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# Contributing to the UMLDoclet
First of all, thank you very much for making an effort to contribute! :clap:
## Did you find a bug?
Bugs are tracked by [GitHub issues](https://guides.github.com/features/issues/) for this repository at:
https://github.com/talsma-ict/umldoclet/issues
## Pull requests
If you have code or a bugfix you would like to contribute,
please feel free to create a [GitHub pull request](https://help.github.com/articles/creating-a-pull-request-from-a-fork/)
from [your own fork](https://help.github.com/articles/about-forks/) of this repository.
Please make sure to request the merge towards the `develop` branch.
## Signing off
Each contribution should be signed off under
the [Developer Certificate of Origin](https://developercertificate.org) (DCO)
using the `--signoff` [git option](https://git-scm.com/docs/git-commit#Documentation/git-commit.txt---signoff)
(or its `-s` shorthand).
Contributions will be checked by the [github DCO bot](https://probot.github.io/apps/dco/).
## License
By contributing your code, you license it under the terms of the APLv2:
https://github.com/talsma-ict/umldoclet/blob/master/LICENSE
All files are released with the Apache 2.0 license.
If you are adding a new file it should have a header like below.
This can be automatically added by running `./mvnw license:format`
```
/*
* Copyright 2016-2019 Talsma ICT
*
* Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
* you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
* You may obtain a copy of the License at
*
* http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
*
* Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
* distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
* WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
* See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
* limitations under the License.
*/
```
|
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my best friend lectures me on salt (skinny lil thang). I read that sea salt is very good - comes in a grinder for easy use. don't buy anything more that 500 mg. salt. usually can buy a low sodium version for soup. brainy
my best friend lectures me on salt (skinny lil thang). I read that sea salt is very good - comes in a grinder for easy use. don't buy anything more that 500 mg. salt. usually can buy a low sodium version for soup. brainy
I have a grinder bottle of sea salt. Though I mostly use it for flavoring soups scrambled eggs 😀 and a few other select things.
Since chemo treatments 4 years ago my salt stays at low normal or just below from 135 down to 130. I have no idea if the chemo had anything to do with it but that is when the doctors starting testing for it and have tested ever since.
I do drink quite a lot of liquid during the day and I guess that could be some of it.
Doc says to 'salt it up'.
My mom's salt tumbled to 115/119 about 10 years ago and we had to admit her to the hospital. Scared me to death. She's now on 1 Lasix 2 times a day and along with each of those she takes 2 Thermatabs (salt pills). Craziest thing I had ever heard at the time but the doctor said it's the only way to control her salt....something about the Lasix clears all the fluid out and then the salt pills replenish the salt.
Has anyone here ever tried to find salt pills ? I can only find one drug store that carries them and they have to order them just for my mom. lol....cause most people need to lower their salt.
The material on this site is for informational purposes only, and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatmentprovided by a qualified health care provider. Always consult your doctor before trying anything you read here.
|
This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Understanding nanoscale processes is key to improving the performance of advanced technologies, such as batteries, catalysts, and fuel cells. However, many processes occur inside devices at short length and time scales in reactive environments and represent a significant imaging challenge. One way to study such structures is by using coherent diffraction imaging (CDI). CDI is a lensless technique for reconstructing a 3D image of an object based on a diffraction pattern. In CDI, a coherent beam of x-rays or electrons is incident on an object, the beam scattered by the object produces a diffraction pattern that is measured by an area detector, and an image is reconstructed from the diffraction pattern. When the diffraction pattern is measured by the area detector, the data is based on a number of counts of photons or electrons. This gives rise to the “phase problem” or loss of phase information when a diffraction pattern is collected. In order to recover the phase information, Fourier-based iterative phase retrieval algorithms are utilized.
Another example of CDI is Bragg coherent diffractive imaging (BCDI). In BCDI, the object is rotated around a tilt axis and a sequence of 2D diffraction patterns are measured at different sample orientations. BCDI is a powerful technique for investigating dynamic nanoscale processes in nanoparticles immersed in reactive, realistic environments. With current BCDI methods, 3D image reconstructions of nanoscale crystals have been used to identify and track dislocations image cathode lattice strain during battery operation, indicate the presence of surface adsorbates, and reveal twin domains. The temporal resolution of current BCDI experiments, however, is limited by the oversampling requirements for current phase retrieval algorithms.
Conventional phase retrieval algorithms present a problem in improving the time resolution of an imaging technique (e.g., CDI, BCDI, etc.). The imaging technique requires a computer algorithm to convert the experimental data into a real space image of the object (e.g., nanocrystals) in reactive environments. Oversampling refers to the number of measurements that are required to faithfully reproduce the image. The autocorrelation of the image must be sampled at the Nyquist frequency, which is twice the highest frequency in the system. Because each measurement takes time, the oversampling requirement results in a lengthy process that may include prolonged radiation dose. Moreover, if the oversampling requirement is too high, it may not be possible to image a dynamic process such as crystal growth, catalysis or strain in battery cathode nanoparticles that occur too rapidly (i.e., faster than the amount of time it takes to satisfy the oversampling requirements).
A need exists for improved technology, including a method for phase retrieval that allows for the time resolution to be improved, for example, by reducing the oversampling requirement at each time step.
|
Abbotsford Heat
The Abbotsford Heat were a professional ice hockey team that played five seasons in the American Hockey League (AHL) between 2009 and 2014. The team was based in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, and played its home games at the 7,046-seat Abbotsford Entertainment & Sports Centre. The franchise was the National Hockey League (NHL) affiliate of the Calgary Flames and arrived in Abbotsford in 2009 as a relocated franchise formerly known as the Quad City Flames. The team played five seasons in British Columbia before the Flames' lease agreement with the City of Abbotsford was terminated following the 2013–14 season.
On May 5, 2014, the AHL's Board of Governors approved the relocation of the franchise to Glens Falls, New York where the Adirondack Flames replaced the Adirondack Phantoms who had moved to Allentown, Pennsylvania.
History
The Flames moved their affiliate to the Fraser Valley after playing two seasons in Moline, Illinois as the Quad City Flames. The team's transfer was approved on April 28, 2009, and as a result, Abbotsford became the westernmost city in the AHL. The team closest to the Heat in distance, the Oklahoma City Barons, was away, and the Heat was the only AHL team west of the Central Time Zone. To reduce travel costs, road teams sometimes played two consecutive games in Abbotsford, and in some cases, the Heat played consecutive road games at the same arena. The same scheduling was used for the St. John's IceCaps.
The organization held a "name the team" contest, and on May 14, 2009, Heat was announced as the team's new name.
On June 5, 2009, the Calgary Herald reported that Jim Playfair would debut as head coach of the Abbotsford Heat after spending two seasons with the Calgary Flames.
Relocation to Glens Falls
The team struggled financially and saw low attendance; talks eventually broke down between the city of Abbotsford, the Vancouver Canucks, and the Calgary Flames on a possible affiliation swap.
Upon the Vancouver Canucks' purchase of the Peoria Rivermen, the Heat's owners were petitioned from interested groups in Utica, New York. On June 14, 2013, the Vancouver Canucks and Mohawk Valley Garden, the managing partner based in Utica, signed a six-year affiliation agreement, and the Utica Comets became the new AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks.
The city of Abbotsford terminated the contract with the Heat on April 15, 2014. The Heat finished the season and Calder Cup playoffs in Abbotsford, and on May 5, 2014, the AHL's Board of Governors announced at its spring meeting in Chicago that it approved the relocation of the team to Glens Falls for the 2014–15 season, with games to be played at the Glens Falls Civic Center as the Adirondack Flames.
Team information
Mascot
The Heat's mascot was Hawkey, an anthropomorphic red-tailed hawk, a species native to the Fraser Valley. Hawkey could be seen at home games wearing jersey No. 00.
Season-by-season results
Team captains
Garth Murray, 2009–10
Carter Bancks and Ben Walter 2009-10
Quintin Laing, 2010–13
Dean Arsene, 2013–14
References
Category:Calgary Flames minor league affiliates
Category:Sport in Abbotsford, British Columbia
Category:Ice hockey clubs established in 2009
Category:Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2014
Category:Defunct ice hockey teams in Canada
Category:2009 establishments in British Columbia
Category:2014 disestablishments in British Columbia
|
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<!--
Copyright © 2002 Instituto Superior Técnico
This file is part of FenixEdu Academic.
FenixEdu Academic is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.
FenixEdu Academic is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
along with FenixEdu Academic. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
-->
<!DOCTYPE struts-config PUBLIC
"-//Apache Software Foundation//DTD Struts Configuration 1.1//EN"
"http://jakarta.apache.org/struts/dtds/struts-config_1_1.dtd">
<struts-config>
<!-- ========== Data Source Configuration =============================== -->
<data-sources></data-sources>
<!-- ========== Form Bean Definitions ================================== -->
<form-beans type="org.apache.struts.action.ActionFormBean">
<form-bean dynamic="true" type="org.apache.struts.validator.DynaValidatorForm" name="curricularCourseEquivalenciesForm">
<form-property initial="0" type="java.lang.Integer" name="page"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="degreeID"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="degreeCurricularPlanID"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="curricularCourseID"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="oldDegreeID"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="oldDegreeCurricularPlanID"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="oldCurricularCourseID"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="curricularCourseEquivalencyID"></form-property>
</form-bean>
<!-- ACADEMIC CALENDAR - MIGRATED FROM MANAGER -->
<form-bean dynamic="true" type="org.apache.struts.validator.DynaValidatorForm" name="academicCalendarsManagementForm">
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="method"></form-property>
</form-bean>
<!-- Bean for Student Dismissal -->
<form-bean dynamic="true" type="org.apache.struts.validator.DynaValidatorForm" name="studentDismissalForm">
<form-property type="java.lang.String[]" name="creditsToDelete"></form-property>
</form-bean>
<form-bean dynamic="true" type="org.apache.struts.validator.DynaValidatorForm" name="markSheetManagementForm">
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="epID"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="dID"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="dcpID"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="ccID"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="msID"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="tn"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="ed"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="mss"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="mst"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="evaluationID"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String[]" name="evaluationsToRemove"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="markSheet"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="ecID"></form-property>
<form-property initial="0" type="java.lang.Integer" name="page"></form-property>
</form-bean>
<form-bean dynamic="true" type="org.apache.struts.validator.DynaValidatorForm" name="markSheetSendMailForm">
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="method"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String[]" name="markSheetIDs"></form-property>
</form-bean>
<form-bean dynamic="true" type="org.apache.struts.validator.DynaValidatorForm" name="externalUnitsForm">
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="method"></form-property>
</form-bean>
<!-- Bean for The Creation of a Contributor -->
<form-bean dynamic="true" type="org.apache.struts.validator.DynaValidatorForm" name="createContributorForm">
<form-property type="java.lang.Integer" name="page"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="contributorType"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="contributorNumber"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="contributorName"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="contributorAddress"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="areaCode"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="areaOfAreaCode"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="area"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="parishOfResidence"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="districtSubdivisionOfResidence"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="districtOfResidence"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="contributorId"></form-property>
</form-bean>
<!-- bolonhaStudentEnrollmentForm -->
<form-bean dynamic="true" type="org.apache.struts.validator.DynaValidatorForm" name="bolonhaStudentEnrollmentForm">
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="method"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.Boolean" name="withRules"></form-property>
</form-bean>
<form-bean dynamic="true" type="org.apache.struts.validator.DynaValidatorForm" name="studentExternalEnrolmentsForm">
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="method"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="studentId"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="externalUnitId"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String[]" name="selectedExternalCurricularCourses"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String[]" name="externalEnrolmentsToDelete"></form-property>
</form-bean>
<!-- VIEW STUDENT CURRICULUM FORMS -->
<form-bean dynamic="true" type="org.apache.struts.validator.DynaValidatorForm" name="studentCurricularPlanAndEnrollmentsSelectionForm">
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="studentCPID"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="select"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="studentNumber"></form-property>
<form-property initial="0" type="java.lang.Integer" name="page"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="degreeCurricularPlanID"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="organizedBy"></form-property>
<form-property initial="false" type="java.lang.Boolean" name="detailed"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="viewType"></form-property>
</form-bean>
<!-- MANAGE ENROLMENT PERIODS - MIGRATED FROM MANAGER -->
<form-bean dynamic="true" type="org.apache.struts.validator.DynaValidatorForm" name="enrolementPeriodsForm">
<form-property type="java.lang.Integer" name="page"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="executionPeriodID"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="enrolmentPeriodID"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="startDate"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="endDate"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="startTime"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="endTime"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="degreeType"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="enrolmentPeriodClass"></form-property>
</form-bean>
<!-- EXECUTION COURSE MANAGEMENT - CREATE EXECUTION COURSES - MIGRATED FROM MANAGER -->
<form-bean dynamic="true" type="org.apache.struts.validator.DynaValidatorForm" name="createExecutionCoursesForm">
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="degreeType"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String[]" name="degreeCurricularPlansIDs"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="executionPeriodID"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="method"></form-property>
<form-property initial="0" type="java.lang.Integer" name="page"></form-property>
</form-bean>
<!-- EXECUTION COURSE MANAGEMENT - MERGE EXECUTION COURSES - MIGRATED FROM MANAGER -->
<form-bean dynamic="true" type="org.apache.struts.validator.DynaValidatorForm" name="mergeExecutionCoursesForm">
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="sourceExecutionCourseId"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="destinationExecutionCourseId"></form-property>
<form-property initial="0" type="java.lang.Integer" name="page"></form-property>
</form-bean>
