The Milky Way Bulge: Observed properties and a comparison to external galaxies

The Milky Way bulge offers a unique opportunity to investigate in detail the role that different processes such as dynamical instabilities, hierarchical merging, and dissipational collapse may have played in the history of the Galaxy formation and evolution based on its resolved stellar population properties. Large observation programmes and surveys of the bulge are providing for the first time a look into the global view of the Milky Way bulge that can be compared with the bulges of other galaxies, and be used as a template for detailed comparison with models. The Milky Way has been shown to have a box/peanut (B/P) bulge and recent evidence seems to suggest the presence of an additional spheroidal component. In this review we summarise the global chemical abundances, kinematics and structural properties that allow us to disentangle these multiple components and provide constraints to understand their origin. The investigation of both detailed and global properties of the bulge now provide us with the opportunity to characterise the bulge as observed in models, and to place the mixed component bulge scenario in the general context of external galaxies. When writing this review, we considered the perspectives of researchers working with the Milky Way and researchers working with external galaxies. It is an attempt to approach both communities for a fruitful exchange of ideas.Comment: Review article to appear in "Galactic Bulges", Editors: Laurikainen E., Peletier R., Gadotti D., Springer Publishing. 36 pages, 10 figure

Consequences of comorbidity of developmental coordination disorders and learning disabilities for severity and pattern of perceptual-motor dysfunction

Item does not contain fulltextChildren with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) have difficulty learning and performing age-appropriate perceptual–motor skills in the absence of diagnosable neurological disorders. Descriptive studies have shown that comorbidity of DCD exists with attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and learning disabilities (LD). This study examined the consequences of the comorbidity of DCD and LD for the severity and pattern of perceptual–motor dysfunction. Compared to children with DCD without LD, children with comorbid DCD and LD performed lower on a standardized assessment of perceptual–motor ability. Furthermore, it appeared that children with combined DCD and LD have particular difficulty performing manual dexterity and balance tasks but not ball-skill tasks. Implications for understanding the relationship between LD and perceptual–motor problems are discussed. We conclude that the comorbidity of DCD and LD not only affects the severity of perceptual–motor dysfunction but also is associated with a distinctive pattern of perceptual–motor dysfunction