPR have hardly been shy about their aim to sign any big name on the market.
Beckham said he has been in "constant contact" with different teams, but wouldn't specify which clubs.
"I've got a lot of friends on different teams around England, around Europe. I'm in constant contact with people, but I've heard the rumors about European teams being after me," he said. "It's always nice to be wanted, especially at 36 years old, to still be wanted by some of these big teams and some of these great managers."
It's not just European interest, however. Beckham said he and AEG President Tim Leiweke have talked about bringing the player back to LA next season, but that a final decision about anything has not yet been reached.
"The Galaxy obviously want me to stay as well," he said. "Yeah, we've spoke. I've spoke with Tim. Obviously we've talked through it but Tim knows I have to wait until the end of the season just to see how physically I feel."
Beckham has played for the Galaxy since 2007 but this is just his second full season with the team. Beckham joined in the middle of the 2007 season and spent all of the 2008 season with the Galaxy before loan spells cost him playing time in 2009 and 2010. In 22 games this season, Beckham has two goals and 12 assists, and his form this year may be playing a part in fueling the rumors of interest abroad.
However, Beckham said such rumors have been commonplace throughout his career.
"There's rumors," Beckham said, "but there's always been rumors about me going places, about me moving back to places."
Player Bio: David Beckham
Beckham goes undercover on The Ellen DeGeneres Show


text:
North Austin Hammered by Storm [Updated]
1,500 customers lose power, with more storms forecast this week
By Richard Whittaker,
11:54PM, Mon. May 7, 2012
So much for a mild May. For the second time in three nights, storm conditions have knocked out power in areas of Austin.
Austin Energy reports that 1,500 homes and businesses initially lost power, due up to 10 power poles being knocked down in tonight's deluge. By 10pm that figure had fallen to 1,000, but the utility has 17 teams out working on over a hundred locations, plus an extra six teams trimming downed branches.
AE spokesman Ed Clark said the utility hopes to have all power restored by 5am. In the mean time, anyone experiencing a blackout should report it at 322-9100.
UPDATE: As of 6am, Austin Energy was still trying to get power back up for the last 290 customers, with repairs at 28 locations.
With unseasonal intermittent storms forecast throughout the week, it seems Austin Energy could have its work cut out. Additionally, there has been anecdotal evidence that cell phone coverage around town (frankly, never that great for a major tech center) has suffered in the recent rough weather.
Michael King, Aug. 29, 2016
Amy Smith, March 1, 2013
Nov. 17, 2017
Nov. 17, 2017
Austin Energy, Storms, Ed Clark


text:
For thousands of years, rings have been more than just adornment. They have been symbols of authority, symbols of promises, and even legally binding signatures. Today rings still speak volumes about you. Our palladium garnet stackable rings are as eloquent as they are beautiful and always one of a kind. Choose aquamarine and yellow gold or tourmaline and sterling silver: it's your choice. Mix and match gems and precious metals for a look that's exactly you. It's jewelry for all life's occasions, from an anniversary or engagement to your own personal milestones and celebrations. Tug on her heartstrings with a brilliant Mother's day gift of beautiful jewelry with a personal touch. Our amazing array of designs by talented jewelry designers like Ji Hwang, Damon Washington, David West, and others means you can find palladium garnet stackable rings that you can't find anywhere else. Stylish and versatile, Gemvara's stackable ring styles can be mixed and matched with all the other rings in your jewelry box to express your unique style. Because all Gemvara palladium garnet stackable rings are made from scratch to your specifications, we can hand-select the finest quality gems and recycled precious metals to perfectly suit your design. Red garnet gives off strength and confidence with its bold tone. A platinum group metal, palladium has high purity and white tone of platinum but is less dense, making it more affordable. When washing your hands, don't leave any rings on the rim of a sink where they can slip down the drain! Clean palladium garnet stackable rings in a bowl of water with mild dish soap: use a soft brush where dust collects. Gemvara's exceptional heirloom-quality palladium garnet stackable rings are designed to be passed down for generations, crafted by hand in the United States.
We can help right away. Chat with a jewelry expert now!


text:
Canada seems to have found its top line at the IIHF World Hockey Championship. And the timing couldn't be much better.
Jason Spezza and James Neal each scored with assists from Rick Nash on Saturday as Canada continued its unbeaten run at the tournament with a 3-2 victory over Norway.
The trio was first put together during the third period of Friday's shootout win over the United States and it seems to have found some quick chemistry. With plenty of youngsters on the roster, coach Ken Hitchcock plans to rely heavily on three of his more veteran players.
"This is a men's tournament," said Hitchcock. "If you expect kids to go and win games for you, (it's not good). We've had great play by our kids but at the end of the day, as you get further along, it's men.
"We needed some of our veteran players to have better offensive output and to put those three guys together worked well today."
The big unit was too much for the Norwegians to contain. All three men bring plenty of size - Neal is the smallest at six-foot-two, 208 pounds - and they're comfortable controlling the puck in the offensive end.
"As the games get more important, we know we're going to play a lot of minutes and have to hang on to the puck," said Spezza. "That's how you wear these teams down."
John Tavares had the other goal for Canada (5-0) while Ken Andre Olimb and Marius Holtet replied for Norway (3-2).
The Canadians are heading into the stretch run at the tournament. After wrapping up the round robin against Sweden on Monday, the team travels to Bratislava in need of three straight wins to achieve its goal of winning gold.
"It gets really quick right now," said Hitchcock. "This thing is over next weekend."
There are still some important decisions to be made. Jonathan Bernier made his first start of the tournament in place of James Reimer on Saturday and at least gave Hitchcock some food for thought with a 25-save performance.
While it wasn't perfect - "You can't let that puck go in," Bernier said of Norway's second goal - Reimer has also been beaten by a couple soft shots in his last two starts. Hitchcock will take some time to decide which of them faces Sweden.
"I'd like to sleep on it for a day," he said. "I was impressed with Bernier, I was impressed with his composure. I'd like to think on it a day before I make the decision. I'll kind of waffle until some time tomorrow."
Canada received a bit of a scare from the plucky Norwegians, who scored goals 1:13 apart in the third period after Neal had made it 3-0 with his first of the tournament.
It was important for the 23-year-old winger to find the scoresheet. He was snake-bitten down the stretch with the Pittsburgh Penguins - scoring twice in 27 games - and failed to convert on two breakaways earlier in the game against Norway.
"It's been tough," said Neal. "I've been playing well and getting opportunities but just haven't been able to find the back of the net. Tonight I was right there again - you get those things going through your mind where you can't seem to score, but I got a great pass and managed to find a way."
The Norwegians brought just one NHL player here, but have proven to be a very tough opponent. They put on a shot-blocking clinic during upset wins over Sweden and Switzerland earlier in the tournament and repeatedly threw themselves in front of pucks again.
One of the reasons Spezza let out such an enthusiastic reaction after opening the scoring at 15:26 of the first period was because he wanted to inspire his teammates against a lower-profile opponent.
"Sometimes you've got to get yourself jacked up to play in these games against teams where you don't know anybody," said Spezza. "It's easier playing against the U.S. and Sweden and Russia, teams where you know all the players on the other team. You've got to try to manufacture a little emotion sometimes."
Tavares stretched the lead to 2-0 just after the midway point of the game with a highlight-reel move. He split the Norwegian defence and fought off a couple hooks before beating Lars Haugen.
The 20-year-old has quietly had a strong tournament for Canada with a team-leading four goals and eight points - numbers made even more impressive by the fact nine of the team's forwards are averaging more time on the ice than him.
Tavares is also one of the six players who were part of the team that finished seventh a year ago. This has been a much better experience so far.
"We feel real good where our game's at - compared to last year when we were still trying to find our game at this point," said Tavares. "I think it's important for us to feel that way."
Notes: Bernier's last start for Canada was at the 2008 world junior championship ... Norwegian captain Ole-Kristian Tollefsen was on the ice for more than half of the second period, playing 10:51 ... Neal was named Canada's best player while Haugen received that award for Norway ... Announced attendance at Steel Arena was 4,978.