<!-- EXECUTION COURSE MANAGEMENT - EDIT EXECUTION COURSES - MIGRATED FROM MANAGER -->
<form-bean dynamic="true" type="org.apache.struts.validator.DynaValidatorForm" name="executionCourseForm">
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="name"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="code"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="semester"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="comment"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="executionPeriod"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="executionPeriodId"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="executionDegree"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="executionDegreeId"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="executionCourseId"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="degreeCurricularPlan"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="degreeCurricularPlanId"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="curYear"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.Boolean" name="executionCoursesNotLinked"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.Integer" name="curricularCoursesListSize"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String[]" name="internalIds"></form-property>
<form-property initial="0" type="java.lang.Integer" name="page"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="availableGradeSubmission"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="entryPhase"></form-property>
</form-bean>
<!-- EXECUTION COURSE MANAGEMENT - SEPARATE EXECUTION COURSES - MIGRATED FROM MANAGER -->
<form-bean dynamic="true" type="org.apache.struts.validator.DynaValidatorForm" name="separateExecutionCourseForm">
<form-property type="java.lang.Integer" name="page"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="originExecutionDegreeId"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="curricularYearId"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="destinationExecutionDegreeId"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="destinationCurricularYear"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="destinationExecutionCourseId"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String[]" name="shiftIdsToTransfer"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String[]" name="curricularCourseIdsToTransfer"></form-property>
</form-bean>
<!-- EXECUTION COURSE MANAGEMENT - INSERT EXECUTION COURSES - MIGRATED FROM MANAGER -->
<form-bean dynamic="true" type="org.apache.struts.validator.DynaValidatorForm" name="insertExecutionCourseForm">
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="name"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="code"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="semester"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="comment"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="executionPeriodId"></form-property>
<form-property initial="0" type="java.lang.Integer" name="page"></form-property>
<form-property type="java.lang.String" name="entryPhase"></form-property>
</form-bean>
</form-beans>
<!-- ========== Global Exception Definitions ============================== -->
<global-exceptions>
</global-exceptions>
<!-- ========== Global Forward Definitions =============================== -->
<global-forwards type="org.apache.struts.action.ActionForward">
</global-forwards>
<!-- ========== Action Mapping Definitions =============================== -->
<action-mappings type="org.apache.struts.action.ActionMapping">
</action-mappings>
<!-- ========== Controller Configuration ================================ -->
<controller processorClass="org.fenixedu.bennu.struts.SimpleRenderersRequestProcessor">
</controller>
<!-- ========== Message Resources Definitions ============================ -->
<message-resources factory="org.fenixedu.bennu.struts.extension.UTF8PropertyMessageResourcesFactory" null="false" key="GLOBAL_RESOURCES" parameter="resources.GlobalResources"></message-resources>
<message-resources factory="org.fenixedu.bennu.struts.extension.UTF8PropertyMessageResourcesFactory" null="false" key="APPLICATION_RESOURCES" parameter="resources.ApplicationResources"></message-resources>
<message-resources factory="org.fenixedu.bennu.struts.extension.UTF8PropertyMessageResourcesFactory" null="false" key="ACADEMIC_OFFICE_RESOURCES" parameter="resources.AcademicAdminOffice"></message-resources>
<message-resources factory="org.fenixedu.bennu.struts.extension.UTF8PropertyMessageResourcesFactory" null="false" key="BOLONHA_MANAGER_RESOURCES" parameter="resources.BolonhaManagerResources"></message-resources>
<message-resources factory="org.fenixedu.bennu.struts.extension.UTF8PropertyMessageResourcesFactory" null="false" key="STUDENT_RESOURCES" parameter="resources.StudentResources"></message-resources>
<message-resources factory="org.fenixedu.bennu.struts.extension.UTF8PropertyMessageResourcesFactory" null="false" key="ENUMERATION_RESOURCES" parameter="resources.EnumerationResources"></message-resources>
<message-resources factory="org.fenixedu.bennu.struts.extension.UTF8PropertyMessageResourcesFactory" null="false" key="DEGREE_OFFICE_RESOURCES" parameter="resources.DegreeAdministrativeOfficeResources"></message-resources>
<message-resources factory="org.fenixedu.bennu.struts.extension.UTF8PropertyMessageResourcesFactory" null="false" key="GROUP_NAME_RESOURCES" parameter="resources.GroupNameResources"></message-resources>
<message-resources factory="org.fenixedu.bennu.struts.extension.UTF8PropertyMessageResourcesFactory" null="false" key="COMMON_RESOURCES" parameter="resources.CommonResources"></message-resources>
<message-resources factory="org.fenixedu.bennu.struts.extension.UTF8PropertyMessageResourcesFactory" null="false" key="MANAGER_RESOURCES" parameter="resources.ManagerResources"></message-resources>
<message-resources factory="org.fenixedu.bennu.struts.extension.UTF8PropertyMessageResourcesFactory" null="false" key="SCIENTIFIC_COUNCIL_RESOURCES" parameter="resources.ScientificCouncilResources"></message-resources>
<message-resources factory="org.fenixedu.bennu.struts.extension.UTF8PropertyMessageResourcesFactory" null="false" key="SOP_RESOURCES" parameter="resources.ResourceAllocationManagerResources"></message-resources>
<message-resources factory="org.fenixedu.bennu.struts.extension.UTF8PropertyMessageResourcesFactory" null="false" key="DEGREE_ADM_OFFICE" parameter="resources.DegreeAdministrativeOfficeResources"></message-resources>
<!-- ========== Plug Ins Configuration ================================= -->
<plug-in className="org.apache.struts.validator.ValidatorPlugIn">
<set-property value="/WEB-INF/validator-rules.xml,/WEB-INF/fenix-validator-rules.xml" property="pathnames"></set-property>
</plug-in>
<plug-in className="org.fenixedu.bennu.struts.plugin.StrutsAnnotationsPlugIn"></plug-in>
</struts-config>
|
<th
*ngIf="headerCheckable"
[attr.rowspan]="headerRowspan"
class="devui-checkable-cell"
[ngClass]="{ 'devui-sticky-left-cell': firstTh?.fixedLeft }"
[style.left]="'0px'"
>
<d-checkbox
class="check-box-all"
[name]="'checkbox'"
(change)="onHeaderCheckChange($event)"
[(ngModel)]="headerChecked"
[halfchecked]="headerHalfChecked"
[disabled]="headerCheckDisabled"
></d-checkbox>
<div *ngIf="headerCheckOptions && headerCheckOptions.length > 0" dDropDown appendToBody [trigger]="'hover'" class="select-options">
<div dDropDownToggle>
<svg
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
height="16px"
version="1.1"
viewBox="0 0 16 16"
width="16px"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
>
<g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd" id="chevron_down" stroke="none" stroke-width="1">
<polygon points="4.5 5 8 8.76923077 11.5 5 13 6.61538462 8 12 3 6.61538462"></polygon>
</g>
</svg>
</div>
<ul dDropDownMenu class="devui-dropdown-menu devui-dropdown-overlay" role="menu">
<li *ngFor="let option of headerCheckOptions" role="menuitem" (click)="onOptionSelect(option)">
<a class="devui-dropdown-item disabled">{{ option.label }}</a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</th>
<ng-content></ng-content>
|
package org.openjfx.hellofx;
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.fxml.FXMLLoader;
import javafx.scene.Parent;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
import java.io.IOException;
/**
* JavaFX App
*/
public class App extends Application {
private static Scene scene;
@Override
public void start(Stage stage) throws IOException {
scene = new Scene(loadFXML("primary"));
scene.getStylesheets().add(getClass().getResource("styles.css").toExternalForm());
stage.setScene(scene);
stage.show();
}
static void setRoot(String fxml) throws IOException {
scene.setRoot(loadFXML(fxml));
}
private static Parent loadFXML(String fxml) throws IOException {
FXMLLoader fxmlLoader = new FXMLLoader(App.class.getResource(fxml + ".fxml"));
return fxmlLoader.load();
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
launch();
}
}
|
/*
Sample tooltip code. Only works on grade A browsers (so no IE6,7 or 8).
See: http://nicolasgallagher.com/multiple-backgrounds-and-borders-with-css2/ for full info on
how to style generated content & the associated pitfalls
This code to be taken as experimental & untested - use at your discretion
If showing the tooltip above the sider handle you are relegated to showing
single line tooltips due to styling constraints!
*/
.fd-slider-handle:before,
.fd-slider-handle:after
{
/* Remove from screen */
opacity:0;
/* The following rules are not really needed as no browser yet supports CSS transitions
on generated content but I'll leave it in for the day when they do! */
/* Firefox */
-moz-transition-property: opacity;
-moz-transition-duration: 1s;
-moz-transition-delay: 1s;
/* WebKit */
-webkit-transition-property: opacity;
-webkit-transition-duration: 1s;
-webkit-transition-delay: 1s;
/* Opera */
-o-transition-property: opacity;
-o-transition-duration: 1s;
-o-transition-delay: 1s;
/* Standard */
transition-property: opacity;
transition-duration: 1s;
transition-delay: 1s;
}
/*
The tooltip body - as we position it above the slider and position the tooltip arrow
below it, we need to know the height of the body. This means that multi-line tooltips
are not supported.
To support multi-line tooltips, you will need to position the tooltip below the slider
and the tooltip pointer above the tooltip body. Additionally, you will have to set the
tooltip bodies "height" to auto
*/
.fd-slider-focused .fd-slider-handle:before,
.fd-slider-hover .fd-slider-handle:before,
.fd-slider-active .fd-slider-handle:before
{
display:block;
position:absolute;
top:-21px;
left:-8px;
margin:0;
width:20px;
padding:3px;
height:14px;
line-height:12px;
text-align: center;
font-size:10px;
font-weight: bold;
color:#fff;
text-shadow: 1px 1px 1px #1a3a95;
background:#2f6ee0;
z-index:1;
/* Use the ARIA valuetext property, set by the script, to generate the tooltip content */
content:attr(aria-valuetext);
/* Border radius and box shadow */
-moz-border-radius:3px;
-webkit-border-radius:3px;
border-radius:3px;
-moz-background-clip: padding;
-webkit-background-clip: padding-box;
background-clip: padding-box;
-moz-box-shadow: 0 0 4px #aaa;
-webkit-box-shadow: 0 0 4px #aaa;
box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999;
/* Change opacity for transition */
opacity: 1;
}
/* The tooltip pointer */
.fd-slider-focused .fd-slider-handle:after,
.fd-slider-hover .fd-slider-handle:after,
.fd-slider-active .fd-slider-handle:after
{
outline:none;
content:"";
display:block;
position:absolute;
top:-9px;
left:50%;
margin:0 0 0 -5px;
background:#2f6ee0;
z-index:2;
width:10px;
height:10px;
overflow:hidden;
/* Rotate element by 45 degress to get the "\/" pointer effect */
-webkit-transform: rotate(45deg);
-moz-transform: rotate(45deg);
-o-transform: rotate(45deg);
/* Add a box shadow */
-moz-box-shadow: 0 0 4px #aaa;
-webkit-box-shadow: 0 0 4px #aaa;
box-shadow: 0 0 4px #aaa;
/* Clip */
clip:rect(4px, 14px, 14px, 4px);
/* Change opacity for transition */
opacity: 1;
}
/* Remove completely for IE */
.oldie .fd-slider-handle:before,
.oldie .fd-slider-handle:after
{
display:none;
}
|
Ezekiel 32
Ezekiel 32Names of God Bible (NOG)
A Funeral Song about Pharaoh
32 On the first day of the twelfth month in the twelfth year, Yahweh spoke his word to me. He said, 2 “Son of man, sing a funeral song for Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Tell him,
‘You think you are like a lion among the nations.Instead, you are like a crocodile in the water.You splash around in the water.You stir up the water with your feet.You make the streams muddy.
3 “‘This is what Adonay Yahweh says: When many nations gather together, I will spread my net over you, and they will haul you up in a net. 4 I will throw you on the ground and toss you into an open field. I will make birds perch on you, and wild animals from all over the earth will feed on you. 5 I will scatter your flesh on the hills and fill the valleys with your rotting corpse. 6 I will drench the earth with your flowing blood all the way to the mountains. Ravines will be filled with your dead body.
7 “‘When I put out your light, I will cover the sky and darken the stars. I will cover the sun with clouds, and the moon won’t shine anymore. 8 I will darken all the lights shining in the sky above you. I will bring darkness over your land, declares Adonay Yahweh.
9 “‘I will make many people troubled when I spread the news of your destruction among the nations to countries that you haven’t heard of. 10 Many people will be shocked by what I will do to you. Their kings will shudder when I swing my sword in their faces. When you die, all of them will tremble in fear for their own lives.
11 “‘This is what Adonay Yahweh says: The sword of the king of Babylon will attack you. 12 I will cut down your people with the swords of warriors. All of them will be the most ruthless warriors among the nations. They will shatter the pride of Egypt and destroy its many people. 13 I will also destroy all the animals beside its many water sources. The feet of humans and the hoofs of animals won’t stir up the water anymore. 14 Then I will make its water clear and make its streams flow like oil, declares Adonay Yahweh. 15 I will turn Egypt into a wasteland. I will take everything in the land, and I will kill all the people who live there. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.’
16 “This is a funeral song. The people from the nations will sing this song. They will sing it as they mourn for Egypt and its many people,” declares Adonay Yahweh.
The Egyptians Will Join the Other Nations in the Grave
17 On the fifteenth day of the month in the twelfth year, Yahweh spoke his word to me. He said, 18 “Son of man, cry for the many people of Egypt. Bring them down along with the other mighty nations. Send them down below the earth to be with those who have gone down to the pit.
19 “Tell them, ‘Are you more beautiful than anyone else? Go down and join the godless people.’
20 “The Egyptians will lie among those who were killed in battle. A sword has been drawn. Drag Egypt and all its people away. 21 The mightiest warriors will say to Pharaoh from the grave, ‘You and your defenders have come down, and you now lie with the godless people who were killed in battle.’
22 “Assyria is there with its whole army, and the graves of its soldiers are all around it. All of its soldiers are dead. They have been killed in battle. 23 Their graves are in the deepest parts of the pit. Assyria’s army lies around its grave. All of its soldiers are dead. They have been killed in battle. They once terrified people in the land of the living.
24 “Elam is there with all its soldiers, and the graves of its soldiers are all around it. All of its soldiers are dead. They have been killed in battle. They went down below the earth as godless people. They once terrified people in the land of the living. Now they suffer disgrace with those who have gone down to the pit. 25 A bed has been made for Elam among the dead. The graves of its soldiers are all around it. The soldiers were godless people. They were killed in battle because they terrified others in the land of the living. Now they suffer disgrace with those who have gone down to the pit. They lie among the dead.
26 “Meshech and Tubal are there with all their soldiers, and the graves of their soldiers are all around them. Their soldiers were all godless people. They were killed in battle because they terrified others in the land of the living. 27 They don’t lie with the godless warriors who died and went down to the grave with their weapons of war. Their swords were placed under their heads. Their shields were placed on their bones because they terrified others in the land of the living.
28 “You Egyptians will be crushed with the godless people, and you will lie with those who were killed in battle.
29 “Edom is there with its kings and its princes. They used to be powerful, but now they lie with those who were killed in battle. They lie there with the godless people and with those who have gone down to the pit.
30 “All the rulers from the north and all the people from Sidon are there. They, too, went down with the dead. They are disgraced because they terrified people with their power. They were godless people. Now they lie with those who were killed in battle. They suffer disgrace with those who went down to the pit.
31 “Pharaoh and his army will see these things and be comforted over all the soldiers who have been killed in battle, declares Adonay Yahweh. 32 I terrified people in the land of the living. Pharaoh and all his soldiers will be laid among the godless people who were killed in battle,” declares Adonay Yahweh.
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|
Q:
Creating Direction data in QGIS between two layers?
Can I do it in Qgis, that there are two layers, a target layer and an input layer, and I ascertain with an algorithm so that the closest points on the input layer are on the target layer in what direction they are?
Measured in degrees, with designation east, west, north, south, north east, south east, northwest, southwest?
Creating a table that contains this data?
A:
Not that long ago, I did something similar using two point layers: one containing the source; the other containing destinations.
Example layers:
What I did was:
Use the Distance to nearest hub algorithm with the following parameters to create a line layer showing the nearest destination point to the source point:
You can find the tool from:
Processing Toolbox > QGIS geoalgorithms > Vector analysis tools > Distance to nearest hub
Create a real field (e.g. "Direction") on the resulting line layer using the Field Calculator to calculate the direction of the lines using the expression below (as described in this post):
(atan((xat(-1)-xat(0))/(yat(-1)-yat(0)))) * 180/3.14159
+ (180 *(((yat(-1)-yat(0)) < 0) + (((xat(-1)-xat(0)) < 0
AND (yat(-1) - yat(0)) >0)*2)))
Create a string field (e.g. "Principal") in the same line layer to calculate the principal direction of the line (i.e. north, north-east etc) using the expression below:
CASE
WHEN "Direction" >= 348.75 OR "Direction" < 33.75 THEN 'N'
WHEN "Direction" >= 33.75 AND "Direction" < 78.75 THEN 'NE'
WHEN "Direction" >= 78.75 AND "Direction" < 123.75 THEN 'E'
WHEN "Direction" >= 123.75 AND "Direction" < 168.75 THEN 'SE'
WHEN "Direction" >= 168.75 AND "Direction" < 213.75 THEN 'S'
WHEN "Direction" >= 213.75 AND "Direction" < 258.75 THEN 'SW'
WHEN "Direction" >= 258.75 AND "Direction" < 303.75 THEN 'W'
WHEN "Direction" >= 303.75 AND "Direction" < 348.75 THEN 'NW'
END
You should (hopefully) have the degree values and their respective principal directions in the Attribute Table. You could then, if you wanted, add some style and labelling to the line layer to showcase the attributes.
I used an arrow style:
And labelled it:
To get this result:
A:
Probably refFunctions plugin is useful. It will give you additional functionalities in the Field Calculator.
When installation of refFunctions is done, open the attribute table of your input_layer. Create 3 new fields in the following order:
Field [pt] ......Text(String) length=40
geomnearest('target_layer', '$geometry')
Field [az] ......Decimal number (real) length=12.8
degrees(azimuth($geometry, geom_from_wkt("pt")))
Field [dir] ......Text(String) length=10
CASE
WHEN 0 <= "az" AND "az" <= 45 THEN 'N'
WHEN 45 < "az" AND "az" <= 135 THEN 'E'
WHEN 135 < "az" AND "az" <= 225 THEN 'S'
ELSE 'W'
END
Then you will get something like below:
Sorry I was lazy and skipped NE, SE, SW, NW but you will get an idea.
|
Send this page to someone via email
Police in Kamloops are searching for two suspects following an armed robbery of an illegal cannabis dispensary on Thursday evening.
According to the RCMP, the Phyven Medicinal Cannabis Dispensary on Victoria Avenue was robbed at approximately 6:30 p.m., on Thursday. Police say two masked men entered the store with one brandishing a knife while the other had a long-barreled firearm.
Police say the suspect who was armed with a knife had a piercing under his eye. Kamloops RCMP
READ MORE: 4 charged after string of Saskatchewan armed robberies
Story continues below advertisement
Police added that no one was hurt, that no shots were fired and that the suspects fled the scene in a truck with cash and cannabis products. No licence plate was obtained, but a stolen truck was later found on Friday at 3 a.m., near River Street.
Police say the brown GMC Canyon was used in the robbery, and that it had been previously been reported as stolen from the nearby community of Chase.
“Illegal cannabis retailers remain an attractive target to criminals because of the real or perceived hesitance the operators have in reporting a crime to the police,” said Kamloops RCMP Staff Sgt. Simon Pillay.
WATCH BELOW: (Aired March 1, 2019) Video of New Orleans shootout between robbery suspect and police that wounded 5
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“In comparison, legal storefront operations are obligated to adhere to store security requirements, employee training, qualifications and sell a product that comes from a safe supply chain that is easy to identify and trace back.”
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The first suspect, who was armed with the gun, is described as a First Nations male. He was seen wearing a red-brimmed baseball cap, a Carrhart-style beige jacket and a tuque that covered his face.
READ MORE: Barrie police charge man in connection to 4 reported armed robberies
The second suspect, who was armed with the knife, is described as being taller and having a larger build than the first suspect. He had a piercing under one eye with two jewels, similar to a bellybutton piercing, and was seen wearing beige pants.
If you have any information regarding this incident, you are asked to contact the Kamloops RCMP.
|
Q:
Command \maketitle Vertical Alignment independent of other page content
I want to create a .sty package for the titlepage layout our university requires for submitted papers.
The main title should always be placed in the same position, regardless of the length of text before or after.
\ProvidesPackage{titlepageFormat}[2017-10-17 v0.1]
\renewcommand*{\maketitle}{%
\begin{titlepage}
Header\\
\vspace{5cm}
\centering
{\large Title\\}
\vspace{3cm}
\raggedright
\vfill
Author\\
\vspace{1.5cm}
Footer\\
\vspace{1.5cm}
\end{titlepage}
}
\endinput
Suppose this is a minimal working example of my .sty file. My goal is to place the "Title" in an absolute position regardless of how many lines "Header" and "Footer" consist of.
In the current example, the "Title" position does not change with increasing header line size because of the \vfill at the bottom, but does so when footer line size increases.
Is there any way I can put this into some kind of box and set absolute positions for specific text areas? Just like one would do with letterheads or other stuff that has to be in a specific position. I am using KOMA-Script by the way.
A:
One possibility is to use package textpos to insert text or images to a page. For example with
\begin{textblock*}{100mm}(50mm,75mm) % {〈hsize〉}[〈ho〉,〈vo〉](〈hpos〉,〈vpos〉)
\includegraphics{example-image-a}% a full-page picture?
\end{textblock*}%
you include an image with a width of 100mm, starting at point (50mm,75mm).
See the following MWE
\documentclass{scrreprt}
\usepackage[absolute]{textpos} % https://www.ctan.org/pkg/textpos
\usepackage{graphicx}
\begin{document}
\begin{titlepage}
\begin{textblock*}{100mm}(50mm,75mm) % {〈hsize〉}[〈ho〉,〈vo〉](〈hpos〉,〈vpos〉)
\includegraphics{example-image-a}% a full-page picture?
\end{textblock*}%
Header\\
\vspace{5cm}
\centering
{\large Title\\}
\vspace{3cm}
\raggedright
\vfill
Author\\
\vspace{1.5cm}
Footer\\
\vspace{1.5cm}
\end{titlepage}
\end{document}
with its result:
Change the values (50mm,75mm) to your needs ...
|
import { Css, Height, SelectorFind, SugarElement, Width } from '@ephox/sugar';
import * as Behaviour from 'ephox/alloy/api/behaviour/Behaviour';
import { Pinching } from 'ephox/alloy/api/behaviour/Pinching';
import * as GuiFactory from 'ephox/alloy/api/component/GuiFactory';
import * as Attachment from 'ephox/alloy/api/system/Attachment';
import * as Gui from 'ephox/alloy/api/system/Gui';
export default (): void => {
const ephoxUi = SelectorFind.first('#ephox-ui').getOrDie();
// Naive resize handler
const resize = (element: SugarElement, changeX: number, changeY: number) => {
const width = Css.getRaw(element, 'width').map((w) => parseInt(w, 10)).getOrThunk(() => Width.get(element));
const height = Css.getRaw(element, 'height').map((h) => parseInt(h, 10)).getOrThunk(() => Height.get(element));
Css.set(element, 'width', (width + changeX) + 'px');
Css.set(element, 'height', (height + changeY) + 'px');
};
const box = GuiFactory.build({
dom: {
tag: 'div',
classes: [ 'demo-pinch-box' ],
styles: {
width: '200px',
height: '200px',
background: 'black'
}
},
behaviours: Behaviour.derive([
Pinching.config({
onPinch(span, changeX, changeY) {
resize(span, changeX, changeY);
},
onPunch(span, changeX, changeY) {
resize(span, changeX, changeY);
}
})
])
});
const gui = Gui.create();
gui.add(box);
Attachment.attachSystem(ephoxUi, gui);
};
|
Fort of São Francisco do Queijo
Fort of São Francisco do Queijo (), frequently shortened to Castle of the Cheese () is a fortification situated along the coast of the civil parish of Nevogilde in the northern Portuguese municipality of Porto.
History
In early era of settlement, the rocky area of Queijo was sacred to the Draganes, a Celtic tribe that arrived in the 6th century.
The fortification was likely constructed sometime in the 15th century, over the primitive structure that already existed. King John IV of Portugal ordered the construction of a new fort in 1643, designed by French military engineer Miguel de l'Ècole, and directed by Fernando César de Carvalhais Negreiros, then Captain of the Royal Armada ().
No one knows when the Castle of São Francisco Xavier was founded; it is presumed to be between 1661 and 1662, when the coast was under threat of the armada of Galicia
Judges and municipal aldermen for the city of Porto, captain António Pires Picão and various other carrack and caravel captains arrived at the conclusion in 1643 that the fort was badly located, owing to a lack of safe area for disembarking. This as the area was rocky and influenced by strong waters. Friar João Turriano, engineer of the Kingdom, was asked to give his opinion and he determined that that fortification should be constructed away from the site, in the locality of Pedra do Queijo (using the existing materials).
During the Restoration Wars, the fort was rebuilt (at the expense of the city), at a time when citizenry feared attacks from squadrons of Spanish fleets.
By 1717, the city of Porto was responsible for the maintenance of the fort, a heavy burden for municipal coffers, and forcing the town council to petition King John V of Portugal to decommission the fort, owing to its superfluous need. As they mentioned, the fort:
was a great expense in the Coffers of the City, in the payment of officials that were created to assist the said Castle, where they don't reside, taking advantage of the convenience of the land.
Yet, the King's Council of War, indifferent to the suggest, maintained the fortress active. In 1751, a private chapel was constructed to assist military officers serving at the site.
On 11 April 1758, abbey Manoel da Silva Pereira, referred to a lieutenant (as captain/commander), a constable, Sargent, 11 artillerymen stationed at the fort, including unspecified soldiers that were sent to the fort time-to-time, which pertained to the regiment in Porto. But, by 1804 its usefulness had waned, and could not fulfill its function, given military tactics of the time. Between 1807-1811, during the French invasion, the fort was not used in a defensive role.
During the siege of Porto (1832-1833), Miguelist forces occupied the fort until Lordelo, even as they were confronted by batteries and the Liberal navy. By the end of the civil war the fort was destroyed. In August 1860, a plan of the fort included drawbridge, residence of the Governor, chapel in ruins, housing for military officers also in ruins, a ramp to the esplanade, moat, areas inundated by the sea, four quarters for soldiers, kitchen, powder magazine and a vaulted house for quarters. It was assigned for the Veterans Company (1839), during the revolt of Maria da Fonte (1846), and occupied by troops from the Junta of Porto, and was bombarded by the frigate Íris, supporting the government of Maria II
Between 1890 and 1910 it was in the possession of the Guarda Fiscal (Fiscal Guard).
In 1934 it was classified as a Property of Public Interest.
The Municipal Commission for Art and Archaeology () proposed that the fort be adapted for the use as a museum in 1938. Following restoration work in 1942, the fort was once again abandoned, and the spaces were reactivated in 1943 during the course of the World War, when anti-aircraft batteries were installed, fearing German attacks. In order to collect funds to assist the paying for a permanent guard, the fort's doors were opened to the public: the fort was used as overlook, for a charge one escudo.
The Junta Freguesia of Nevogilde installed some services in the fort in April 1944. Immediately, within the year, the junta received orders to remove the equipment from the site by the Direcção Geral da Fazenda Pública (General Directorate for Public Finances), which provoked indignation by the city council. But, by 1949 the Junta de Freguesia continued to have their installations in the fort. They shared the spaces with a naval brigade from the Portuguese Legion, remaining there until 25 April 1974. Between 1977 and 1978, the post was held by northern commandos.
On 26 April 1961, the site was included in the Special Protection Zone. On 24 September 2008, the DRCNorte proposed that the fort be included in the maritime promenade and Avenida de Montevideu designation which, by 7 January 2009, was accepted by the consultative council of IGESPAR.
Architecture
The fort is situated on a dominant position over the ocean, a short distance from the mouth of the Douro and Leça Rivers. To the northeast is the city park connected directly to the sea.
The trapezoidal fortress is situated over a cliff, circled by a dry moat and areas that become inundated during high tide. The high walls are constructed with granite masonry in regular sloping rows, surmounted by a rounded frieze and topped by irregular battlements. Along the pentagonal facades are watchtowers resting on triangular corbels of stepped logs. The watchtowers are supported on cornices and formed into molded, round domes addorsed to the corners. The main facade (oriented towards the southeast) includes wall broken by main gate with rounded arch accessed by wooden drawbridge, over corbels. Over the portal, and interrupting the cornice, is the coat-of-arms of Portugal, surmounted by royal crown, under a granite sphere. Flanking the relief stone are vertical grooves reinforced by iron frame, from which hang the supporting chains of the drawbridge.
The drawbridge leads into a small tunnel sectioned into two spaces (preserving traces of doors), covered by barrel vault that includes three arrow slits on each side. On the left side of the tunnel entrance is a bronze plaque, with the inscription:
All did not return...with tears that do not see, with a cry that can not hear, here we are, in silent sense...with them, providing them our tribute...Command. 9 March 1985.
A rounded niche on the left, in granite masonry, shelters a representation in stone of the St. Francis Xavier, and to the right a similar niche houses an image of the Virgin Mary. The tunnel connects to the courtyard, covered with metal grids and glass plates, that provide access to bar, powder magazine covered in barrel vault, stairs, balconies and gateways to the remaining dependencies. From the lobby there is an access ramp to the upper deck.
An oratory, to the invocation of St. Francis Xavier was located within the hall of the former-residence of commander of the fort.
References
Notes
Sources
Category:Buildings and structures in Porto
Sao Francisco Queijo
Category:Buildings and structures completed in the 17th century
|
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FREE SHIPPING
WHEN YOU SPEND $75 OR MORE*
*Place order online, by phone or in store. Spend $75 or more on merchandise (excluding tax, Gift Cards,
eGift Cards, POP! Perks, installation and services) in a single transaction and receive free standard
shipping to a single address in the contiguous United States. The offer will be automatically applied
and cannot be used toward a TCS Closets™ or Business Sales purchase. Due to size and weight
restrictions, some items cannot be shipped or may have additional shipping fees that will still apply.
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Neo Magnet Clothespins
5
5
3
3
A great find!
These magnetic clothespins are magnificent. The magnets are strong and the clear plastic makes it a subtle and efficient addition to your steel surface (refrigerator, magnet memo board). They are also fun to decorate to add a pop of color and make great party favors!
April 12, 2012
strong and sturdy
Works just like you'd want, great for holding odd shaped items.
March 15, 2012
Cute and strong. Holds greeting cards, appointment cards, or several coupons together on my fridge. Small and transparent -- they don't cover up any important info or writing.
May 10, 2010
|
Erlotinib resistance is altered after gemcitabine chemotherapy for recurrent non-small-cell lung cancer.