text:
Sam Harris Phone Cases
Looking just like those transfer tees you got back in the 70's, my Supernatural inspired Sam & Dean Vintage Transfer Tee will take you back to days of cheap gas, muscle cars, and brotastic good times fighting evil. Contains the famous words of Sam Winchester "The Frigging Winchesters". You will love it! Get it on a baseball tee for an authentic vintage look! *This is an original work. Not endorsed by WB or an Official piece of Supernatural merchandise.
Tags: the frigging winchesters, flames, impala, muscle car, seventies
Dear Suzy, You have a superb voice. You are my favorite animal in the program by far. Please find enclosed— Dear Sam, Thank you very much. I got replaced as the Raven because I yelled at Mrs. Lynn. After that I was only a Bluejay, but— Dear Suzy, I am sorry that your brothers are so selfish. Maybe they will grow out of it. Sometimes people do things without knowing the reasons for— Dear Sam, You are an excellent painter, especially trees and telephone poles. Is the girl in the water supposed to be me? My favorite color is— Dear Suzy, I accidentally started a fire while I was sleepwalking. I have no memory of this, but my foster parents think I am lying. Dear Sam, I am in trouble again because I threw a rock through the window. My mom still has glass in her hair. Dear Suzy, I know your parents hurt your feelings, but they still love you. That is more important— Dear Sam, I do think you should think of their faces everyday, even if it makes you sad. It is too bad that they did not leave you more pictures of themselves— Dear Suzy, I have been trying very hard to make friends, but I feel like people do not like my personality. In fact, I can see why— Dear Sam, Now I am getting suspended from school because I got in a fight. Molly says I go berserk. The principal is against me. Why do..—
Tags: wes-anderson, quirky, minimal, minimalism, poster


text:
PSA 8 1989 Tony Gwynn Starting Lineup card SLU
Sold for:
Start Free Trial
or Sign In to see what it's worth.
- Sold Date:
- Source: eBay
Hello. I am offering for sale a 1989 Tony Gwynn Starting Lineup card. This is the card Kenner Products packaged with Tony's Starting Lineup rookie figurine back in 1989. This card received a grade of 8 from PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator). This is a difficult card to find of this great Hall of Famer.***As you will notice in the pictures, this card was mislabled as a 1998 card. Please take the labeling error into consideration if you are thinking about purchasing this card!*** Fully insured Priority Mail shipping will be $5.50. I will ship this card in a safe and sturdy USPS box. I will not charge a penny extra in shipping for multiple purchases on the same invoice! Please take a look at my other items for sale! Thank you for your time, and please feel free to e-mail me with any questions you may have relevant to this listing!


text:
Today during Google's web broadcast on YouTube, the Android team announced some exciting new features for Android 3.0 "Honeycomb." The new mobile OS will be the next major milestone for Android, with a ton of new and improved features, including widgets, hardware acceleration and more.
Google announced that Honeycomb will feature an easy to access multitasking toolbar, showing your recently opened and running applications, all from the home screen. Honeycomb will improve the way widgets can be displayed, allowing for developers to create widgets that are based on collections of data, which will allow for the user to run apps in 'little windows' on your home screen.
Android 3.0 will also come with a new notification system, with toast popups in the lower right-hand corner. The notifications can now contain images of friends when they send you a message. The notification system will even allow for apps, like a media player, to appear on screen, for quick access.
Honeycomb will come with hardware acceleration, and with just a single line of code, existing applications can take advantage of the 2D hardware acceleration. Honeycomb will come with a new engine for powering 3D graphics on your devices. Lastly, Android 3.0 'Honeycomb' will allow support video chat, with a supported handset or tablet with a front-facing camera, using Google Talk.


text: the 408 lives! pictures added! Hey all, It lives, the 408 roared to life tonight! It turned over about 4 times, then the battery died (should have put the charger on) I put in on a fast charge, got in about 5 minutes later and it fired right up! No leaks, no "strange engine noises" , my only problem is my tack isn't working I can live with that!(more wiring) Couple more days and it'll be ready for the street.


text:
Sometimes chefs get skewered by critics: The crab cakes are cold, the steak is tough, the service is dreadful.
But rarely does the restaurant's chef do the skewering – particularly, through the hand of one of his customers.
That's apparently the case in Australia, where an unnamed Sydney chef allegedly stabbed patron Jamil Hossain with a skewer, according to the complaint. A press release from police states that an altercation ensued after five men dining at the restaurant made a complaint about the service.
Outside the establishment, the complaint states, the chef allegedly came outside "armed with a skewer" and, as a result "pierced the palm" of Hossain.
The alleged puncture wound is the latest (and craziest) story in restaurant retaliation: This week, The Globe's restaurant critic Chris Nuttall-Smith wrote about Jen Agg, the owner of a popular Toronto restaurant, calling her patrons "douches" on Twitter.
"I was among those who suggested that Agg had gone too far," wrote Nuttall-Smith. "The next morning I rebroadcast her tweet, with the heading, 'File under 'Own worst Jenemy.' "
Readers responded in overall outrage to the story, calling Agg childish and cowardly.
Commenter Scotch Bonnet asked, "If she has something to say to Table 2, why doesn't she walk over – like a manager – and say it to them, rather than tweeting it like some teenaged princess?"
"The customer isn't always right, sometimes they really are jerks." wrote Calvatheson. "But in this case I wonder if the jerk restaurateur and the jerk customer deserve each other."
It is just the latest in a shifting mentality, at least in the Toronto restaurant scene, where truly great establishments simply "don't take reservations," ditching basic customer care for a cynical, entitled attitude; where the line to get in is a purposeful aesthetic to appear like the cool place in town.
On a recent night out at a swanky bistro in Toronto, the sous-chef came to shame my table by challenging our decision to send back – you guessed it – ice-cold crab cakes. (A decision I cringed about, but agreed in principle with my date.) The chef was aghast that his customers would make such a "foolish" decision and needed to voice that concern.
I'll never return, and hopefully, if such attitudes among chefs and owners continue, the entitled restaurants will see dwindling business as a result.
I suppose I should be grateful he didn't take to Twitter – and, even more so, that he didn't come armed with a skewer.Report Typo/Error
Follow @amberlymon Twitter:


text: Comment #4 on issue 369 by audunskaugen: Html5 video fullscreen window doesn't stay in fullscreen mode http://code.google.com/p/xmonad/issues/detail?id=369 That's strange. I tried to play the video in the url exactly as you said, and fullscreened it using rightclick -> fullscreen. I tested it now using just the minimal totemFullscreen.hs on another computer. It worked there too. I didn't test with your config file, since it seems to include lots of stuff outside of -contrib. Are you running xmonad-0.9.1? -- You received this message because you are listed in the owner or CC fields of this issue, or because you starred this issue. You may adjust your issue notification preferences at: http://code.google.com/hosting/settings


text:
You are hereForums / General Discussion / PMBC Chat / Lost bike pump - floor type - Maxxis
Lost bike pump - floor type - Maxxis
Hi Guys,
I've managed to leave my bike pump behind at the 12 hour.
If anyone managed to pick it up, I'd be most grateful to have it back.
Fairly sure it was a Maxxis brand, orange and black with a lovely pressure gauge on the front.
So if you've got it, please give me (Richard) on 0408950398, or hit me up on here.
Cheers in advance.
- Login or register to post comments
- Bookmark & share


text:
Crawford Bailey, 86, died Thursday, Dec. 28, 2000.
Services will be at 2 p.m. today at St. Paul First Baptist Church, Jefferson.
Survivors include four daughters, Cenetta Johnson, Dallas, Gladys Browner Jackson, Mich., Betty Richardson, Stone Mountain, and Sarah Bailey, Atlanta; a sister, Sybil Ann Wilson, Dayton, Ohio; and three brothers, Nathaniel Bailey and James Bailey, both of Jefferson, and Cleveland Bailey, Atlanta.
Alfonso Dawson Mortuary, Atlanta, has charge of arrangements.
Athens Daily News, Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2001
© 2017. All Rights Reserved. | Contact Us