We report the case of a male Mongolian lifelong non-smoker with recurrent non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who developed resistance to the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor erlotinib after initially responding to this agent but then subsequently had another response to a second course of erlotinib treatment after intervening gemcitabine chemotherapy. Sixteen months after the patient received chemoradiotherapy with gemcitabine/cisplatin plus radiotherapy, his recurrent mediastinal metastases were found to have progressed. Treatment with erlotinib was followed by an initial, partial response but evidence of progression was again observed 6 months later. The patient was then treated with gemcitabine chemotherapy, which resulted in a reduction in tumour volume. One month later, progression of mediastinal metastases was again observed and the patient received a second course of erlotinib. Another partial response occurred and the patient's disease remained stable at the 9-month follow-up visit (and with no reported symptom progression at an 11-month telephone follow-up). Genetic examination of tumour tissue collected at the time of the original diagnosis and during the second course of erlotinib therapy revealed activating exon 19 mutation in the EGFR gene. This case suggests that resistance to erlotinib may change following chemotherapy and that repeat erlotinib therapy may be worth considering after chemotherapy in NSCLC patients who initially respond positively to erlotinib treatment but subsequently experience recurrence of disease.
|
Okay, so I'm glad u fixed the crashes caused by the startmovie command and I was really looking forward to recording in h264 right away. But I can't. Coz "Failed to launch startmovie! If you are trying to use h264, please make sure you have QuickTime installed." Oh trust me, I do have it. Even reinstalled. Tried recording with different configs, still does not work pls HALP.
Okay, ty now I can record. But. I can't play the mp4 format after, it just throws an error with every player I have. Adn when I start record, the game turns on to be super slow with sound bugging. When I press esc during the record, it goes back to normal and back again to slow when I return from the menu. WTF
|
<?php
/*
* This file is part of the Symfony package.
*
* (c) Fabien Potencier <[email protected]>
*
* For the full copyright and license information, please view the LICENSE
* file that was distributed with this source code.
*/
namespace Symfony\Component\VarDumper\Tests\Dumper;
use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
use Symfony\Component\VarDumper\Cloner\VarCloner;
use Symfony\Component\VarDumper\Dumper\CliDumper;
use Symfony\Component\VarDumper\VarDumper;
class FunctionsTest extends TestCase
{
public function testDumpReturnsFirstArg()
{
$this->setupVarDumper();
$var1 = 'a';
ob_start();
$return = dump($var1);
$out = ob_get_clean();
$this->assertEquals($var1, $return);
}
public function testDumpReturnsAllArgsInArray()
{
$this->setupVarDumper();
$var1 = 'a';
$var2 = 'b';
$var3 = 'c';
ob_start();
$return = dump($var1, $var2, $var3);
$out = ob_get_clean();
$this->assertEquals([$var1, $var2, $var3], $return);
}
protected function setupVarDumper()
{
$cloner = new VarCloner();
$dumper = new CliDumper('php://output');
VarDumper::setHandler(function ($var) use ($cloner, $dumper) {
$dumper->dump($cloner->cloneVar($var));
});
}
}
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José Mourinho está no México para participar no 66º Congresso da FIFA mas nem por isso se coibiu de comentar as incidências da época desportiva em Portugal aos jornalistas mexicanos. Para o técnico português, há um nativo daquele país a deixar marca no Benfica e nem sequer tem sido titular.
Que tal? #Mourinho hablando de #RaulJimenez. @raulalonsojimenez9 #Futbol Um vídeo publicado por Fansports (@fansports_mx) a Mai 11, 2016 às 9:00 PDT
"Raúl Jiménez está a ser fantástico. Não é um titular indiscutível, mas se o Benfica está perto de ser campeão é porque lhe deve muito. Marcou golos que valeram pontos super importantes", afirmou em resposta aos media presentes na Cidade do México esta quinta-feira onde também elogiou as "temporadas muito boas de Layún e Herrera".
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SAN DIEGO, CA - JULY 21: Actor Norman Reedus from 'The Walking Dead' at the Hall H panel with AMC at San Diego Comic-Con International 2017 at the San Diego Convention Center on July 21, 2017 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for AMC)
Norman Reedus teases how season 9 of The Walking Dead may be one of the show’s best installments yet.
Fans who have lost interest in The Walking Dead need to consider otherwise. Norman Reedus — the actor portraying fan-favorite Daryl Dixon — spoke at San Diego Comic-Con 2018 about his excitement for season 9 and how it will distinguish itself from previous seasons.
As someone who has been a part of the show since season 1, Reedus has experienced all the ups and downs.
That makes his enthusiasm and this specific quote feel particularly authentic:
I’ve done scenes this season that I’m more proud of than I’ve done in five years.
This means Reedus hasn’t been this proud since the show’s first few seasons, a time many consider the golden era of the series. It is possible that Reedus feels as though the show is now tapping into the essence of what makes Daryl tick in a way it hasn’t done since those early seasons. This has already been teased in the season 9 Comic-Con trailer, in which Daryl talks about what it was like in those early years in contrast with what it’s like now:
That small group we had back in the beginning, we could do anything. That was right. This don’t feel right, man.
Instead of feeling like an accessory to the story of Rick or another character, it seems like Daryl is poised to have the story focused on him and his internal struggles in a way that hasn’t been the case for a long time.
Such a narrative shift seems rooted in the show’s change in leadership and writing, something Reedus was also enthused to share during the interview:
The vibe of the show is different. Angela Kang is killing it as our showrunner. She’s always been my favorite writer of the show, I’ve said it since she showed up. But I mean it’s a train driven by women, like the stories have more depth, there’s you know, this all out war thing is not happening anymore. It’s internal.
Reedus sounds even more relieved than many of the fans that the “All Out War” storyline is over, opening the door for new and fresh storylines. It also sounds like Kang understands not only the character of Daryl but the show as a whole in a way the showrunners and writers haven’t captured in a long time.
From Michonne to Carol and Maggie and beyond, the show has long included compelling female characters. It’s about time that the overall story is more female-centric and features them at the core of the series.
Experiencing deeper stories that feature more of an internal rather than external conflict for Daryl, these wonderful women, and the rest of the characters sounds like the best thing the show has done in a long time.
Has Norman Reedus made you more excited for season 9 of The Walking Dead? Let us know in the comments!
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Mechanisms for quick and variable responses.
Dominant and subordinate males produce neuroendocrine stress responses during aggressive social interaction. In addition, stress responsiveness has both acute and chronic temporal components. A neurochemical marker that distinguishes social status and aggression by temporal and regional differentiation is the activity of serotonergic nuclei and terminals. A unique model for distinguishing the relationships among the neuroendocrine machinery of stress, social status and behavior is the lizard Anolis carolinensis. Dominant males exhibit more aggression and have temporally advanced serotonergic responses. Chronic serotonergic activity is associated with subordinate social status and reduced aggression. Acute and chronic serotonergic responses occur in both dominant and subordinate males, and are distinguished temporally. This provides a fundamental question that may elucidate basic differences in behavior: What causes temporally advanced serotonergic activity in response to stress in dominant males? Secondarily, what is the neural basis for the acute and chronic responses? The neural mechanisms for transduction of the relevant behavioral signals are very plastic. Behavioral experience and visual stimuli can produce very rapid responses. Faster and greater responsiveness may be stimulated by restraint stress, social stress and the absence of social sign stimuli (e.g. eyespots of the lizard Anolis carolinensis). Stress response machinery provides regulatory factors necessary to modify social behavior, and to adapt it for specific contexts. Serotonergic activity is rapidly modified by glucocorticoids and GABA, and also by CRF under conditions of previous stress or in combination with AVP. Advancing acute elevation of serotonergic activity may be a distinguishing characteristic of dominant males. Social events add contextual conditioning to brain transmitter activity, with social information processed in a distributed fashion. Medial amygdala manifests delayed serotonergic response compared to hippocampus and nucleus accumbens, and is therefore a good candidate to mediate chronic stress responsiveness. Limiting or delaying acute effects, in addition to chronic serotonergic activity, may be the distinguishing characteristics of subordinate males. Monoamines, glucocorticoids, testosterone, CRF, AVP, AVT, play neuromodulatory roles producing context appropriate behavior.
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Q:
Extracting strings from binary file using regex and converting to ASCII -- Using Perl
Trying to figure out how to extract a string off characters from a binary file and convert them to ascii. The characters are a barcode, which is preceded by a constant string of text. My thought is to figure out what the HEX pattern is for the string constant string and extract the string based on that, then convert the HEX to ASCII.
Problem is I don't know how get perl to "read" the file, or "see" what it's seeing. Meaning that if the file was a text file, might do something like this - Perl: extracting data from text using regex - but I don't know how to figure out what the binary pattern I'm targeting is; that said, I've posted one view of this data here: Extracting “plaintext” header from HEX file using Perl
How do I do this in Perl?
A:
Here's one easy way to do it:
perl -nlwe "print for m/\w{2,}/g" < bla.exe
That'll print all strings composed of \w{2,}, i.e. legacy word characters exclusively, and at least two of them.
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Q:
Big-O complexity for n + n-1 + n-2 + n-3 + (...) + 1
I was wondering.. what is the complexity of an algorithm that starts with n elements (which I run through doing whatever). I take one element off, I do it again.. I take off another element and do it again until I have just one element left.
is it O(n log n)? I can't visualize it...
A:
The famous mathematician Gauss is said to have found a formula for that exact problem when he was in primary school. And as mentioned by @Henry in the comments it is:
Source: Wikipedia
As work is done for every entry, i.e., O(1) is required for each "item". Hence, the problem is in O(n^2).
Visualisation (also Wikipedia) can be seen as a half filled square:
A:
To solve the complexity for O(n+n-1+n-2....n times), we need to use Sum for mathematics formula by see this link
=> n+n+n...n times - (1+2+3...n times)
=> n^2- (n^2+n)/2
Complexity will be
(n^2-n)/2
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A survey of Hwa-Byung in middle-age Korean women.
Hwa-Byung (HB) has been categorized as a Korean culture-bound syndrome that refers to insidious, long-standing, serious discontent that is projected into the body and is manifested by numerous symptoms such as insomnia, fatigue, panic, palpitations, dyspnea, and others. This study was designed to investigate the prevalence rate of HB in Korean women, validate the predominant symptoms of HB, and validate the related sociodemographic factors and lifestyle factors that differentiate women with HB from those without HB. A total of 2,807 women ages 41 to 65 years were recruited from seven metropolitan areas and six provinces in Korea. The prevalence rate of women who designated themselves as having experienced HB was 4.95%. The rates were higher in women of low socioeconomic status, living in rural areas, among the divorced or separated, smokers, and drinkers. A set of 31 HB symptoms differentiated the potential HB women from the non-HB women.
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GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) is the most spread mobile telephone systems in the world. GSM differs from its predecessor technologies in that both signaling and speech channels are digital, and thus GSM is considered a second generation (2G) mobile phone system. The GSM standard also adds packet data capabilities by means of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS). GPRS is standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).
Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE, also known as Enhanced GPRS) is a superset to GPRS and can function on any network with GPRS deployed on it, provided the carrier implements the necessary upgrades. EDGE provides higher speed data transmission. In addition to Gaussian minimum shift keying, EDGE uses 8 phase shift keying (8PSK) for the upper five of its nine modulation and coding schemes. EDGE produces a 3-bit word for every change in carrier phase. This effectively triples the gross data rate offered by GSM. EDGE is considered a third generation (3G) radio technology. Evolved EDGE is a further step in the evolution of the 3GPP standard providing reduced latency and more than doubled performance. Evolved EDGE improves on EDGE in a number of ways. Bit rates are e.g. increased up to 1 MBit/s peak bandwidth and latencies down to 800 ms using dual carriers, higher symbol rate and higher-order modulation, and turbo codes to improve error correction.
The Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) is also one of the 3G mobile communication technologies designed to succeed GSM. 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a project within the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to improve the UMTS standard to cope with future requirements in terms of improved services such as higher data rates, improved efficiency, lowered costs etc. The Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) is the radio access network of a UMTS system and evolved UTRAN (e-UTRAN) is the radio access network of an LTE system. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a radio access network typically comprises user equipments (UE) 150 wirelessly connected to radio base stations (RBS) 110a-c, commonly referred to as NodeB (NB) in UTRAN and eNodeB (eNB) in e-UTRAN. The RBS serves one or more areas referred to as cells 120a-c. In FIG. 1 the UE 150 is served by the serving cell 120a. Cells 120b and 120c are neighboring cells.
When performing maintenance of a an RBS it is sometimes necessary to stop the operation of the whole cell of the RBS for a short time, i.e. to turn off the output power for the frequency carriers of the cell. When turning off the output power of a whole cell, all the UEs in the cell that are connected to the RBS will lose their connections and start searching for and connecting to alternative neighboring cells and RBSs. If for example maintenance in an RBS 110a requires that the output power of the frequency carrier of cell 120a is turned off, the UE 150 will suddenly loose connection to the RBS, and will then try to connect e.g. to RBS 110b and cell 120b. In e-UTRAN, the UEs do not drop their calls immediately when they loose connection. Instead they will be disconnected for some time and will not be able to communicate during that time. If the disconnection time is short, the user of the UE will probably not notice the disconnection. If the cell is turned off suddenly and if there are many active UEs in the cell, all these UEs will at the same time start to connect to alternative cells and eNBs, which may lead to congestion for the alternative eNBs random access control channels, and thus longer disconnection times for the UEs.
In UTRAN, a solution to the problem of dropped calls when the output power of a NB is suddenly turned off is to instead gradually reduce the output power of the NB pilot or reference signal before turning off the power completely. As a handover is based on a comparison of measurements of the pilot signal transmitted by the serving NB and neighboring NBs, a gradual reduction of the output power of the pilot signal for a serving NB, will trigger the UEs connected to this NB to make handovers to neighbor cells or NBs. The UEs close to cell borders and alternative NBs will be the first to perform handovers. The number of UEs still connected to the NB at the time when it is finally turned off may be reduced in this way, thus reducing the amount of dropped calls. If the output power of the pilot signal is very low before the power is turned off, then very few UEs will still be connected to the NB.
The radio units in a RBS of a radio access network such as the one illustrated in FIG. 1, are capable of fulfilling the standardized requirements on transmission signal quality such as the error vector magnitude (EVM), unwanted emission, and spurious emission within a certain specified output power range, which is specific for each product type. For example a 40 W radio unit might be certified to transmit signals within the range of 1-40 W, which means that the radio unit will have acceptable EVM and emission within this range. The EVM is a measure of the allowed error in the transmitted signal compared to the theoretically ideal signal.
The power spectrum density of a radio unit will together with the amount of scheduled resources indicate what the total output power is. It is important to make the distinction between total output power and output power spectrum density for a system which allows scheduling of resources over a limited part of the system bandwidth in a sub frame, such as in an e-UTRAN. In one sub frame all resources may be scheduled, in the next maybe only half of the resources are scheduled. The total output power may thus vary from sub frame to sub frame depending on the amount of scheduled resources, although the available output power spectrum density is the same for both sub frames. In GSM though, it is not possible to schedule resources only on a part of the available system bandwidth, so the total output power will not vary in the same way.
Even though the total output power range for a radio unit in e.g. an e-UTRAN might be large (e.g. 1-40 W as in the example mentioned above), a major part of the range is typically dedicated for scheduling and/or power control purposes, and a minor part is dedicated for the reference signal. The power range corresponding to the reference signal is thus not that large which thus limits the possibility to reduce the output power of the reference signal. Furthermore, the relation between the output power of the reference signal and the output power used for scheduled data should typically be the same when the total output power is lowered in e-UTRAN. In most cases it is thus not possible to reduce only the reference signal power, without reducing the output power for scheduled data.
As already mentioned above, different modulation schemes may be used in the different technologies. Some examples of modulation schemes are the phase shift keying (PSK) modulations such as quaternary or quadrature PSK (QPSK) and 8PSK. With four phases, QPSK can encode two bits per symbol. Other examples are the combinations of PSK and amplitude-shift keying (ASK) modulations—also called quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)—of different orders such as 16QAM and 64QAM. The use of a higher order modulation scheme provides a higher bandwidth utilization (transmission of more bits per symbol), but at the same time it puts higher requirements on the radio unit. The EVM requirement e.g. is higher for a radio unit using a higher order modulation scheme than for a radio unit with a lower order modulation scheme. The total power range of a radio unit will thus be affected by the modulation scheme used, thereby also affecting the possibility to reduce the power of the reference signal.
Consequently, the reduction of the output power of the reference signal that may be done in order to force UEs to perform a handover is in practice limited, both by the fix relation between the output power of the reference signal and the output power used for scheduled data, and by the limited output power range in an RBS using a higher order modulation.
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Yesterday in Fortaleza, a penalty in the box decided another World Cup match. For the second time in less than a week, a whistle helped determine the fate of an entire nation’s footballing dreams. Last Tuesday, it was the Ivory Coast. Sunday it was Mexico. These penalty-area calls and the direct kicks they spawn not only shape the outcomes of games in the world’s biggest sporting event, they also change the way players behave on the pitch.
Click here for more on the 2014 World Cup.
Just as basketball coaches love to say that the best place to score on the court is at the free throw line, soccer exhibits a parallel trait: The best place to score in the World Cup is at the penalty spot. Consider this pair of facts:
1. During the group stage of the 2014 World Cup, players attempted 1,236 shots on goal; they converted 10 percent of them. Even within 5 yards of the goal, players still fail to convert even half of their shots (per Opta).
2. Since 1966, players have converted 81 percent of World Cup penalty kicks. (Also per Opta.)
In other words, the best shots on goal at the World Cup almost always follow the sound of a whistle, something that savvy players like Arjen Robben are keenly aware of.
That the expected value of any penalty shot far exceeds that of almost any other “live play” scenario is not just some wonky statistical quirk. This is why Rafael Márquez’s “trip” so easily “felled” Robben on Sunday. Although Robben was undeniably threatening the Mexico defense, even the slight opportunity to draw a whistle — and a subsequent PK — at the moment Márquez’s boot disrupted his stride was too alluring to pass up. So Robben fell. And then the whistle blew. And, fair or not, Mexico went home.
While many hot takes today will surround the practice of diving, perhaps yesterday’s events should also prompt a discussion about the underlying motivations for diving in the first place. Instead of putting the entire onus on the competitors to “do the right thing” in the heat of the biggest matches of their lives, why not examine the wild punitive imbalances that provide the root cause of the problem?
Penalty kicks are the most draconian and most influential penalties in any sport. This is compounded by a needlessly inflexible penal code, applied within an arbitrary box, that disables referees from exercising any sort of reasonable judgment. The problem isn’t that Márquez may or may not have fouled Robben in the penalty area, nor is it that Robben may or may not have dove. The problem is the game’s current system of on-field justice.
The fact that Márquez’s incidental foul is punished the exact same way as exponentially more egregious acts, like Luis Suárez’s intentional (game-saving) handball in 2010 is ludicrous. One is a misdemeanor, one is a felony, but in a world where no such distinctions exist, the sentences are identical, and the governing body errs on the side of punitive adjudication each and every time. In FIFA County, you go to the gallows for stealing a horse. You also go there for littering.
Basketball, which has its own problems in this area, at least uses a tiered foul system that enables officials to exercise situational judgment and penalize accordingly. Referees can call multiple levels of fouls — regardless of court space — including personal fouls (some of which are deemed “shooting fouls”), flagrant fouls, and technical fouls. Each kind comes with its own level of punishment, and in turn, in the world of basketball, the punishment is more likely to fit the crime. It’s not rocket science.
With the possible exception of the game’s most egregious acts, it’s hard to justify any case where awarding a direct kick 12 yards from the goal is a suitable consequence. While there’s no denying that there should be a punitive aspect to penalizing overly aggressive defensive play, the current penalty spot is probably too close to the goal.
Remember in the World Cup, 81 percent of trips to the penalty spot result in goals. That’s a really high number, and the core reason these penalties in the box often provide the biggest inflection points of these matches. What if the spot were moved back? What if that number were 50 percent or 33 percent instead? How would moving the penalty spot back a few yards affect this situation? If players converted half their penalty shots, would fouls in the box go way up? What if there were two penalty spots, a farther one for incidental fouls, a closer one for flagrant fouls?
These are interesting hypothetical questions. But they don’t have to be hypothetical, and maybe it’s time FIFA examines how it calls and penalizes fouls near the goal. Last week, I wrote about how it’s time for the NBA to at least consider moving back its 3-point arc, since that shot has become easier and more frequent than ever. Perhaps it’s also time for FIFA to do something similar. That unassuming little white dot in the grass too often becomes the most important mark on the pitch; we should at least put some thought into where it is.
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IPH4102, a first-in-class anti-KIR3DL2 monoclonal antibody, in patients with relapsed or refractory cutaneous T-cell lymphoma: an international, first-in-human, open-label, phase 1 trial.
IPH4102 is a first-in-class monoclonal antibody targeting KIR3DL2, a cell surface protein that is expressed in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, and predominantly in its leukaemic form, Sézary syndrome. We aimed to assess the safety and activity of IPH4102 in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. We did an international, first-in-human, open-label, phase 1 clinical trial with dose-escalation and cohort-expansion parts in five academic hospitals in the USA, France, the UK, and the Netherlands. Eligible patients had histologically confirmed relapsed or refractory primary cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, an Eastern Cooperative Oncology group performance score of 2 or less, were aged 18 years or older, and had received at least two previous systemic therapies. Ten dose levels of IPH4102, administered as an intravenous infusion, ranging from 0·0001 mg/kg to 10 mg/kg, were assessed using an accelerated 3 + 3 design. The primary endpoint was the occurrence of dose-limiting toxicities during the first 2 weeks of treatment, defined as toxicity grade 3 or worse lasting for 8 or more days, except for lymphopenia. Global overall response by cutaneous T-cell lymphoma subtype was a secondary endpoint. Safety and activity analyses were done in the per-protocol population. The study is ongoing and recruitment is complete. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02593045. Between Nov 4, 2015, and Nov 20, 2017, 44 patients were enrolled. 35 (80%) patients had Sézary syndrome, eight (18%) had mycosis fungoides, and one (2%) had primary cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, not otherwise specified. In the dose-escalation part, no dose limiting toxicity was reported and the trial's safety committee recommended a flat dose of 750 mg for the cohort-expansion, corresponding to the maximum administered dose. The most common adverse events were peripheral oedema (12 [27%] of 44 patients) and fatigue (nine [20%]), all of which were grade 1-2. Lymphopenia was the most common grade 3 or worse adverse event (three [7%]). One patient developed possibly treatment-related fulminant hepatitis 6 weeks after IPH4102 discontinuation and subsequently died. However, the patient had evidence of human herpes virus-6B infection. Median follow-up was 14·1 months (IQR 11·3-20·5). A confirmed global overall response was achieved in 16 (36·4% [95% CI 23·8-51·1]) of 44 patients, and of those, 15 responses were observed in 35 patients with Sézary syndrome (43% [28·0-59·1]). IPH4102 is safe and shows encouraging clinical activity in patients with relapsed or refractory cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, particularly those with Sézary syndrome. If confirmed in future trials, IPH4102 could become a novel treatment option for these patients. A multi-cohort, phase 2 trial (TELLOMAK) is underway to confirm the activity in patients with Sézary syndrome and explore the role of IPH4102 in other subtypes of T-cell lymphomas that express KIR3DL2. Innate Pharma.
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Q:
Detecting if a string is a double or long in C
I'm dealing with an char[] containing text which should represent a double number value OR a long number.
I'm in a need to write a function that detects which of the above data-types is represented (if any).
I thought about using strtol() and check if it fails to parse the entire string, and if it fails, using strtod().
I would be happy to see whether there is a better option to do so.
Thanks.
A:
I thought about using strtol() and check if it fails to parse the entire string, and if it fails, using strtod().
I think that's a good idea and I don't think there is a better one. Implementing your own parsing routine is generally a bad idea.
I would trim the string from trailing whitespace before calling strtol to avoid false negatives.
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French Post-Structuralism and the Critical Analysis of Contemporary Sporting Culture
In varying ways, then, the post-structuralists show the tensions within seeming truths, the difficulties involved even in seemingly ordinary understandings, the constant effort of construction involved in accepted truths, as well as the constant tendency of those truths to break down and reveal their internal inconsistencies and aporias. (Calhoun, 1995: 113-14)
The Zeitgeist of the modern era was based on the Enlightenment assumption of the inevitable progress and advancement of individuals, and hence society, resulting from the circulation of rational scientifically based knowledges, technologies and institutions. To many these foundations of modernity have conclusively failed to live up to their advanced billing. According to Stuart Hall, ‘The troubled thought surfaces that modernity’s triumphs and successes are rooted, not simply in progress and enlightenment, but also in violence, oppression and exclusion, in the archaic, the violent, the untransformed, the repressed aspects of social life’ (Hall, 1992a: 16). Rather than alleviating the social divisions of the pre-Enlightenment, premodern age, the production, circulation and institutionalization of modern knowledges has merely exacerbated the separation between the informed and the ill-informed, the empowered and the disem-powered, the exploiter and the exploited, the haves and the have-nots. Given the incestuous relationship between conventional social theorizing and the project of modernity—most deleteriously manifest in the modern search for objective and scientific analyses of human existence that would contribute to the ‘rational organization of everyday social life’ (Habermas, 1981: 9)—post-structuralism emerged as a loosely aligned series of philosophical, political and theoretical rejoinders to the unrest and turbulence that engulfed modernizing France during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Thus, from its roots within the popular responses to the perverse flowering of the Enlightenment project in postwar France, through its appropriation within North American, British, Japanese and Australasian intellectual cultures, the unifying element of post-structuralism’s varied strands has been the generation of the type of knowledge that would ameliorate the deindividualizing rationalities, and violent subject hierarchies, that have come to characterize the dystopian conditions of late modernity.
French post-structuralism’s extraordinary global diffusion is matched by its expansive migration across intellectual domains. Originally the preserve of literary studies and criticism, over the past 15 years post-structuralism has made its presence felt throughout the (sub)disciplinary structure of the fragmenting social sciences and humanities. Indeed, as evidenced by its appearance in areas as diverse as African studies (Pouwels, 1992), education (Usher, 1989), family studies (Fish, 1993), geography (Lawson, 1995), health (Lupton, 1993), Italian studies (Smith, 1994), rural studies (Martin, 1995) and social history (Steinberg, 1996), it is evident that post-structuralism has become a constituent feature of contemporary intellectual life. Despite such academic ubiquity, post-structuralism is only now beginning to make its presence felt within the sociology of sport. Indeed, until relatively recently post-structuralist-orientated research has been received with a perplexing mixture of defensive dismissal and haughty disdain by large sections of the sociology of sport community. While such sentiments persist among certain circles within the internecine conflicts that mark the sociology of sport’s intellectual maturation, there are significant rumblings which would suggest that post-structuralist texts are being read, and imaginatively appropriated, by a small group of scholars seeking to critically theorize the interplay between contemporary sporting formations, language, power and subjectivity.
As has long been established by advocates of contrasting theoretical frameworks (Brohm, 1978; Dunning and Sheard, 1979; Gruneau, 1988; Guttmann, 1978; Hargreaves, 1986; Ingham, 1978), the appearance of contemporary sport formations was inextricably bound to the careering institutional and ideological ‘juggernaut’ (Giddens, 1990) of modernity:
Sport, as we experience it, developed in response to and as part of the dynamics and practices associated with modernity. … Sport is celebrated for its diversity, individuality, discipline, order, and solidarity: as a mythic practice, sport is understood as a democratic and meritocratic site in which individuals compete. (Cole, 1995: 228)
Taking into consideration its preoccupation with the constitution and crisis of modernity, post-structuralism represents a legitimate alternative to the more established theoretical schools within the sociology of sport (see Jarvie and Maguire, 1994) for those seeking to examine the nature and influence of modern sport discourses, practices and institutions. As well as expressing modernity’s individualistic, rational and instrumental impulses, the formations and discourses of modern sport simultaneously embody the de-individualizing rationalities, and violent subject hierarchies, that characterize the unravelling modern condition. Paraphrasing Featherstone (1985), post-structuralism thus allows us to expose the dark side of sporting modernity by challenging the ethos of rational human progress embodied by—and within—modern sport culture.
This chapter is intended to provide an overview of the growing body of post-structuralist informed scholarship within the sociology of sport. Following a broad-based genealogy of the post-structuralist project, focused on its roots within French intellectual culture, this discussion concentrates on the work of three pivotal French post-structuralist theorists, namely, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault and Jean Baudrillard. This list is necessarily short since the work of other post-structuralists (such as Georges Bataille, Gilles Deleuze, Emmanuel Levinas, Jean-François Lyotard) appears so infrequently, if at all, within the sociology of sport literature. In addition, while it is tempting to include the work of Pierre Bourdieu—who is of the same generation of French intellectuals, and has done important work on cultural (re)production, much of which discusses sport (see Bourdieu, 1978, 1984, 1988)—his work will not be discussed within this chapter. It is felt Bourdieu’s project exhibits significantly different intellectual antecedents and sensibilities to those displayed by the post-structuralists identified herein. As Bourdieu himself stated:
If I had to characterize my work in a couple of words, that is, as is often done these days, to apply a label to it, I would talk of constructivist structuralism or of structuralist constructivism, taking the word structuralist in a sense very different from that given to it by the Saussurean or Lévi-Straussian tradition. (Bourdieu, 1990: 123)
Returning to what is discussed in this chapter, the overviews of Derridean, Foucauldian and Baudrillardian theorizing will provide a necessarily brief summary of their respective post-structuralist approaches, and highlight the noteworthy studies which—to varying degrees—have appropriated these theories as a means of, and framework for, interrogating particular aspects of contemporary sport culture. The chapter concludes by offering some future directions for the burgeoning relationship between post-structuralist theory and the sociology of sport.