text:
|Home | About | Journals | Submit | Contact Us | Français
Human brain maturation is a complex, lifelong process that can now be examined in detail using neuroimaging techniques. Ongoing projects scan subjects longitudinally with structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), enabling the time-course and anatomical sequence of development to be reconstructed. Here, we review recent progress on imaging studies of development. We focus on cortical and subcortical changes observed in healthy children, and contrast them with abnormal developmental changes in early-onset schizophrenia, fetal alcohol syndrome, attention-deficit–hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Williams syndrome. We relate these structural changes to the cellular processes that underlie them, and to cognitive and behavioral changes occurring throughout childhood and adolescence.
The dynamic course of brain maturation is one of the most fascinating aspects of the human condition. Although brain change and adaptation are part of a lifelong process, the earliest phases of maturation – during fetal development and childhood – are perhaps the most dramatic and important. Indeed, much of the potential and many of the vulnerabilities of the brain might, in part, depend on the first two decades of life.
The cortex and subcortical gray-matter nuclei develop during fetal life in a carefully orchestrated sequence of cell proliferation, migration and maturation. This leads to a human brain with ~100 billion neurons at birth. However, the brain of a newborn child is only one-quarter to one-third of its adult volume, and it continues to grow and specialize according to a precise genetic program, with modifications driven by environmental influences, both positive and negative. With stimulation and experience, the dendritic branching of neurons greatly increases, as do the numbers of synaptic connections. As layers of insulating lipids are laid down on axons through the process of myelination, the conduction speed of fibers that interconnect different brain regions increases ~100-fold. This exuberant increase in brain connections is followed by an enigmatic process of dendritic 'pruning' and synapse elimination, which leads to a more efficient set of connections that are continuously remodeled throughout life.
When Huttenlocher began to demonstrate this succession of events in the human brain, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was still in its infancy. His histological work in the 1980s paved the way in showing that the time-course for synaptic blooming and pruning in the human brain varies enormously by brain region. For example, in the visual cortex, synaptic overproduction reaches a maximum at about the fourth postnatal month. Then synapse elimination starts, and this continues until preschool age, by which time synaptic density has reached the adult level. But in the medial prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain involved in executive, attentional and regulatory functions, the peak occurs at 3–4 years of age, and substantial decline does not occur until mid-to-late adolescence [1].
Early work by Yakovlev and Lecours documented the progression of myelination in the developing human brain [2]. More recent work by Benes et al. with much larger samples showed similar results, with myelination continuing well into the third decade of life [3]. Interestingly, the spatial and temporal pattern of these cellular changes seemed to parallel developmental changes in synaptic density. Simply put, myelination of the most dorsal regions of the brain responsible for higher cognitive functions seemed to continue well into adolescence, and more ventral and deep brain structures – some of which are responsible for relatively more primitive functions – were myelinated earlier.
However, the sequence of myelination might be more complex than this. A problem with many interpretations of the work by Yakovlev and Lecours [2], and of similar studies of myelogenesis, is that dorsal and ventral systems do not ultimately myelinate to the same degree: on average, dorsal cortex, at its most mature, is less myelinated than ventral cortex. Therefore, if myelination took the same time-course, then at any given time areas that myelinate more fully would appear more myelinated than those that myelinate less. Therefore, when the degree of myelination is observed on histologically stained sections or in MRI scans of the brain, one must also consider the ultimate extent of myelination for each system. Recent research studying patterning molecules, and rates of proliferation and neuronal migration, show a much more complex pattern of cortical maturation, occurring primarily from a rostral-lateral-ventral pole toward a dorsal-medial-caudal pole (reviewed in [4]).
This histological evidence suggested that brain development is a dynamic process of progressive and regressive changes. But histology gave only very fragmented evidence for late brain maturation, given the dearth of post-mortem data from childhood and adolescent years. By contrast, MRI can non-invasively document these large-scale processes of brain development, can provide insight into the sequence and timing of these developmental processes in longitudinal experiments, and can document how they occur in living subjects.
The first quantitative structural brain-imaging studies in normal children using MRI were conducted in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Terry Jernigan and colleagues showed that young adults actually had less cortical gray matter than children, despite the fact that adults had somewhat larger overall total brain volumes [5]. They found that gray-matter volumes generally declined after age 7, perhaps because the advancement of white matter (i.e. myelination) throughout childhood began to overtake the overall rate of brain volume expansion, causing a net decrement in the amount of tissue appearing gray (or unmyelinated) on MRI. They then determined that the timing of gray-matter loss was different for different brain regions: loss was first observed in the deep motor nuclei in early childhood, then in the parietal and frontal lobes at around puberty [6]. Although MRI did not assess synaptic density per se, this was the first in vivo evidence to support the post-mortem findings of Huttenlocher and of Yakovlev and Lecours.
The aforementioned studies used a method called volumetric parcellation. In this approach, the brain is subdivided into several, separate anatomical regions with different functions (e.g. the frontal lobe, the deep motor nuclei or the hippocampus), and their volumes are measured (Figure 1). Parcellation enables the compilation of growth curves that document how regional volumes vary with age. Results are typically illustrated using scatterplots but regional measurements are limited by anatomical structures (i.e. sulcal landmarks) and can also be reliably visualized and defined using MRI.
In the late 1990s, a few teams began to make composite 3D maps of developing brain structures [4,7-12] showing, for example, the average pattern of age-related change in gray-matter thickness between childhood and young adulthood. More recently, these mapping techniques have become more popular because they provide more visual detail and group statistics regarding the rates of change and their regional variation. Time-lapse animations also can be computed to illustrate the changes.
Many of the basic functions of the brain, such as vision, hearing, speech, planning and emotional control are primarily handled in the cortex, so much of the work mapping brain development has focused on the cortex, although some groups have studied subcortical gray matter. The goal of cortical mapping is to create group average maps of cortical features of interest such as graymatter thickness, gray-matter density, cortical shape, average sulcal patterning and hemispheric asymmetries, all of which change during development (for methods, see [13]). Next, statistics are defined that help localize age effects on these measurements, such as localized reductions or increases in gray-matter density or thickness, and brain growth.
The earliest cross-sectional pediatric brain MRI studies of normal developmental changes showed that gray-matter volumes generally declined after 6–7 years of age and continued to decrease during adolescence, whereas white-matter volumes increased linearly over time. However, in one of the first studies to compile growth curves for the volumes of different lobes of the brain as subjects aged (i.e. studies that were longitudinal rather than cross-sectional) [14], there was a clear linear increase in white matter up to age 20, whereas there were non-linear changes in cortical gray matter. Giedd et al. demonstrated a pre-adolescent increase, with developmental curves peaking at ~12 years for the frontal and parietal lobe, and at ~16 years for the temporal lobe. After that, gray-matter loss occurs.
More recently, another developmental study quantified human cortical development by measuring gray-matter density in each lobe, point by point [4]. This map was constructed from serial brain MRI scans of 13 children followed over a ten year period. Children were scanned every two years for eight years from the time they were recruited, and were given a structured diagnostic interview at each visit to confirm lack of a psychiatric disorder.
This study measured which brain regions change between 4 and 21 years of age and illustrated these statistics as a time-lapse movie. This revealed a shifting pattern of gray-matter loss, appearing first (at ~4–8 years of age) in dorsal parietal and primary sensorimotor regions near the interhemispheric margin, and spreading laterally and caudally into temporal cortices and anteriorly into dorsolateral prefrontal areas. The first areas to mature were those with the most basic functions, such as those processing the senses and movement. Areas involved in spatial orientation and language (parietal lobes) followed, around the age of puberty (11–13 years). Areas with more advanced functions – integrating information from the senses, reasoning and other 'executive' functions (e.g. prefrontal cortex) – matured last, in late adolescence. This sequence also provided evidence that phylogenetically older cortical areas mature earlier than the more recently evolved higher-order association cortices, which integrate information from earlier maturing cortex.
In another longitudinal study, changes in cortical thickness were measured (in millimeters) in a group of 45 normally developing children studied between 5 and 11 years of age [12]. Each child was studied twice with a two-year scanning interval. Maps of cortical thickness were created for each child, and the average cortical-thickness maps were remarkably similar to maps created from post-mortem data by von Economo [15]. The average cortical thickness for the normally developing children and from the post-mortem data are shown in Figure 2. As can be seen on the medial brain surface, the cortex is thickest in the most dorsal aspects of the frontal and parietal lobes (~4–5 mm), and thinnest in the visual cortices of the occipital lobes surrounding the calcarine sulcus (2.0–2.5 mm). These data revealed cortical thinning of ~0.15–0.30 mm per year in normally developing children, most prominently in right dorsal frontal and bilateral parietal regions. Cortical thickening was also observed with increases of ~0.10–0.15 mm per year in the classical language regions of the temporal and frontal lobes (Figure 3). The brain grew at a rate of ~0.4–1.5 mm per year in many regions, most prominently in the frontal and occipital regions. This pattern of results is similar to those observed in cross-sectional and longitudinal data of normal brain maturation [4,16], but the new methods enabled changes in cortical thickness to be assessed in millimeters for the first time. Additionally, this study confirmed that dynamic but distinct changes occur in posterior temporal and frontal language regions, where gray matter continues to increase in thickness. We speculate that cortical changes in these regions could be related to changing language abilities that continue after 5 years of age (e.g. changes in reading ability) [12]; functional and structural imaging studies are underway to test these hypotheses.
Changes in cortical thickness during normal development relate to cognitive changes as children and adolescents mature. In the same 45 normally developing children already described, cortical thinning in the left dorsal frontal and parietal lobes correlated with improved performance on a test of general verbal intellectual functioning [12,17]. Greater left hemisphere gray-matter thinning was associated with improved performance on the vocabulary subtest of a standardized IQ measure [17] (Figure 4). When permutation analyses were conducted to correct for multiple comparisons in the brain–behavior analyses, change in cortical thickness was correlated with change in the behavioral measure only in dorsal frontal and parietal cortex of the left hemisphere. Cortex in these regions tends to thin with increased age. Thus, the results of negative relationships between cortical thickness and vocabulary improvements are consistent with what would be expected. Considering these data, it seems reasonable to speculate that the brain changes are related to cognitive changes during development, although few studies have addressed this issue.
The brain-mapping studies of normal brain maturation described here have been limited by the age ranges of the subjects studied. They have clearly shown regional and temporal patterns of dynamic maturational change continuing through childhood and adolescence. However, they could not enable conclusions to be made about the endpoint in cortical sculpting (which probably results from increased myelination and synaptic pruning) because they did not assess individuals >30 years of age. This issue was addressed in a study of a large sample of normal individuals (n=176) across the span of life (7–87 years of age) [11]. Significant, non-linear age effects were observed over large areas of the most dorsal aspects of the frontal and parietal regions on both the lateral and interhemispheric surfaces and in the orbitofrontal cortex. Scatterplots of these effects revealed a dramatic decline in gray-matter density between 7 and 60 years of age, with little or no decline thereafter. A sample scatterplot of the quadratic effect of age on gray-matter density at one brain-surface point on the superior frontal sulcus is shown in Figure 5, and is similar to plots from the dorsal frontal and parietal regions. Notably, the most lateral aspects of the brain in the posterior temporal and inferior parietal lobes bilaterally showed a distinct pattern of gray-matter change, one in which the non-linear age effects were inverted relative to the age effects in more dorsal cortices. A subtle increase in gray-matter density was observed until ~30 years of age, and it then remained stable until a precipitous decline in later decades. As these data illustrate, the trajectory of maturational changes might continue beyond adolescence and into young adulthood, and can be assessed only using an extended age range. The question of when brain maturational changes traverse into the more degenerative changes of aging becomes even more poignant when considering these data (for a detailed discussion, see [18]). The last systems to mature are also among the first to degenerate in disorders such as Alzheimer's disease; their high degree of plasticity throughout life might make them more vulnerable to neurodegeneration [19-21].
Most brain-mapping studies of development have focused on the cortex, but developmental changes in subcortical structures have also been characterized. For example, one study mapped a front-to-back wave of growth through the corpus callosum at 3–15 years of age [22] (Figure 6). The continuous myelination of interhemispheric fibers results in increased axonal conduction speed and transmission of information between the brain hemispheres. Perhaps the main surprise from the subcortical studies is the progressive volume loss in the deep gray-matter nuclei – especially the caudate – at around puberty. In contrast to the basal ganglia, temporal lobe gray-matter structures (the amygdala and hippocampus) seem to increase in volume during childhood and adolescence.
We cannot conclude directly what cellular changes are involved in the dynamic maturational processes described here. MRI measures changes in the volume and density of brain structures, but lacks the resolution to characterize the cellular mechanism (e.g. dendritic remodeling, cell death, synaptic pruning or myelination) of such changes. Moreover, gray-matter volume and thickness reflect not only the dendritic and synaptic processes that occur in neurons but also the complex architecture of neurons, glia (i.e. myelin) and vasculature. However, we can say that the gray-matter changes described in this review correlate well with the post-mortem sequence of regionally variable increased synaptic pruning and myelination during adolescence and early adulthood.
Mapping fetal and neonatal brains presents another set of practical and technical challenges. Aside from the obvious difficulty in obtaining motion-artifact-free images, at these ages the degree of myelination produces considerably less contrast in images obtained using the most commonly applied T1 and T2 weighted pulse sequences. Nevertheless, considerable insight into the earliest myelination and differentiation of the telencephalon and diencephalon can be seen by imaging from fetal stages in utero through the first six months after birth [23]. These imaging results are consistent with post-mortem measures of increased myelination before birth [24-26]. A general caudal-to-rostral progression can be appreciated in this age group. Furthermore, morphological differentiation of several structures such as the internal capsule (a fan-like structure of white matter separating the lentiform nucleus from the caudate and dorsal thalamus) precedes changes in white-matter, often by many months. Utilizing specific magnetic resonance pulse sequences to identify white matter, in an approach called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), can also help characterize the changes associated with myelination. Neil et al. [27] found dramatic and generalized changes in water apparent diffusion coefficients and diffusion anisotropy. These diffusion parameters, measurable using DTI, are locally sensitive to the degree of myelination (which provides resistance to water diffusion) and to fiber orientation (which constrains the principal directions of water diffusion to be aligned with axons). Gilmore et al. [28] found significant increases in fractional anisotropy in the anterior and posterior regions (genu and splenium) of the corpus callosum during development that reflect underlying changes to water content and cytoarchitecture during maturation.