Far from being a definitive statement—something hardly appropriate in any post-structuralist orientated discussion—this chapter is intended to stimulate the all-important, and as of yet not fully realized, goal of critically engaging and evaluating the philosophical, epistemological and ontological significance of post-structuralism for the sociology of sport. In reference to the uncritical adoption of contemporary French social and cultural philosophy by North American intellectuals within an array of academic fields, Gottdiener has opined that such intellectual trends occurred without rigorous discussion ‘as if they [North American scholars] had sprung, like Athena, full-blown from some Gallic source of intrinsic truth’ (1995: 156). In order for the global sociology of sport community to avoid falling foul of such accusations, we are compelled to initiate an exacting debate pertaining to the merits, or otherwise, of post-structuralist theorizing as contributions to our body of knowledge. More than a decade ago, Kurzweil (1986: 113) announced that Derrida ‘is no longer discussed in Paris,’ and since there has long been talk of a post-post-structuralism (Brantlinger, 1992; Johnson, 1987), to many this call to evaluate post-structuralism would seem a passé project in the extreme. Nevertheless, we cannot, and indeed should not, feel any guilt or embarrassment for not having fully worked through this task. At the present time, what we should be conscious of is recognizing the need to rigorously engage post-structuralist thought before we either blithely relegate it to some intellectual wasteland, or blindly appropriate it as the next theoretical nirvana for the sociology of sport.
A Genealogy of the Discursive Post-Structuralist Subject
Overwhelmingly, the direction of post-structuralist thought has been to emphasize the ‘constituted’ nature of the subject—not merely aspects of the subject … but the very constitution of subjectivity per se. In locating this process of constitution at the level of language structure and acquisition, post-structuralist theory indicates both the inevitability of experiencing ‘subject-ness’ and also its unavoidable emptiness. (Macdonald, 1991: 49)
Before delving any further into the post-structuralist morass it should be noted that some commentators use ‘post-structuralism’ and ‘postmodernism’ interchangeably. Others acknowledge their interchangeable nature, yet choose to use derivatives of the more seductive term postmodern as an umbrella term for both (see Firat and Venkatesh, 1995; Grenz, 1996; Rosenau, 1992). This chapter studiously counters this trend. It is my contention that post-structuralism’s distinct intellectual lineage, and focus, render it too important to be subsumed under the broad and ambiguous banner of postmodernism. Although postmodern to the extent that they uniformly repudiate modern notions of the centred subject, and related claims to the existence of universal objective truths (Ashley, 1994), post-structuralists clearly differ in the extent to which they engage—or even acknowledge the existence of—the well-rehearsed manifestations of the postmodern condition (see Connor, 1989; Featherstone, 1991; McRobbie, 1994). Post-structuralists are linked by their mutual concern with radically problematizing modernity, utilizing their own interpretation of post-Saussurean theory, but they also differ markedly with respect to their particular engagements with the modern project: whereas Derrida deconstructed the philosophical foundations of modernity, Foucault excavated modern disciplinary knowledges and institutions, and Baudrillard effectively announced the end of modernity. In this manner, post-structuralism incorporates theorizing that respectively asserts that the modern project either should be in, is presently in, or has been deposed by, a state of terminal crisis. The focus of post-structuralism would thus appear to oscillate between modern, late modern and indeed postmodern conjunctures. Any uncritical conflation of post-structuralism and postmodernism would therefore appear to be misleading, inaccurate and thereby ill-advised.
It is a well-rehearsed dictum that French post-structuralism sprang forth during the late 1960s and early 1970s as both a political response to particular historical circumstances, and as a counter to the interpretive inadequacies of prevailing social doctrines. Regardless of the veracity of this assertion, if we are to truly engage both the complexities and vagaries of post-structuralism, we are implored—albeit briefly—to revisit the context of modernizing France, which spawned this ‘post-Marxian, postcommunist Left standpoint’ (Seidman, 1994: 201). Failing to do so would make us liable to the charges of indiscriminate theoretical pillaging (Bannet, 1989) that, within wider academic circles, has characterized much research aligned under the post-structuralist banner. This dubious practice is especially troublesome when researchers appropriate particular theoretical discourses and concepts without fully acknowledging, or perhaps even recognizing, the social, political, economic, technological and philosophical contexts which fashioned them, and which are necessarily implicated in their use. In mitigating against such a potentially debilitating tendency within the sociology of sport, this section contextualizes the post-structuralist project, and provides the foundation for the more detailed discussions of the work of Derrida, Foucault and Baudrillard which follows. More simply expressed, as one commentator noted, it is important not to overlook the ‘Frenchness of French philosophy’ (Matthews, 1996: 1-13).
As with the Enlightenment movement in eighteenth-century Europe—vanguarded as it was by French philosophes such as Voltaire, Diderot and Rousseau—the vibrancy and dynamism of French intellectual culture in the post-Second World War era played a significant role in the advancement of post-Enlightenment social philosophies. The attendant social, political, economic and technological modernization that followed France’s liberation from Nazi occupation wrought profound changes in the constitution and experience of everyday French life (Rigby, 1991). In order to account for these radical transformations which neutered the relevance of existing social philosophies, ‘New social theories emerged to articulate the sense of dynamic change experienced by many in postwar France, analysing the new forms of mass culture, the consumer society, technology, and modernized urbanization’ (Best and Kellner, 1991: 17). These social philosophies, emanating from the intense ferment of postwar French intellectual culture, could be collectively labelled postempiricist to the extent that they countered the dominant positivist empiricism, which asserted that knowledge can only be gleaned from that which can be experienced, and thereby verified, through sensory perception (Hamilton, 1992). It should be stressed, however, that ‘The unity defined by the very term postempiricist is defined by a shared opposition to positivism, rather than a settled agreement about the alternative’ (Morrow, 1994: 75).
The Enlightenment rational humanism that underpinned the mastery of the human sciences in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries provided the dominant stratagem for interpreting the structure and experience of modernity during the early and middle twentieth century. Nevertheless, existentialism in the 1940s, structuralism in the 1960s, and post-structuralism in the 1970s, sequentially developed as competing, and oftentimes contradictory, postempiricist responses to what Halton (1995) described as the ‘unbearable enlightenment of [modern] being.’ Although in very differing ways, existentialism, structuralism and post-structuralism all represent important epistemological and ontological challenges to the modern hegemony of the liberal humanist subject, which uncritically placed ‘man [sic] at the centre of history’ and made ‘him the privileged creator of meaning’ (Kearney, 1987: 119). Hence, from one vantage point, this section is centrally concerned with highlighting the changing understandings of the human subject and subjectivity in postwar French social thought, each of which offered contrasting explanations for the derivation of ‘the conscious and unconscious thoughts and emotions of the individual, her [sic] sense of herself and her ways of understanding the world’ (Weedon, 1997: 32).
Existentialism
In order to chart—in a genealogical fashion—the trajectories of postempiricist social theorizing, one is implored to briefly return to the rise of French existentialism within the late 1940s and early 1950s. The flowering of existentialism has been linked to the heroism of the French resistance movement which dominated the national popular imagination in the immediate postwar era. French public culture enthusiastically embraced the heroes and heroines of the resistance as selfless individuals who successfully challenged the violence and oppression imposed by the fascist totalitarianism of the occupying Nazis. These underground volunteers, willing to sacrifice their lives in the cause of French freedom, became an important source of postwar collective pride and identity. French intellectual culture could hardly be divorced from the ‘heroic ethos of the war resistance’ (Seidman, 1994: 199). Thus, within this context, existentialism’s celebration of the autonomous subject came to the fore as a critical response to the de-individualizing tendencies of both logical positivism, and Cartesian speculative philosophy:
In philosophy, especially since the end of the war, we have witnessed a general reaction against the systematizing mind, and perhaps even against science itself. It is probably because the passion for final and totalitarian truths has become so pervasive that the individual, threatened by the generality and abstraction which are shutting him in, is fighting a fight of the last hour against his imminent drowning in universal laws. (Campbell, 1968: 137)
Descombes described postwar French existentialists such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, as the generation ‘of the three H’s’ (1980: 2), because both the phenomenological and Marxist strands of existentialism were profoundly informed by varied appropriations of Hegelian dialectics, Husserlian phenomenology and Heideggerian hermeneutics (Descombes, 1980: 9-74; Morrow, 1994: 121-3). Although far from a unified philosophical doctrine—indeed, Macquarrie preferred to view existentialism as a philosophical style—there do exist some identifying tenets of existential philosophy which Macquarrie characterized as ‘family resemblances’ (1972: 18). Uppermost amongst these unifying traits stands the existential notion of the human subject as agent, which clearly counters the domineering presence of the Cartesian self as a thinking subject within Western philosophy (Macmurray, 1957). Existential ontology argues that human existence cannot be reduced to Descartes’s cogito ergo sum, rather it is prefigured on the understanding of a potentially absurd universe, populated by isolated individuals who are solely responsible for the creation of their own conscience, consciousness, actions and thereby existence. According to Sartre:
We mean that man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world—and defines himself afterwards. If man, as the existentialist sees him, is not definable, it is because to begin with he is nothing. He will not be anything until later, and then he will be what he makes of himself. (1956: 290)
In a political sense, this condition of radical voluntarism necessitates that individuals become responsible for their involvement in, and the stance they take toward, the world in which they exist (Cooper, 1990: viii).
Without question existentialism reached deep into the recesses of postwar popular existence. Primarily through the work of Jack Kerouac, existentialism was vaunted as a de rigueur intellectual accessory for the near-mythic Beat generation, and the sizeable cohort of predominantly young and middle-class, angst-ridden, black-enrobed disciples on both sides of the Atlantic (for a lighthearted synopsis of the relationship between existentialism and popular culture see Thorne, 1993: 220-1, 73-4). However, as with any popular movement, existentialism’s ascendance within the academy proved to be considerably less enduring. As befits the irrational process of epistemic evolution (Kuhn, 1970), in true adversarial fashion, structuralism surfaced as an attempt to wrestle the ‘role of the subject in social thought’ away from existentialism’s unscientific subjectivism (Poster, 1975: 306).
Structuralism
Once again, it is important to broadly ‘recon-textualize’ (Bannet, 1989) the epistemological and ontological shift from existentialism to structuralism in relation to the broader changes experienced within postwar France. While it continued to resonate with the French psyche, as the 1950s drew on, the cultural cen-trality of the resistance movement became subsumed under the weight of more immediate concerns. Similarly, the radical voluntarist subjectivity vaunted by existentialism became less germane to the changing experiences of the French populace. The French leader, General de Gaulle, had initiated an aggressive process of postwar modernization—based on the rapid industrialization, urbanization, commercialization and centralized bureaucratization of French society—with the goal of engineering France’s belated re-emergence as a global power to rival the United States and the Soviet Union. Although failing to reassert the world significance France had enjoyed during much of the nineteenth century, by the end of the 1950s, de Gaulle’s policies had wrought substantial changes in the experience of everyday French life (Rigby, 1991). As Ardagh recorded:
France went through a spectacular renewal. A stagnant economy turned into one of the world’s most dynamic and successful, as material modernization moved along at a hectic pace and an agriculture-based society became mainly an urban and industrial one. Prosperity soared, bringing with it changes in lifestyles, and throwing up some strange conflicts between rooted French habits and new modes. (Ardagh, 1982: 13)
It is perhaps too simplistic to attribute the ascent of structuralism solely to the birth of a French technocratic and neocapitalist state (Bannet, 1989). Nevertheless it would be foolish to think there were no connection whatsoever. Certainly, there would appear to exist a homologous relationship between de Gaulle’s modern French technocracy, and structuralism’s highly rationalized and scientific goal of constructing predictive models pertaining to the order and coherence of human existence (Seidman, 1994).
The man widely thought responsible for bringing ‘structuralism from the quiet halls of linguistic faculties to the cacophony of the philosophical marketplace was the anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss’ (Poster, 1975: 307). Formed within his earlier works (Lévi-Strauss, 1961, 1967, 1969), the publication of Lévi-Strauss’s The Savage Mind (1966b) in 1962 marked the beginning of the era in which structuralism dominated the French intellectual scene (Poster, 1975). Within the final chapter of The Savage Mind (1966b), Lévi-Strauss engaged in a rambling critique of Sartre’s brand of existentialism, and explicated the ontological and epistemological foundations of a structuralism defined in explicit opposition to existentialism. Existentialism posited a voluntarist ontology based upon the centrality of human agency, which Lévi-Strauss renounced for contributing nothing to the understanding of the nature of Being:
As for the trend of thought which was to find fulfillment in existentialism, it seemed to me to be the exact opposite of true thought, by reason of its indulgent attitude toward the illusions of subjectivity. To promote private preoccupations to the rank of philosophical problems is dangerous and may end in a kind of shop-girl’s philosophy … [which disrupts the mission of philosophy as being] … to understand Being in relation to itself, and not in relation to oneself. (Lévi-Strauss, 1961: 62)
In shifting the nexus of ontological understanding from subject to structure, Lévi-Strauss favored a radical antihumanism that dissolved or—to engage what became a (post)structuralist leitmotif—decenteredthe human subject through the assertion of objective, universal structures as the principal defin-ers of human existence. Lévi-Strauss honed this structuralist understanding under the tutelage of the renowned phonologist Roman Jakobson, whom he encountered at the New School in New York during his enforced exile from the antisemitism which accompanied the Nazi occupation of France. Jakobson drew Lévi-Strauss’s attention to the structural linguistics of the turn-of-the-century Swiss semiologist Ferdinand de Saussure, whose posthumously assembled Course in General Linguistics (Saussure, 1959) laid the groundwork for the linguistic turn that spawned structuralism and post-structuralism.
Saussure’s most important bequest to his theoretical heirs can be found in his repudiation of the rationalist view of language as a natural mechanism of naming, based on the existence of intrinsic and immutable links between words and material or imaginary objects. Instead of slavishly reflecting reality, Saussure argued that language actively shaped human consciousness, and thereby informed the understanding, and experience, of material and imaginary worlds. In conceptualizing language as a social—rather than natural—phenomenon, Saussure stressed the difference between la langue (the rules and depth structure of the language system) and la parole (the spoken product of individuals’ engagement with the language system). Or, as Sturrock put it, ‘If langue is a structure then parole is an event’ (1986: 9). Saussure asserted that language had to be analysed synchronically, with particular regard to what were identified as constant structural elements, as opposed to adopting a diachronic focus on the historical shifts in linguistic expression. This ahistoric synchronic approach to understanding the structure of language revolved around the identification of the bifurcated constitution of the sign as the primary mechanism of meaning construction, or signification. Saussure described the difference and interrelationship between the two intimately united elements of the linguistic sign—the signifier (the visual mark, acoustic expression, or sound-image of the sign) and the signified (the concept or mental image associated with the sign)—as an ‘opposition that separates them from each other and for the whole which they are parts’ (Saussure, 1959: 67).