Statistical maps can also be created to assess group effects such as brain structure differences between healthy children and those with neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar illness or attention-deficit–hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), those with genetic disorders of brain development such as Williams syndrome (WS; a mental retardation disorder), and those exposed to teratogens during brain development, such as children with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). The resulting maps can reveal where in the brain differences are located, how significant they are, and – depending on the study design – whether they are stable or progressive [29].
Statistically significant reductions or increases in measured gray- or white-matter structures are commonly found in children with developmental disorders, and different brain abnormalities have been observed in different disorders. However, most of the abnormalities observed in the quantitative MRI studies of children with developmental disorders have been relatively subtle. That is, the brain structural abnormalities could not typically be observed within individual children, but rather only when studied in groups of children with a particular disorder compared with non-affected or medication-matched controls.
Beginning in 1992, scientists led by Judith Rapoport at the National Institute of Mental Health employed MRI technology to scan a group of ~50 teenagers repeatedly as their schizophrenia developed and a group of >500 healthy children as controls. The collected data were analyzed using brain-mapping methods developed to detect subtle changes in the cortex [30]. Healthy subjects lost gray matter at a subtle rate of 1–2% per year in the parietal cortices, with very little detectable change in the other lobes of the brain. By contrast, the childhood-onset schizophrenia patients showed a rapid progressive loss of gray matter in superior frontal and temporal cortices, reaching 3–4% per year in some regions. This pattern was seen in both boys and girls. Early deficits in parietal brain regions that support language and associative thinking spread forwards into the temporal lobes, supplementary motor cortices and frontal eye fields. The deficits spread anatomically over a period of 5 years, consistent with the characteristic neuromotor, sensory and visual search impairments in the disease. In temporal cortices, including primary auditory regions, severe gray-matter loss was absent at disease onset but later became pervasive. Patients with the worst brain tissue loss also had the worst symptoms, which included hallucinations, delusions, bizarre and psychotic thoughts, hearing voices and depression.
The notion of schizophrenia as a dynamically emerging disease of neurodevelopment is still controversial. The spreading patterns of deficits corroborate the idea that the normal developmental process of dendritic and synaptic pruning might be abnormally accelerated or derailed in schizophrenia [31]. Even so, they might represent a separate process entirely that begins in adolescence – twins studies have hinted that the earliest deficits, occurring in the parietal cortex, might have a non-genetic trigger [32]. Some histological studies suggest that there is decreased neuropil in schizophrenia, but autopsy material is scarce and findings are inconsistent. As in normal development, the observed cortical changes might also be glial or vascular in origin, rather than purely neuronal [33]. Intracortical contrast might also be affected by changes in myelination [34], and by changes in lipid metabolism during the use of atypical antipsychotic agents. It is possible that in schizophrenia, changes in gray-matter density also reflect, at least in part, increasing intracortical myelination. Still, four dimensional maps such as these offer a biological marker of disease progression for drug trials, where brain mapping can assess how well antipsychotic medications oppose advancement of the disease [35].
Brain imaging has also helped to identify circumscribed alterations in brain structure that are associated with developmental disorders that have genetic causes. Williams syndrome (WS), for example, is a developmental disorder associated with a deletion of ~20 genes in the 7q11.23 region of chromosome 7. WS subjects have mild to moderate mental retardation, but have remarkable proficiencies in language skills, social drive and musical ability. Figure 7 shows a range of brain regions affected by this genetic deletion: in general, the cortex is thinner, except in perisylvian language regions, where it is thicker by 5–10%; cortical complexity is also significantly increased [36]. In post-mortem data from WS subjects, Holinger et al. [37] observed larger cells in Heschl's gyrus in the primary auditory area – a finding congruent with the cortical thickening seen here. WS subjects also have disproportionately reduced white matter, so cortical cells fitting over a smaller white-matter area can 'pile up', and the cortex can thicken owing to a crowding effect. Some Wnt signaling genes, which direct early cell differentiation and segmentation, are in the deleted 7q11.23 chromosomal region, suggesting a genetic basis for the cortical dysmorphology observed on MRI. Other genes deleted in WS might normally contribute to fissure formation in the human cortex, and their absence might account for the abnormal cortical thickening. Ongoing work is examining the changes in folding complexity in the same regions that show thickened cortex, to ensure that this thickening is not simply a consequence of increased gyrus formation (e.g. microgyria often appears as thickened cortex, when in fact it is thinner, four-layered cortex). If cortical thickness and complexity were positively correlated in general, the frontal and parietal regions of greater gyrification found in studies of WS (e.g. [38]) would be expected to show greater cortical thickness, but this was not found. There is, therefore, no simple relationship between thickness and complexity, and careful study of these measures in larger samples is warranted. Alternatively, the cortical thickening might represent an adaptive response to the genetic deletion, perhaps even from increased use or overuse of specific cortical networks. Identification of such neuroanatomical characteristics of WS is important for better understanding of the scope and timing of the cortical anomaly in WS.
ADHD is a much more common, and less debilitating, disorder of childhood than childhood-onset schizophrenia and WS. Nonetheless, volumetric structural brain-imaging studies of ADHD patients have demonstrated subtle reductions in total brain volume, and in volumes of the right frontal lobe and caudate nucleus [39,40]. To further understanding of brain abnormalities in ADHD, brain mapping studies were conducted in 27 children and adolescents with ADHD and in 46 age-matched and gender-matched control subjects [41]. As predicted, abnormal morphology was observed in the frontal cortices of ADHD subjects, with reduced regional brain size localized primarily to inferior portions of dorsal prefrontal cortices bilaterally. Brain size was also reduced in anterior temporal cortices bilaterally. Gray-matter density was prominently increased in large portions of the posterior temporal and inferior parietal cortices bilaterally (Figure 7). The etiology and cognitive and behavioral sequelae of this increased gray-matter density and regionally reduced brain size are not yet understood, but these regions of the brain are known to be part of an action–attention network probably involved in the symptomatology of ADHD (discussed in [41]).
Brain mapping has also identified anomalies in developmental disorders with known environmental causes. Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder observed in children whose mothers abused alcohol during pregnancy [42,43]. Not all women who abuse alcohol during pregnancy have children with FAS, but it is quickly becoming more evident from animal and both post-mortem and in vivo human studies that the brain is especially vulnerable to the teratogenic effects of alcohol. Children with FAS display prenatal growth deficiency, developmental delay, craniofacial anomalies (i.e. microcephaly, epicanthal folds and short palpebral fissures) and limb defects. Cognitive deficits in these children are significant and mental retardation is frequently observed, but a clear neuropsychological profile has yet to be discovered [44].
In vivo quantitative MRI studies have confirmed brain morphological abnormalities in children prenatally exposed to alcohol. In addition to the microcephaly frequently observed in these children, volumetric MRI studies have shown that within the cortex, only the parietal lobes were significantly reduced in volume above and beyond the generalized brain size reduction. White-matter hypoplasia (i.e. incomplete development) was more significant than gray-matter hypoplasia, and hippocampal volume was relatively intact [45]. These volumetric findings prompted use of cortical mapping techniques to assess brain abnormalities on a more local level. Localized abnormalities in brain size and gray-matter density were identified in a group of 21 children, adolescents and young adults with severe prenatal alcohol exposure compared with 21 age-matched and gender-matched non-exposed subjects [46]. The resulting brain maps confirmed parietal lobe size reductions observed in the volumetric studies, and revealed frontal lobe size reductions that had not been previously observed. In fact, frontal lobe abnormalities were predicted given these children's deficits on neuropsychological tests of executive functioning [47]. Furthermore, gray-matter density increases were observed bilaterally in the inferior parietal and posterior temporal lobes (Figure 7). These mapping studies suggest that brain growth continues to be adversely affected long after the prenatal insult of alcohol exposure to the developing brain, and the regions most prominently affected are consistent with the behavioral and neuropsychological deficits in these children.
It is interesting to note the regional correspondence of gray-matter density abnormalities observed in three of the four neurodevelopmental disorders reviewed here. As shown in Figure 7, gray-matter density increases were observed in perisylvian (language) cortices in ADHD [41], WS [36] and FAS [46]. The magnitude of increase in gray matter relative to their respective control groups varies across the disorders, with maxima of ~30% in ADHD, 10% in WS and 50% in FAS. The spatial extent of these gray-matter density increases also varies across the disorders, and is bilateral in ADHD and FAS, but more prominent in the right hemisphere in WS. These disorders are distinct in terms of their etiologies and neurocognitive deficit profiles, although various levels of language impairment are observed in all three disorders. Facial dysmorphology is present in both FAS and WS. Of particular relevance might be that ADHD diagnoses are common among children with FAS [48] and WS [49]. Perhaps the similar profile of gray-matter density abnormalities observed in these three groups are related to the common symptoms of ADHD. Functional and structural imaging studies evaluating children that have ADHD, WS with ADHD, WS without ADHD, FAS with ADHD, and FAS without ADHD might yield interesting results, although they would be difficult given the relative rarity of WS in particular. These examples are illustrative only and summarize visualizations derived from different studies (e.g. case-control studies of FAS, WS and ADHD). Further studies are required in which the magnitudes and spatial patterns of the effects in the different patient groups are directly compared. Such direct comparisons would have to take into account possible confounding factors, because the children were assessed on different scanners at different imaging centers.
In the quest to understand what factors contribute to the trajectory of brain development in normally developing children and those with neurodevelopmental disorders, genetic and imaging methods can be combined to answer questions about the influence of genes and environment on brain structure – the so-called nature–nurture debate. With this in mind, twins or family members with different degrees of genetic affinity can be compared. Of course, influences of nature and nurture in the determination of individual brain structure are not independent. Nonetheless, twin designs can reveal the degree to which heredity is involved.
Probably the best known twin database is the Finnish twin registry, which covers information on twin births in Finland from 1940 and has been a resource to many epidemiological studies recognized worldwide. These data enabled investigation of which brain regions develop under tight genetic control and which are more influenced by the environment. Before that, twins had been studied using MRI and some similarities in the volumes of brain structures had been noted in identical twins, with weaker resemblance in fraternal twins. In 2001, utilizing this database, the first study of twins using brain mapping revealed aspects of brain structure that are largely inherited [50].
Forty healthy adult subjects, consisting of ten monozygotic and ten dizygotic twin pairs (five male pairs and five female pairs in each group) were drawn from a twin cohort consisting of all the same-sex twins born in Finland between 1940 and 1957 for which both members of each pair were alive and still residing in Finland. All the subjects were scanned and 3D maps of gray matter and models of cortical surface anatomy were derived. Monozygotic pairs were then matched with the dizygotic pairs. Gray-matter volumes in the frontal parts of the brain were more closely matched in the identical twins than in twins who were less similar genetically. One interpretation of the findings is that areas of the brain involved in process and rule learning (e.g. frontal lobe structures) are under more tight genetic control, at least in terms of gross structural development, than areas of the brain that map life experience and content (the temporal and parietal lobes).
The finding that the gross anatomy of the frontal cortex develops under such strong genetic control is also of practical use for genetic studies of disease. These genetically mediated structural differences have even been linked, using genetic brain-mapping methods, with known genetic markers that are overrepresented in patients with frontal lobe deficits [51].
As we have shown, MRI used in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies gives precious data on normal and pathological brain development. Key information is now coming from the large-scale analysis of data from children scanned longitudinally using MRI. Moreover, advances in MRI techniques other than anatomical MRI are now offering additional perspectives on the functional development of the brain. Functional MRI studies are now emerging as a tool to study brain development, as are fiber-mapping studies using DTI to track connections and how they develop during maturation.
However, several limitations need to be acknowledged. Some are technical. For example, because it requires considerable statistical power to detect systematic differences in brain structure, sample size is a major issue, especially when rare disorders are considered. MRI data can be heterogeneous. Scan databases are only now becoming large enough to stratify images of brain development by symptom profiles, therapeutic response and currently identified risk factors.
MRI has some limits in resolving distinctions between gray and white matter that are relevant when assessing maturational changes. Recent algorithms for measuring cortical thickness [13] rely on definition of a boundary between gray and white matter, or at least on a proportion of tissue identified as gray matter (in the case of gray-matter density). As gray matter becomes more myelinated, the border between gray and white changes, and can be displaced toward the pia. One factor in the cortical thinning seen in adolescence is not absolute diminution of the cortical gray matter, but rather a change in the gray–white segmentation boundary because of increasing intracortical myelin with age, which might shift the gray–white junction further into the cortical mantle. Other anatomical features might also affect the accurate segmentation of gray and white matter on magnetic resonance images. The inner band of Baillarger, for instance, is so richly myelinated that in brain sections it is visible with the naked eye, close to the gray–white interface in layer 5b; this might affect the ability to define an accurate cortical boundary in conventional magnetic resonance images. Further studies with improved tissue classification algorithms, tissue relaxometry and high-field imaging (providing increased resolution and contrast-to-noise ratio) are likely to resolve some of these limitations.
Other issues concern the interpretation given to some data. The key question is: what does a change in the volume of a brain region mean, especially when one considers pathology (Figure 8)? Even if the volume and shape of brain structures are determined, to identify the underlying cellular cause of these differences one must rely on using additional sources of information, such as post-mortem tissue. Nevertheless, these MRI studies are likely to help us better understand the links between changes in the brain and cognitive development, in addition to the clinical course of development and treatment of illnesses.
This work was funded by grants from the National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, the National Center for Research Resources, and the National Institutes on Aging, Neurodegenerative Diseases and Mental Health (grant numbers PO1 EB001955, U54 RR021813, MO1 RR000865 and P41 RR13642 to A.W.T., and R21 EB01651, R21 RR019771 and P50 AG016570 to P.M.T.), and from the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Drug Abuse and the March of Dimes (K01 MH01733, R21 DA15878, R01 DA017831 and MOD 5FY03-12 to E.R.S.).
PubMed Central Canada is a service of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) working in partnership with the National Research Council's national science library in cooperation with the National Center for Biotechnology Information at the U.S. National Library of Medicine(NCBI/NLM). It includes content provided to the PubMed Central International archive by participating publishers.