Perhaps Saussure’s most profound statement, regarding furthering the understanding of language as a system of meaning, can be gleaned from his assertion of the differential relation between signs through which meaning is created, ‘Everything that has been said up to this point boils down to this: in language there are only differences … The idea or phonic substance that a sign contains is of less importance than the other signs which surround it’ (Saussure, 1959: 120). Leading on from this insight, Saussure stressed the importance of binary oppositions (his example being father and mother), in as much as the ‘entire mechanism of language … is based on oppositions of this kind and on the phonic and conceptual differences that they imply’ (Saussure, 1959: 121). Another of Saussure’s important dictates related to his understanding of linguistics centered on his assertion of the arbitrary nature of the sign. The sign can be considered arbitrary, because in almost all cases, there is no fixed or natural unity between the signified and the signifier. The arbitrary linkage between the two elements of the sign is based not on some necessary and immutable connection, but rather ‘every means of expression used in a society is based, in principle, on a collective norm—in other words, on convention’ (Saussure, 1959: 68). As Saussure pointed out, there is no preordained link between the letter ‘t’ and the sound with which it has come to be associated (Saussure, 1959: 119). Moreover, the sound-image, or word, ‘tree’ (to cite another of Saussure’s examples) is associated with the concept tree only because of the contingent conventions of the linguistic community in which the process of signification takes place.
He transposed the structuralist conceptions to the study of anthropological data, relying on the sign as a central term. It was not simply an analysis of the transmission of signs which functions within sociality, but also a matter of envisaging structures as symbolic systems, that is, the structural arrangement as productive of meaning. (Coward and Ellis, 1981: 155)
From the findings of his own field research, and from that of others, Lévi-Strauss asserted that the structure of the human mind is directly related to that of the linguistic and material expressions that frame social existence: all are based on a set of universal binary oppositions, including those of nature/culture, life/death, sacred/profane, light/darkness, raw/cooked, male/female. Confounding the patronizing Eurocentrism of traditional anthropology, Lévi-Strauss declared his findings were equally applicable to modern societies. In other words, according to Lévi-Strauss, there did exist a truly universal logic, and the varied linguistic and material articulations of particular cultural formations are simply the shifting permutations and coalitions of the omnipresent binary code.
Lévi-Strauss’s assertion that ‘everything in culture, in society and in the mind is governed by the same universal and unconscious structures’ (Bannet, 1989: 259) advanced structuralism as a legitimatescientific practice, involving the objective, rational and rigorous search for predictive universal knowledge of the human condition. As Harland noted, ‘The Structuralists, in general, are concerned to know the [human] world—to uncover it through detailed observational analysis and to map it out under extended explicatory grids’ (Harland, 1987: 2). Structuralism decreed that human existence could only be understood by identifying the universal logics within the cultural systems of (language, ritual, myth) that gave expression to human experience, instead of by dissecting the individual articulations of such cultural systems. In this way, Lévi-Strauss advanced the radical notion that ‘the ultimate goal of the human sciences [is] not to constitute, but to dissolve man [sic]’ (1966a: 247). Ironically, given its avowed ‘scientific pretensions’ (Best and Kellner, 1991: 20), structuralism displayed less congruence with other edicts of Enlightenment thought; most notably those linked to the nature of the human subject.
As Grenz noted in relation to Lévi-Strauss’s structuralism, ‘it is not just the idea of the self that he rejects: he also rejects subjectivity’ (1996: 119). Lévi-Strauss clearly countered the European humanism that undergirded understandings of the modern subject as the fully centered and unified subject, innately endowed with the capacity for reasoned thought and action. In asserting that the structuralist subject is only constituted in, and through, its relationship with language, Lévi-Strauss, through Saussure—and in sharp contrast to the overt humanism of Sartre’s radical voluntarism—decentered the modern subject by refuting any notion of agency in regard to individuals’ ability to create their own meanings of self and surroundings. According to Saussure, since linguistic convention only exists ‘by virtue of a sort of contract signed by the members of the community,’ the creation of meaning becomes a ‘largely unconscious’ act (1959: 14, 72) in which the individual plays little more than a reproductive role. So, as Coward and Ellis so succinctly expressed it, ‘Lévi-Strauss’s structuralism shows us that the human subject is not homogenous and in control of himself, he is constructed by a structure whose very existence escapes his gaze’ (1981: 160).
Post-Structuralism
The events of May 1968 represent an important watershed in the political, economic, cultural, and intellectual history of postwar France. Fermenting student dissatisfaction with the systemic inequities that dominated de Gaulle’s repressive bureaucratic regime erupted from the universities, and spread on to the streets of Paris. The center of Paris thus became the site of mass demonstrations, and numerous violent clashes between students and the police. As the popular agitation escalated, the student movement found willing allies among, and forged strategic alliances with, both the trade unions and teachers’ organizations. This broad-based antiestablishment coalition called a general strike on 13 May, which within days was heeded by a sizeable proportion of France’s working population. The nation was thus brought to a complete standstill. Significantly, many of France’s professional élite—among them many actors, journalists, lawyers, physicians and musicians—also became actively involved in this popular unrest, by assisting in seizing control of the cultural institutions—including television, radio, newspapers—through which knowledge of current events was produced and circulated. Hence, ‘What began as incidents of student unrest escalated into a broad-based revolt against French capitalism, Catholicism, and consumerism’ (Seidman, 1994: 200).
Within weeks, de Gaulle’s government engineered the collapse of the mass insurrection. Nevertheless, as well as creating a climate of instability within the nation in general, the whole demonstration of dissent stirred a sentiment that had been brewing for some time amongst certain factions of the French cultural intelligentsia; namely, that structuralism’s rigid and ahistorical scientism was an inadequate theoretical framework for critically deciphering the complexities, contradictions and dynamism of life within modernizing France. Moreover, the events of May 1968 demonstrated the contingent and constructed nature of knowledge, and its manifestations within institutions and expressions of power. Within this highly politicized climate, structuralism’s focus on establishing universal rules of linguistic and social order was viewed as virtual intellectual capitulation to, and thereby reproduction of, the contemporary French power structure. Structuralism’s newly found untenability thus provided the impetus for the loose aggregation of a number of philosophically and theoretically aligned French intellectuals under the ‘amorphous’ (Denzin, 1991: 2) banner of post-structuralism, whose unifying feature was the generation of politically subversive knowledge concerned with identifying and nurturing difference, disunity and disorder within the oppressive formations of (French) modernity.
The intellectual journey of noted French semiologist Roland Barthes, from his enthusiastic appropriation of Saussurean linguistics in the classic Mythologies (1972) to his later focus on the fragmented and subjective aspects of reading in works such as The Pleasure of the Text (Barthes, 1975), provides a neat summation of the shift from structuralism to post-structuralism. Barthes is also an interesting figure for sport sociologists since, as evidenced by his analyses of wrestling (1972: 15-25) and the Tour de France (1979: 79-90), he was the only French (post-)structuralist to discuss sport in any sort of depth. Yet, in order to better fathom structuralism’s metamorphosis into post-structuralism, at this juncture it would be more instructive to turn to the profoundly influential figure of Jacques Derrida. According to Docker (1994), post-structuralism’s ‘formative text’ can be charted to a paper given in 1966 by Derrida entitled ‘Structure, sign and play in the discourse of the human sciences’ (Derrida, 1970). Within this noted ‘and by now fetishized’ (Radhakrishnan, 1990: 145) presentation, Derrida was expected to introduce structuralism to the American academy. In the event, he used influences from Heidegger, Nietzsche and Freud, to weave a systematic and scathing critique of Lévi-Strauss’s work in particular, which identified the need to go beyond, or post, structuralism.
Before taking this discussion any further, it should be noted that the prefix ‘post,’ and particularly its usage within the term post-structuralism, should not be interpreted as a comprehensive and conclusive repudiation of structuralism. Rather, post-structuralism is ‘not “post” in the sense of having killed structuralism off, it is “post” only in the sense of coming after and of seeking to extend structuralism in its rightful direction’ (Sturrock, 1986: 137). Refining this point, it is evident that post-structuralism builds upon structuralism’s Saussurean understanding and focus on the constitution of meaning, reality and subjectivity within language. For this reason, Weedon makes the crucial point that in ‘this sense all poststructuralism is post-Saussurean’ (1997: 22). Instead of delving into the intricacies of particular post-structuralist theories (which after all is the focus of the subsequent section), this discussion will concern itself with providing a broad outline of the post-Saussurean, and for that matter post-Lévi-Straussian, nature of the post-structuralist project.
Evidently, Derrida’s post-structuralist proclamation, ‘There is nothing outside of the text [there is no outside text; il n’y a pas d’ hors texte]’ (Derrida, 1976: 158), is derived from Saussure’s recognition of the importance of discourse—in the Foucauldian (Foucault, 1974) sense of the term, subjectifying symbolic systems or productions of truth—in establishing the meanings that individuals attribute to themselves, others and their social surroundings. Harking back to the Saussurean roots of post-structuralism, Brown noted:
Language, according to this perspective, does not reflect reality but actively constitutes it. The world, in other words, is not composed of meaningful entities to which language attaches names in a neutral and mimetic fashion. Language, rather, is involved in the construction of reality, the understandings that are derived from it, the sense that is made of it. (1995: 291)
Some critiques have misconstrued post-structuralism’s linguistic focus as a denial of material existence itself. However, Derrida in particular, and post-structuralists in general, are not advocates of a transcendental solipsism laboring under the ‘absurd delusion’ that nothing exists ‘outside the play of textual inscription’ (Norris, 1987: 148-9). Since the meaning of the world is constituted through language, it is not that there is nothing outside of the text, rather post-structuralism is based on the assumption that there is nothing meaningful outside of the text. This is a crucial, if sometimes conveniently overlooked, distinction.
Despite evident influences, post-structuralists differ from Saussure in that they deny the existence of any stable relationship between the signifier and the signified. According to Saussure, although it is purely arbitrary, the connection between signifiers and signifieds’ once established by the relatively inert conventions of the linguistic community, becomes virtually immediate, unitary and stable (Coward and Ellis, 1981): ‘the statement that everything in language is negative is true only if the signified and the signifer are considered separately; when we consider the sign in its totality, we have something that is positive in its own class’ (Saussure, 1959: 14, 120). Post-structuralist thought asserts the impossibility of a fixed and stable relationship between signifier and signified, and hence points to the necessary instability of the process of signification. Once again, this refinement was prompted by Derrida’s seminal work. Foremost amongst post-structuralists, it was Derrida who demonstrated Saussure’s failure to comprehend, or indeed develop, the full significance of his linguistic theorizing (Sturrock, 1986).
Derrida highlighted the incomplete nature of Saussure’s understanding of difference through his invention of the term différance. Whilst ‘neither a word nor a concept,’ Derrida’s différance cleverly conflated the two meanings associated with the Latin verb differre (Derrida, 1982a: 7). It incorporated both the notion of to differ, ‘to be not identical, to be other, discernible, etc.,’ and the concept of to defer, ‘to temporize, to take recourse … a detour that suspends the accomplishment’ (Derrida, 1982a: 8). Evidently, Saussure’s notion of deriving meaning from phonic and conceptual difference leads Derrida to proclaim the necessary emptiness of language (the sign). Denying the existence of a fixed, immutable unity between signifiers and signifieds, Derrida viewed the meaning of the signified as deriving from the infinite ‘play of differences which are generated by signifiers which are themselves the product of those differences’ (Sarup, 1993: 44). The dynamism of the sign arises because ‘The play of differences supposes, in effect, syntheses and referrals which forbid at any moment, or in any sense, that a simple element be present in and of itself, referring only to itself’ (Derrida, 1981: 26). Turning to Eagleton in order to clarify and underline this pivotal aspect of post-structuralist thought:
Another way of putting what we have just said is that meaning is not immediately present in the sign. Since the meaning of a sign is a matter of what the sign is not, its meaning is always in some sense absent from it too. Meaning, if you like, is scattered or dispersed along the whole chain of signifiers; it cannot be easily nailed down, it is never fully present in any sign alone, but is rather a kind of constant flickering presence and absence together. Reading a text is more like tracing this process of constant flickering than it is like counting the beads on a necklace. (Eagleton, 1983: 128)
Within any sign there is the ‘“trace” of a now-absent reality or a trace of its former connections to other elements’ (Grenz, 1996: 145). Thus, it is the interplay between presence and absence invoked by the notion of the ‘trace’ (Derrida, 1981) which explains how the signified is implicated in a never-ending chain of self-referential signifiers which leads to the perpetual deferral of meaning: the ‘indefinite referral of signifier to signifier … gives the signified meaning no respite … it always signifies again’ (Derrida, 1978: 25). In order to demonstrate the always inadequate, incomplete nature of the signified, Derrida (1976) utilized the Heideggerian strategy of putting a cross through words, thereby indicating that their meaning is always sous rature (under erasure).
The very impossibility of the ‘transcendental signified’—a single, stable and universal meaning of a sign outside of language—‘extends the domain and the play of significations infinitely’ (Derrida, 1978: 146). And yet, without wishing to detract from Derrida’s assertions pointing to the emptiness and incompleteness of language, communication only works when the meaning of a sign is at least temporarily fixed, and furnished with a fleeting aura of permanence. This points to post-structuralism’s concern with the necessarily political nature of language, meaning and knowledge. According to Seidman, ‘whenever a linguistic and social order is said to be fixed or meanings are assumed to be unambiguous and stable, this should be understood as less a disclosure of truth than as an act of power’ (1994: 202). While structuralism’s scientism initiated a search for rational, objectively researched and universal linguistic knowledge, post-structuralism’s scepticism sought to unearth its irrational, subjectively constructed and localized character. Thus, post-structuralism focused on illuminating:
the tensions within seeming truths, the difficulties involved even in seemingly ordinary understandings, the constant effort of construction involved in accepted truths, as well as the constant tendency of those truths to break down and reveal their internal inconsistencies and aporias. (Calhoun, 1995: 113-14)
Recognizing the constructed and contingent nature of discursive formations (in simple terms, what Bannet (1989) described as systems or regimes of interpretation) has had important ramifications for the post-structuralist understanding of the human subject. According to post-structuralists, the human subject is far from being stable, unified and whole. Rather, like the language through which it is constituted, the subject is necessarily unstable, disunited and fragmented (Hall, 1992b).
While decentering the sovereign individual (Locke, 1967) from its status as a ‘bounded entity pristine and separate unto itself’ (Kondo, 1995: 96), structuralism’s universalism inadvertently replicated the ‘humanist notion of an unchanging human nature’ (Best and Kellner, 1991: 20). Post-structuralism ‘radically problematized’ (Grossberg and Nelson, 1988: 7) structuralism’s implicit humanism, by advancing an understanding of the human subject as a dynamic and multi-accentual entity constituted ‘within, not outside, discourse … produced in specific historical and institutional sites within specific discursive formations and practices, by specific enunciative strategies’ (Hall, 1996a: 4). As much as people are invested in being seen to uphold the modern myth of the essential, originary, fixed and guaranteed identity, the subject can more accurately be described as a strategic and unstable point of identification, or suture, to the conjuncturally specific forms of subjectivity, or subject positions, constructed for us within particular discursive contexts (Cole, 1993; Hall, 1990, 1995, 1996a; Kondo, 1995). As Hall eloquently described, the process of identification through which the subject is constructed is a strategic ‘“production”, which is never complete, always in process, and always constituted within, not outside, representation’ (Hall, 1990: 222).