text:
\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n
\r\n I checked out a Yamaha YFL-225SII on craigslist the other day. Sure enough, as advertised, it was brand new, unplayed, still sealed in plastic. The price was shamefully low.\r\n
\r\nI want to share some observations:
\r\nMade in Japan. Build quality is excellent. Plays extremely well out of the box. Seals up completely and is well-regulated.
\r\nThe headjoint is different than those on older 225\'s I have played. The older ones were quite rectuangular - this one is more oval and looks and plays like the ones that come with newer 221\'s. Quite a good headjoint, IMO.
\r\nThe keywork is quiet and feels nice under the fingers. With one exception. The G keys make a metalic "clink" when released. It seems the kicker has some hard material instead of felt like the other kickers. Cork or synthetic cork, maybe. And I wonder if it has hardened while sitting in storage? I will have to replace this with felt and then the whole flute will be nice and quiet.
\r\nYou can get a lot of bang-for-your-buck with these student Yamahas! Does it play as well as my Yamaha 674? No. Is the tone as nice? Nope. But a great little flute nonetheless.
\r\nI put this flute into a Calzone flight case I picked up from a fellow SOTW member and it will be my "trunk flute."\r\n


text:
Little League Intoduces the Home Free Collection of Jewelry
Little League Intoduces the Home Free Collection of Jewelry
Home Free Baseball and Little League Baseball and Softball have reached an agreement to create a collection of Little League themed jewelry.
The Home Free Collection features a unique set of handcrafted pieces, designed and produced using the trademarked Little League® logos. Each piece reflects the custom look of Home Free's talented team of professional designers. This collection is the perfect gift for Little League® Moms and Dads, grandparents, friends, players and coaches.
The Home Free website features the ability to personalize collectable jewelry with free engraving, and free gift packaging, including a free brushed jewelry pouch and certificate of authenticity.
"Little League International is pleased to bring fine jewelry to our wide array of Little League parents, fans, and enthusiasts," Eric Hill, Director of Licensing for Little League International, said. "Home Free's craftsmanship delivers a treasured and timeless impression for those who are not only involved in Little League, but also who wear and collect jewelry."
Available items in the collection include bracelets, charms, chains, earrings, pendants, satin cords, and gift certificates.
"We are introducing a new way of showcasing and celebrating your pride for the game," David Cohen, Director of Home Free, said. "Creating and preserving memories of the Little League® experience is what we're all about."
To find and shop the Little League Collection, visit: http://www.homefreebaseball.com.


text:
The Book Thief Movie Review | Video
Watch, Pass, or Rent Video Movie Review: The Book Thief
You may have loved The Book Thief in written form, but does the bestselling book translate to the big screen? Sophie Nélisse stars as a young girl adopted by a German couple (Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson) during World War II. The film will definitely tug on your heartstrings, but is it worth your tears and your time?


text:
At Gemvara, we believe that the jewelry you wear should be one of a kind, like you. That's why we make each piece to order, one at a time, just the way you want it. Choose ruby and sterling silver or garnet and palladium: it's your choice. Mix and match gems and precious metals for a look that's exactly you. It's jewelry for all life's occasions, from an anniversary or Valentine's Day to your own personal milestones and celebrations. Gemvara uses only the highest quality materials to craft your december birthstone blue topaz heart jewelry design with meticulous attention to detail. Our precious metals are recycled or responsibly mined. December's birthstones are blue topaz and tanzanite, both with a heavenly blue color: December babies get a choice of bright sky blue or deep twilight blue. Our wide selection of december birthstone blue topaz heart jewelry by Randy Dixon, David West, Gemvara Essentials, and other talented designers means you can find jewelry that's exactly your style. You can also shop by style, choosing our Celtic, Streamlined, or Curated by Gemvara Collections. Add a touch of romance to everything you wear with Gemvara's beautiful heart jewelry designs. Gemvara's fine quality december birthstone blue topaz heart jewelry is designed to be passed down for generations to come, crafted by hand in the United States.
We can help right away. Chat with a jewelry expert now!


text:
"Isn't it wonderful that you consider getting your 15-year-old off to school with less fighting than usual a good day? Isn't it great that your threshold is so low?" This is what my friend said to me this morning after our morning check-in phone call.
I guess I should give a little background. I have a 15-year-old with an anxiety disorder and Type I (insulin dependent) diabetes. Last year, when he started 9th grade, he started having anxiety attacks and his blood sugar numbers were very high. His doctors attributed it to anxiety and the stress of starting high school. We decided that to lessen his anxiety, he could stay home if he had a high blood sugar number or even go in later, when his number came down. This actually caused more anxiety, because he worried every night whether he'd be high or low in the morning and then worry that if he was low he'd have to go to school or if he was high he'd stay home and miss work. So, again, we decided together on a plan of action and put him on the home and hospital program, where he could do school from home and conference call in to classes and use the computer to connect with teachers. That backfired as well, as he became more withdrawn and depressed and stopped taking care of the diabetes altogether. We needed a new plan.
We decided to get him back to school just prior to Spring break. He went backwards through the day — last period for a few days, and then the last two periods, etc. He made it through his days, but refused to do any work outside of school. When summer came, he would not leave the house. He was a mess! I found a program out of state that deals with children with mental health issues and chronic illness. After quite a battle with the insurance company, he was admitted and was there for 6 weeks over the summer. The diabetes came back under control, but not the anxiety.
This child has had anxiety his whole life, but we had always figured out ways to accommodate his fears and he has had wonderful, caring teachers every year. For those of you who have read my blogs, this is the child who had Zombie Phobia when he was 11. It seems that when he was diagnosed with diabetes a year and a half ago, the anxiety just took over. It paralyzes him and rules his life.
After he was released from the hospital, we were 1 week into the school year. I could not get him to go to school. He had "School Phobia," I was told. He would hyperventilate, shake, and vomit. The school agreed to work him in slowly again, this time from first period, adding a period every few days. Many days he got there late because he refused to leave the house. I made it clear he was not staying home; that was NOT an option. The mornings have been horrible, as you can imagine. It has been very difficult, because this was very real to him and it was obviously causing him great pain and discomfort. The only way to deal with a fear is to face it and I had to push him daily to do this. Most days he spent a great deal of the day texting me (totally against school rules). He said that was the only thing getting him through the day. I'd get texts that said, "I am going to puke." "I can't breathe." "This is going so SLOW." "I don't know what bus number to get on." "I'm genuinely sorry for the hard time this morning. Please forgive me."
His first full day was in mid-October. I praised him out the whazoo and all he said when I said, "YAY! YOU made it through the day!" was, "Barely. I almost threw up." So negative! He still refuses to do any work at home on his own. The county has provided a tutor to help him make up work from the days he was not there. He will only do work on the days she comes. Baby steps…
This morning he tells me that he has PSATs and does not know where to go. He has a resource class first period and usually it is just him and one teacher, who just so happens to also be the basketball coach. I say, "Ask Mr. D." He replies, "He won't know, he is only the basketball coach!" "I am sure he could call someone," I tell him. "No, who would he call?" is his response. I suggest stopping into the guidance office or the nurse's office (his biggest advocate!). His response? "I WON'T HAVE TIME!" Sigh. Then he says, "If I end up in a room full of kids I don't know, I will refuse to take it!" I just say, "Okay." I know when I need to stop. He is NOT looking for a solution. As it turns out, there was a table set up as soon as he walked in the door with staff directing students to their PSAT session.
Today he was rather grumpy, but on a 1-10 scale, I'd say he was a 5. So you can see why I considered today a GOOD day!
About Emmie
I am a mom of two boys, ages 16 and 22, both with ADHD, bipolar disorder, anxiety and depression. I have remarried and my husband has 2 boys, ages 13 and 16. The 13 year old lives with us, and has some behavioral problems and attachment issues. There is always something happening at our house!


text: I have another thread on hear started about my build, but I was curious about what some of you have done to your handles on your smokers. I realize some of you have not fixed up the outside of your smokers, and left them as is, but I am going to fix mine up. I have tried 0000 steel wool, tin foil, and chrome polish on my handles and other chrome pieces. It helps, and it re-chroming is too expensive or not an option, this may work. It at least make the chrome shiny, it just has "spots". So besides re-chroming and polishing as is, what other methods have you used to fix up the handles/chrome?


text:
Follow EurasiaNet on
The failure of a ceasefire to take hold in eastern Ukraine is stoking concerns about a potential revival of trouble elsewhere.
Stephen Kotkin, a Princeton historian and author of a new biography of Joseph Stalin, sees similarities in the former Soviet dictator's leadership style and that of Russia's incumbent strongman, Vladimir Putin.
Speaking at the Open Society Foundations in New York on January 15, Kotkin acknowledged some of the parallels between Stalin and Putin that have been pointed out by reviewers of his recently released book. "We are not talking about a figure on the scale of Stalin," Kotkin stressed, referring to Putin. But "there's an uncanny resonance in some of the history." [Editor's note: EurasiaNet.org operates under the auspices of OSF].
Stalin's image has enjoyed a revival in recent years in Russia. During the January 15 discussion, Kotkin listed four factors that made Stalin's ruthless dictatorship possible: geopolitics, institutions, ideas, and personality. He then noted modern-day parallels in two of those areas – institutional structure and ideology.
"You have a country [Russia] that has a special role in history. At the very least, it needs to play a leading role in the world … and that makes it very difficult for them to integrate with other countries," Kotkin said. "The second piece that's uncanny is they [Russians] are constantly struggling for a strong state, and they end up building a personalized regime."
According to Kotkin, two ideological tenets provide a foundation for Russian exceptionalism today -- anti-Americanism and social conservativism. "Conservative nationalism is a full package of ideas," one that is eagerly reinforced through textbooks and media, Kotkin said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to use religion to advance an expansionist agenda. But an increasing number of believers in Ukraine appear to be rejecting the notion that Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church are the defenders of the true faith.
When Russia enacted a ban barring Americans from adopting children from its orphanages in 2012, analysts pointed out that the country's disabled children in state institutions would suffer the most.
A report distributed by Human Rights Watch, titled "Abandoned by the State: Violence, Neglect, and Isolation for Children with Disabilities in Russian Orphanages," documents how the worst-case scenario for disabled children is coming to pass. About one-third of all kids with disabilities in Russia are living in so-called closed institutions, where they endure neglect and harsh conditions, according to the report.
Speaking at an event at the Open Society Foundations (OSF) –New York on January 7, the report's principal researcher, Andrea Mazzarino, stressed that while changes are happening concerning disability rights, federal-level goals are being enacted slowly and unevenly throughout Russia. As a result, many disabled children in orphanages continue to waste away with limited or virtually no contact with the outside world. [Editor's note: EurasiaNet.org operates under the auspices of OSF].
The report comes with five pages of recommendations: Mazzarino emphasized that Russia should strive to abolish all forms of institutionalization for children. "Our position is just that institutions should be closed," she stated.
Last spring, as Ukraine mobilized to resist Russian aggression in Crimea and Donbas, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of funds began to pour into the accounts of grass-roots organizations that sprang up to support the beleaguered army.
Almost a century ago, amid the civil warfare that erupted following the collapse of the tsarist empire, a Ukrainian army led by Nestor Makhno marched under the banner, "anarchy is the mother of order." These days, as a conflict simmers in eastern Ukraine, some Ukrainian entrepreneurs are embracing a far different motto: military necessity is the mother of market invention.
Ukrainians head to the polls on October 26 to vote for a new parliament. How the voting goes in the strife-torn east could go a long way toward determining whether the elections infuse enough political will into the system that Ukraine can start fulfilling the promise of the Maidan movement.
As news trickled out of Taijkistan on July 22 that the government was releasing, albeit with some restrictions, international scholar Alexander Sodiqov after five weeks in jail, a group of scholars and activists gathered at New York University to discuss the long-term effects of his detention. The case, panelists cautioned, could signal on-going trouble for academic freedom for scholars focusing on Tajikistan.
Sodiqov, a political science doctoral student at the University of Toronto and a Tajik national, first traveled to his home country in June as part of a University of Exeter (UK) research project on conflict management strategies. He was detained in Khorog on June 16, before being brought to the intelligence agency headquarters in Dushanbe, where he remained until July 22, accused of espionage.
"Tajikistan was never a no-go area for academic research," commented John Heathershaw, a lecturer at the University of Exeter who was working with Sodiqov at the time of his arrest. "Alex's detention is unprecedented… and it sent a message that research is under threat in Tajikistan."
Sodiqov and others have vehemently denied any connection to espionage, which Heathershaw called "simply untrue." Disseminating his story and his denials, however, has proved a challenge in Tajikistan, where pro-government media dominate.
"The region thrives on conspiracy theories. Having knowledge – having data – is extremely threatening to these governments," Alexander Cooley, a political science professor focusing on Central Asia at New York's Barnard College, affirmed. "Alexander's detention has had an effect: it's going to deter research. It's making this muddled environment even worse."
A leading Russian economist says that corruption and a "bad political equilibrium" are primarily to blame for Russia's current economic stagnation.
We would like to hear your opinion about the new site. Tell us what you like, and what you don't like in an email and send it to: email@example.com


text:
TORONTO -- Shortly after he arrived at Toronto FC in 2013, Tim Bezbatchenko was part of two pivotal decisions. At the time, the new general manager was 31 years old and had no experience working in, never mind running, a big-league franchise.
The first decision would end in disaster - signing English star Jermain Defoe.
The second would signal the beginning of the organization's threepoint turn out of perpetual failure - signing Team USA captain Michael Bradley.
The two moves were announced the same day, but there was a short period during which the former was certain and the latter still only likely.
Bezbatchenko was new and didn't really know anybody at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. He'd had a rough public ride on the way in, not because anyone disliked him in any particular way, but because he was so callow, the team was so terrible and this all had a déjà vu feeling. Someone connected to the team - he won't say whom - decided to offer him some advice.
They got him alone and began explaining what was what in Toronto. "They said, 'This is where we're expected to be with Defoe' ..." - Bezbatchenko holds his hand at chin level - "... 'and if we get Michael Bradley we're expected to be up here' ..." - hand held up over his head - "... 'and we don't need that.' " Generally speaking, there are two types of sports executives - listeners and talkers. Bezbatchenko is an unusual amalgam of both. He talks a lot and at a frenetic pace, but long after will recall small details of things you said to him.
(When I met Bezbatchenko this week, he handed me a large, signed paintbrush. I laughed stupidly, because I had no idea what it meant.
Turns out I'd written something about the team a year before that made light of the idea of "painting the town red." Somewhere between amused and bemused, Bezbatchenko remembered.)
So when he was warned not to reach too high or try too hard for fear that it would end in embarrassment (again), the listener in Bezbatchenko gave it some thought.
He went home and talked to his wife. He decided that if he was going down as every manager, GM and president in Toronto FC's cursed history had before him, he was going to be the first to go down with his foot on the gas.
Bezbatchenko wasn't the only person responsible for recruiting Defoe and Bradley, but he would be the one who got the blame if it went wrong.
He did it anyway.
That hundred-million-dollar commitment remains the largest gamble in Major League Soccer history. It was a simultaneous lose/win that helped transform the club from the worst franchise in North American sport to, this season, the best regular-season team in the league's history.
A lot of people enjoy the credit - Bradley, former MLSE CCB (chief carnival barker) Tim Leiweke, a board that okayed an expenditure the corporation will probably never recoup, Sebastian Giovinco, Greg Vanney, all the other players and staff.
However, the one person who has been in the middle of it all is Bezbatchenko.
You can't be immortal without titles and Toronto FC is still five games from that finish line.
But though he is less feted and far less talked about than his peers in the city's hockey, basketball and baseball organizations, Bezbatchenko has quietly laid out a vision that puts him in position to become the most transformative team executive in Toronto's modern history.
When Toronto FC's coaches talk about players, they consider them in terms of "the gap" - the difference between how good a man thinks he is and how good he actually is. Everyone in pro sports has a gap. No one at this club has closed a bigger one than Bezbatchenko.
They handed him the Washington Generals, and in less than four years he turned them into the Harlem Globetrotters.
'I was ready to be scarred'
Like many charmed professional lives, Bezbatchenko's has been the result of a series of heedless leaps.
He played soccer at the national level as a young man, but abandoned that to go to law school.
He gave up a partner-track job at a large firm to be a jumped-up bookkeeper with MLS. As he left, another helpful sort said, "Are you sure this league is going to be around in five years?" When he exited MLS HQ to take the job at Toronto FC, someone at the league walked into his office, closed the door and said, "Are you crazy?" Leiweke recruited him in the most Leiweke way possible - called him out of the blue on a Labour Day weekend and though Bezbatchenko had no experience, offered him the job straight-up. They cautioned him about that, too.
"They told me it would be a whirlwind. [Leiweke] is a visionary. In some ways, he'll scar you, but those scars will make you better," Bezbatchenko says. He mulled that over and decided, "I was ready to be scarred."
Even by low local standards, the first bit was tough sledding.
Shortly after he arrived to so much hype, Defoe decided that he preferred being injured to being here. The only thing he ever seemed to like about Toronto was the paycheque.
Pedigree is everything in sports and Bezbatchenko had none to speak of. The coach at the time, former Premier League pro Ryan Nelsen, tried to plow him over and their relationship quickly soured.
Much of Bezbatchenko's first while was spent doing triage, removing two human-shaped foreign objects from a patient that had already been terminal for nearly a decade.
Asked what the key moment was, Bezbatchenko's hands start waving about as if he's helping land a plane from the ground. He does that usual executive thing - lots of moments, lots of factors, all intersecting, who can really say?
As with most men his age (36) in his position, he is a wonk in his heart. Show him a solution and he'll want to see the calculations before he agrees with it. Every question eventually winds back to "the culture."
"I know you're not a big culture person," Bezbatchenko says like he's sad for me, and waves his hands some more.
But pressed, he'll concede that that was it - the office, the warning and the decision to do it anyway.
"When we got Defoe and Michael, we had to do that to save ... well, I wouldn't say 'save'. That's a strong word. You come up with a better word."
No, "save" is good.
From the storytelling end of things, there's nothing better than covering a habitual loser. Rip jobs are fun to write and fun to read. No team in the history of athletics - reaching back to the Stone Age - has ever been more fun to cover than Toronto FC circa 2008-13.
You'd just show up every once in a while and watch someone - there was always a volunteer - have a complete breakdown in public.
When John Carver, a particularly ill-fated leader, came into a news conference waving a sheaf of papers and screaming, "I know what you're saying about me!" at a room full of us like Nixon on a bender, it was hard not to point skyward and thank St. Francis de Sales for small journalistic miracles.
Single-handed (one might even say undermanned, given Defoe's conscientious objection to working), Bradley changed that.
Toronto FC wasn't yet any good, but you couldn't laugh at it any more. It was more than Bradley's evident quality on the field. If you veered too far into comedy or scorn, he'd get you in a corner, hit you with his laser beams and threequarters politely/one-quarter dangerously explain his displeasure. He cancelled the TFC Gong Show.
Giovinco is the best performer in the history of the team, the league and, one might now argue, the continent, but Bradley is the one-man mission statement. You want to know what to do? Look at that guy.
As an example of Bradley's attention to detail, there are his travel arrangements.
Most pros only want to be told when to be on a bus. They have to be nagged about remembering their passports. If the bus isn't there, that isn't their problem.
Bradley wants to be apprised of everything in advance - when he's going, who's meeting him on the other end, what the schedule is for the next few days.
If he is returning to Toronto after international duty and will likely miss practice in the morning, he'll ask the team to charter him an earlier flight.
If he gets in in the middle of the night, he expects team medics and physiotherapists to be waiting for him at the club's hell-and-gone training facility so that he can prepare alone for the next day.
Bradley does not take time off and he does not clock-watch, so no one else at Toronto FC does either.
The roster is certainly more talented now than it was five years ago, but it always had talent. It's the ethos that's changed.
(Another telling detail: Toronto FC usually flies commercial. The middle-class salarymen sit in coach.
The multimillion-dollar designated players are offered first-class tickets.
Defoe took advantage of the perk.
Bradley sat back in steerage with the rest of the team. Every DP since has followed Bradley's example.)
Bezbatchenko is defined by Bradley's success, but Defoe has one salutary place in the legend. The then-new GM watched Leiweke do that unlikely recruitment, and applied the same psychological tactics: What does this person really want? Because it's not just about the money. What does he need to hear? Because it's not a prose poem about a world-class city - in persuading Giovinco to abandon Italy in his prime.
The rest of it - finding the right coach, managing the league's Byzantine salary structure, slotting together the correct combo of complementary players - played to Bezbatchenko's data-driven strengths.
But his key attribute may be fatalism. He didn't expect to get this job, he didn't expect to keep it ("... I figured I might get fired in 10 or 11 months and that that wouldn't be the end of the world ...") and didn't worry why it happened or what it meant. He just did it.
Reputationally, he's been squeezed between Leiweke's enormous personality and the eventual rise of the team. Since Bezbatchenko wasn't greeted like an Ujiri/Shanahan/Babcock-esque sports messiah on the way in the door, too few plaudits have fallen his way now that he's part of the furniture.
I mean, isn't it easy to buy a team?
That's what he did. That's what people say.
Well, no easier than winning a draft lottery at exactly the right time.
It also elides the fact that Toronto FC had been a buyer before Bezbatchenko got here. He was just the first person to spend the money wisely.
In conversation, he was different four years ago - shyer, prone to speaking jargonese, far more concerned about saying the wrong thing. Time and success have smoothed those edges.
Bezbatchenko even dresses differently - like all MLSE's top executives, he looks as though he's been put through a haberdashery boot camp in Milan.
One thing that remains as it was is the evident delight at where he's ended up, an impossible-not-towarm-to 'aw, shucks'-ness about the whole thing.
He says he gets the occasional call from "really big" clubs in Europe - "less direct interest, more 'Tell me how you do it' " - but has no interest in leaving. He's too folded into the city now - bought a house in the west end, found a good school, created a life here.
He is living the dream, and we're not just talking about sports. He gets to do what he wants in a makebelieve world and no one secondguesses him any more.
Asked if he's got any good advice lately, Bezbatchenko has to give it a lot of thought.
"I'm sure they have," he says. "But I can't think of any right now."
Associated Graphic
Tim Bezbatchenko applauds before an Oct. 15 match between TFC and the Montreal Impact in Toronto. The GM decided if he was going to go down, he would do it with his foot on the gas.
TFC general manager Tim Bezbatchenko is living the dream. No one second-guesses him any more now that he's led the worst team in history to powerhouse status.


text:
My camera's battery died and I didn't realize it, annoyingly, which is why these've taken so long to put up. But I have pictures of CraftADDChick's treasure chain kit!
There's several pages of instructions, with pictures for each step -- which is perfect for me, because otherwise I'd be afraid of messing up and wasting the shiny supplies. But this way I can see what I'm supposed to do as well as read about it!
Only one picture of the kit proper, because the closeups I tried to take of the beads didn't come out well. (Stupid camera auto-flash.) You get a decent idea of how pretty the seed beads are here, though. The accent beads look like they'll go great with them, and I love the green-and-gold combination. I'm very grateful for having a case to keep all these in, too. (If the instructions look wrinkled, it's because I'm actually squishing them into the case for now too. Yay for storage!)
Thank you so much, CraftADDChick!


text:
A Ford spokesman said the company had been examining the proposition "for some time (and) ... we've found nothing at this point to cool our interest."
Ford has not ruled out teaming up with a partner in the project.
In Seoul this week Daewoo Motor has said it planned to send letters inviting potential bidders to submit proposals.
Others believed to be interested, according to South Korean media, include DaimlerChrysler, Fiat, and Hyundai. DaimlerChrysler denied earlier this week that it was actively pursuing Daewoo Motor.
Ford officials do not expect the bidding process to begin until after the country's national legislative elections in April, and while Ford says it would want a controlling interest on the board of Daewoo Motors it would respect the company's national identity and maintain it as a Korean company.
GM has been involved in protracted negotiations with Daewoo Motor since last year.
DaimlerChrysler eyes Peugeot
Rumours continue to abound in Europe that DaimlerChrysler AG is preparing to be involved in a merger with France's PSA Peugeot Citroen.
The rumours stem from the stock exchange end of the business, and Peugeot shares have climbed steeply on the Paris exchange, briefly gaining more than 10 percent before settling down to a gain of 7.85 percent.
Both companies have declined to comment on the rumour which originated in the London market which had DaimlerChrysler making an offer for Peugeot shares.
However, a DaimlerChrysler spokeswoman said it was speculation.
What is known is that the two companies have been in talks since late last year over the possibility that the Peugeot group might provide DaimlerChrysler with a platform and driveline components for a larger version of its Smart two-seater.
But DaimlerChrysler said earlier this year that the discussions had been put on hold.


text:
The Next President of the United States will be Rick PerryThu Aug 11, 2011
At a glance: The US credit downgradeSun Aug 7, 2011
Open Letter to the PresidentThu Jul 14, 2011
Anthony trial a showcase for HLN's Nancy GraceSat Jul 9, 2011
- I too agree with Brill, and not only has she gotten in trouble in journalism for her outspokenness, but also as a lawyer (see Wikipedia.) She loves sensationalism. I had to stop watching her when most of what she reported on went unsolved, yet, she had an immediate opinion as to guilt. I don't care …
Will 'Song of the South' rise again?Sat Jul 9, 2011
- I don't feel the movie "Song of the South" is racist because I am not racist. I think it is a charming movie about folks living on a plantation in the south. It was written around the same time as "Jungle Book" and I have that one as well as about 20 other Disney films. Hey, it really did happen, it …
North Carolina religious leader kills woman and 4-year-old 'gay' boy » Breaking News | Wire Update News | News Wires -Sat Jul 9, 2011
Black Man Arrested, Fired From Job For Trying To Cash Large CheckFri Jul 8, 2011
Bachmann: 'I Hope' Higher Unemployment Will Help My CampaignFri Jul 8, 2011
Memoir details Jaycee Dugard's long kidnap ordealThu Jul 7, 2011
Restaurant Tells Jurors They Are Not WelcomeThu Jul 7, 2011


text:
Orientation meeting for HIED Fall, 2013 Doctoral Qualifying Exams
The Orientation meeting for the HIED Fall, 2013 Doctoral Qualifying Examinations will be held on Friday, June 28th from 3-5pm in Dickinson Hall, Room 408.
Doctoral students must successfully complete all *required* courses before sitting for Qualifying Exams, however, students can sit for the exams before all *elective* courses are completed. In addition, all elective courses must be completed before or during the last semester of coursework when students enroll in HIED 8399: Dissertation Seminar.
If you're planning to sit for Qualifying Exams in the Fall (scheduled for Saturday, September 14 from 1-5pm, Friday, September 20 from 1-5pm, and Saturday, September 21 during 9am-12noon and 1-4pm, location TBA), or if you'd like to gain insights into the process for a future exam administration, I strongly recommend that you attend this meeting. It will address the scope, nature, and direction of the Written and Oral Qualifying Exams, and general expectations for student performance.
In order to sit for Quals in the Fall, you will need to submit both the 'Application for Qualifying Examination' form and ''Appointment of Supervisory or Examining Committee' form for review and approval. I have attached these forms in PDF format for your reference. The 'Application for Doctoral Qualifying Examination' form should be printed and completed, while the 'Appointment of Supervisory or Examining Committee' form contains interactive text boxes that should be completed prior to printing. The spaces on the 'Appointment' form to list the dissertation chair and committee members are interactive text boxes for names to be typed in, rather than for hard copy signatures to be obtained. Completed forms are due by 5pm, Friday, June 28th. If you plan to attend the organizational meeting, it is most convenient for you to submit the forms at the meeting. After the meeting, information letters will be mailed to all students who have been approved to sit for Quals in September.
Doctoral students can sit for Qualifying Exams and enroll in HIED 8399: Dissertation Seminar simultaneously, or complete them consecutively with Qualifying Exams taken before HIED 8399. If you intend to enroll in HIED 8399: Dissertation Seminar in the Fall, please note that your chair's approval of a dissertation prospectus is a condition of obtaining permission to enroll in the course. You should submit a first draft prospectus to your chair as soon as possible, and no later than Friday, June 14th. I've appended the text of the Dissertation Proposal Prospectus handout that should be used as a guide for writing, and I strongly recommend talking with your chair now to shape the development of the prospectus.
If you have questions about the Quals process, please attend the organizational meeting. If you would like to receive a copy of the 2013-2014 Student Guide to Qualifying Exams when it is finished, please e-mail me individually at <firstname.lastname@example.com>.