Invoking Althusserian conceptualizing (1971) (admittedly more structural Marxist than post-structuralist, but a figure whose theorizing ably complements post-structuralism’s focus on language and subjectivity), post-structuralism notoriously decentered the originary, unified and essential post-Cartesian subject (Hall and Gay, 1996). This was achieved by indicating how, instead of being the point of origin, the subject is in fact interpellated, or hailed, by the subject positions imbued within particular discursive formations. Despite the power of discursive structures to define subjectivity and experience, post-structuralism does involve a sense of human agency, however overdeter-mined (Cole, 1994). Such is the ‘psychological and emotional force’ (Weedon, 1997: 31) of the subject positions embedded within popular discourse, that individuals routinely, and mistakenly, credit themselves as the authors of their discursively constructed subjectivities. Thus, the individual unconsciously assumes itself to be the source of the subjective meanings, and identities, of which it is merely an effect (Heath, 1981). Further emphasizing the contradictory nature of existence, the individual is the subject of the multitudinous discursive formations within late modernity, and subjected to these discursive regimes. For in shaping (or constituting) the individual’s view of itself and the social world in which it is located, language provides the interpretive framework for both enabling and constraining the individual’s experience of that world. Hence, by dint of its perpetual reconstitution in, and through, late modernity’s shifting and multiple discursive formations, post-structuralism pointedly proclaims the precarious, constructed, contextual and processual nature of the subject (Hall, 1990, 1996a; Weedon, 1997).
Post-Sport: Reconfiguring the Focus of the Sociology
Post-structuralists offer new and challenging perspectives on the history of Western societies. Departing from liberal and Marxist social ideas which draw our attention to the economy, the state, organizational dynamics, and cultural values, they center social analysis on processes relating to the body, sexuality, identity, consumerism, medical-scientific discourses, the social role of the human sciences, and disciplinary technologies of control. (Seidman, 1994: 229)
It is interesting to note that of the post-structuralist concerns highlighted in the above quote, all have been addressed to varying degrees within the small body of post-structuralist orientated literature emanating from the sociology of sport. For instance, the body (Gruneau, 1991), sexuality (Miller, 1995), identity (Sykes, 1996), consumerism (Van Wynsberghe and Ritchie, 1998), medical-scientific discourses (Harvey and Sparks, 1991), human sciences (Whitson and MacIntosh, 1990), and disciplinary technologies (Cole and Denny, 1995), have all been addressed in sporting contexts by researchers with at least a passing affinity with, and interest in, the post-structuralist project. This sporting replication of research interests is by no means surprising, as post-structuralism’s focus on the discourses, processes and institutions that shaped modernity, strongly encourages researchers into particular avenues of enquiry related to the relationship between modern knowledge, power and the constitution of subjectivity. Since sport is dialectically implicated in the discourses (progress, rationality, individualism) and processes (industrialization, urbanization, globalization) of modernity, it could be considered an explicitly modern institution. It would thus seem wholly appropriate for the sociology of sport to use post-structuralist thought as a vehicle for excavating the discursive formations, and allied subjectivities, of contemporary sport culture.
While by no means voluminous, both individually and collectively, the growing body of post-structuralist orientated literature within the sociology of sport interrogates the structure and experience of modern sport formations. Paraphrasing Judith Butler’s (1993b) understanding of post-structuralism’s implicit critique of modernity, these studies identify that the uncritical belief in the possibility of progress as expressed through the sporting modern simply cannot be upheld with the plausibility or conviction it once possessed. These critical works make ‘accessible to sight’ the ‘not seen’ (Derrida, 1976: 163) aspects of contemporary sport culture, and thereby illuminate the contradictions, corruptions and coercions that fester beneath the commonsense fetishizing of sport within the late modern era. In this respect, it could be argued that the focus and goal of a post-structuralist sociology of sport is, and indeed should be, postsport. Not that the terrain of sport should be deserted altogether. Rather, post-structuralism compels researchers to problematize sport’s implicit relation to the modern project; a brief which involves developing politically subversive readings of sport which seek to take it beyond—or post—the oppressive, symbolically violent and exclusionary vices of its modern incarnations.
Since time and space constraints prohibit a fully in-depth overview of Derrida’s, Foucault’s and Baudrillard’s complex, extensive, yet frequently shifting bodies of work, I am forced to concentrate on highlighting the aspects of each theorist’s work that are most pertinent to furthering contemporary sport criticism. With specific reference to sociology of sport studies that have appropriated, either singly or in combination, the work of these noted post-structuralists, I intend to demonstrate the relevance of: Derrida’s grammatology for deconstructing the philosophical foundations of sporting modernity; Foucault’s genealogy for excavating sport’s status and influence as a modern disciplinary institution; and, Baudrillard’s hyperreal cosmology for mapping sport’s immersion within new regimes of representation. Each of these theorists provides important and provocative insights into developing understandings of sport as a contingent, contested and coercive discursive formation, whose popular presence significantly contributes to the constitution of the late modern subject. Thus, each of them has the potential to make important contributions to the advancement of the post-sport criticism to which I briefly alluded.
Jacques Derrida: The Discursive Logic of Modern Sport
Due to its evident complexity, it would seem an absurd task to even attempt to capture Derrida’s work within the space of a few paragraphs. Nevertheless, even such a cursory discussion is long overdue. Since Derrida’s ground-breaking works were published over 30 years ago, and since the wider reception of his writing has been through at least three distinct phases—those marked by enthusiasm and indifference, consolidation and adjustment, and finally productive yet critical engagement (Woods, 1992)—Derrida’s writing unquestionably warrants a more considered airing within the sociology of sport community. Despite arguably being the leading instigator of the post-structuralist movement, Jacques Derrida’s challenging work has been virtually ignored by sociology of sport researchers. Indeed, up to this point there have been less than a handful of sport-related studies which have utilized Derrida’s important theoretical and methodological insights in any degree of depth. Such intellectual neglect has contributed to what is perhaps the most glaring theoretical absence within the sociology of sport. More important a motivation than even overcoming the intellectual lag that, for some reason, seems to haunt the sociology of sport, Derrida’s deconstructive project continues to be of explicit relevance to the project of articulating modern sport’s relation to the stultifying discourses of modernity. This is because, as well as being Derrida’s main focus, the ‘monological statements of truth’ (Calhoun, 1995: 113) structuring Western philosophy, and indeed modern society, are graphically embodied and suggestively vindicated within the discursive economy of modern sport.
While Roland Barthes announced the ‘death of the author’ (Barthes, 1977) and, with equal deference to post-structuralist sensibilities related to textual instability, Foucault asked the pointed question ‘What difference does it make who is speaking?’ (Foucault, 1979: 160), embellishing discussions of theory with even the briefest biographical information would still seem an appealing—if perhaps inconsequential—exercise. To this end, Derrida was born in El Biar, Algiers, in 1930 (at the time Algeria was still a French département), into a lower middle-class Sephardic Jewish family. Having attained his baccalaureate in Algeria, Derrida subsequently moved to Paris to further his education. From 1952 to 1956 he studied philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure, where he became particularly interested in the work of Hegel, Heidegger and Husserl, and came into contact with the renowned Hegel scholar Jean Hippolite. Derrida subsequently taught philosophy at the Sorbonne from 1960 to 1964, followed by a more extended tenure at the École Normale Supérieure from 1964 to 1984, during which time he completed what are arguably his most significant works (see Derrida, 1973, 1976, 1978). As a result of his controversial and extensive scholarly output, Derrida became an important figure within French intellectual culture, and in 1984 was appointed to the prestigious position of Director of Studies at the École des Hautes Études en Science Sociales. Since the early 1970s Derrida also made regular teaching and lecturing trips to North America, especially to Yale University, the Johns Hopkins University and the University of California at Irvine. These trips inspired the ‘Yale deconstruction’ movement (headed by the controversial figure of the late Paul de Man) and secured for Derrida an important place within the American academy, such that Matthews commented ‘his fame is even greater in the United States than in his own country’ (1996: 166).
In other academic circles, the reception for Derrida’s radical philosophy has been less welcoming. Nowhere is this better exemplified than in the much publicized ‘Derrida affair’ (The Times, 13 May 1992) that engulfed the normally sedate halls of Cambridge University in 1992. In March of that year, senior Cambridge faculty held their annual meeting in which they decide upon the recipients for that year’s honorary degrees. Derrida’s name had been put forward for this honor yet, breaking three decades of unopposed nominations, four professors objected so virulently that they forced a university ballot over his candidacy. The whole issue thus became the forum for a public debate over Derrida’s work, and indeed post-structuralism in general. Probably the most aggressive indictment of Derrida came within a letter written to The Times by 19 members of the Internationale Akademie für Philosophie:
M. Derrida’s work does not meet accepted standards of clarity and rigour … M. Derrida’s voluminous writings in our view stretch the normal forms of academic scholarship beyond recognition … Academic status based on what seems to be little more than semi-intelligible attacks upon the values of reason, truth and scholarship is not, we submit, sufficient grounds for the awarding of an honorary degree in a distinguished university. (Barry Smith et al., Letter to the Editor, The Times, 9 May 1992)
On 16 May the result of the university ballot supported Derrida’s nomination for the honorary degree. Nevertheless, the anti-post-structuralist sentiments expressed throughout the ‘Derrida affair,’ and illustrated in the above letter, would appear to have found support within many academic disciplines, including the sociology of sport. Derrida incites such defensiveness from many mainstream academics largely because his radical deconstructive project undermines the claims to foundational knowledge espoused by mainstream philosophy, and assumed as the epistemological and ontological basis of traditional academic disciplines. Turning Barry Smith et al.’s critique back on itself, Derrida’s project blatantly delights in stretching the normal forms of academic scholarship beyond recognition, bydisrupting the values of reason and truth championed by traditional scholars.
Within his ‘general strategy of deconstruction’ (Derrida, 1981: 41), Derrida championed a ‘vigilant scepticism’ (Norris, 1987: 20) toward the binarism underpinning the Western tradition of rational thought (Boyne, 1990). As Brown neatly surmised, although it has emerged within ‘popular parlance as a chic synonym for “criticism”, “investigation” or “analysis”, deconstruction is a procedure for interrogating texts, which, by means of careful and detailed reading, seeks to expose their inconsistencies, contradictions, unrecognized assumptions and implicit conceptual hierarchies’ (Brown, 1994: 36-7). Deconstruction represents ‘guerrilla warfare against the Enlightenment heritage’ (Boyne, 1990: 90), because, influenced by Heidegger’s reading of Nietzsche, Derrida is centrally concerned with the politics and practice of subverting language, knowledge and truth. Nevertheless, Derrida affirmed the need to do more than invert binary hierarchies by substituting one pole of the binary for the other. Doing so would mean ‘simply residing within the closed field of these oppositions, thereby confirming it’ (Derrida, 1981: 41). According to Derrida:
Deconstruction cannot limit itself or proceed immediately to a neutralization; it must, by means of a double gesture, a double writing, practice an overturning of the classical opposition and a general displacement of the system. It is only on this condition that deconstruction will provide itself the means with which to intervene in the field of oppositions that it criticizes. (Derrida, 1982b: 329; emphasis in original)
Derrida thus incorporates a new form of parasitic writing, requiring a host text which the deconstructive text inhabits and disrupts, leading to the explication of the contingent, unstable, dispersed and absent nature of any meaning (Brown, 1994). As an intellectual practice, deconstruction seeks to inhabit, resist and disorganize philosophical oppositions, by challenging them from the inside (Boyne, 1990; Derrida, 1981). For Derrida, the ultimate goal of deconstruction’s textual interventions is to demonstrate ‘the ultimate undecidability’ and impossibility of the ‘deep-laid conceptual oppositions’ (Norris, 1987: 82) which constitute the basis of Western thought. To this end, he encouraged the following points of textual inhabitation and engagement.
Derrida identified that the Western philosophic tradition is based upon the logic of logocentrism, which asserted that objective, centered and universal knowledge (logos) pertaining to the empirical world exists prior to—yet can be identified and potentially expressed through—language. As Cobley put it, traditional thought has ‘unwittingly reconstructed referential modes in which the signifier operates, but it does so purely for the purposes of referring to a self-contained preexisting “concept” which exists independently of signification’ (1996: 206). The dominant strands of Western philosophy were prefigured on a binary opposition between reality and myth, which posited language’s ability to articulate, against its potential for distorting, the objective reality which was thought to exist outside consciousness: philosophy being the faithful representation of this reality, mythology being its deceptive corruption. Derrida attacked this logocentrism by denying the possibility of some ‘“word” presence, essence, truth, or reality’ serving as the authentic foundation for ‘thought, language, and experience’ (Grenz, 1996: 141-2). In other words, Derrida asserted the impossibility of any foundational, originary or essential ‘transcendental signifieds’ (Derrida, 1978) as the basis of Western rational thought.
Closely allied to logocentrism, which Grossberg cited as being ‘constitutive of modernity’ (1996: 94), is the phonocentric prejudice within modern Western philosophy. Phonocentrism refers to the privileging of the phonic (the temporal substance of speech) over the graphic (the spatial substance of writing), as the medium of true expression. Phonemes, or spoken phrases, are viewed as being pure representations of thought and consciousness, whereas graphemes, or written phrases, are less immediate, derivations and corrupted forms of speech. According to thinkers ranging from Aristotle, through Rousseau, to Saussure, speech is closer to psychic interiority, as it is a more direct, natural, sincere form of articulation, and thus a transparent expression of inner truth (Sarup, 1993). Phonocentrism is a foundation of modern notions of the fully centered, authorial human subject, for it reaffirms the ‘metaphysics of presence’ (Derrida, 1976), which asserts that individual consciousness is immediately and faithfully present in speech:
The perfection of such a language would be marked by its utter transparency. It would in no way obscure or distort the world which it represented. The dream, then, is one of language and one world perfectly attuned. The world represented by the language, unobscured by the language, would be perfectly present to the observing subject, who could then speak of what was seen. (Boyne, 1990: 91)
Phonocentrism is thus an ally of Western philosophy’s logocentrism, for it is through speech that the ‘self-presence of full self-consciousness’ (Sarup, 1993: 36) articulates the logos of universal and foundational knowledge.
Derrida undermined the phonocentric privileging of speech, by highlighting the ‘strange economy of the supplement’ (Derrida, 1976: 154) at work within binary oppositions such as that of speech and writing. According to Derrida, the word supplement refers to acts of addition and replacement. In Rousseau’s terms, writing is a ‘dangerous supplement’ (Derrida, 1976: 144) to speech, because it is both an addition to, and replacement for, the originary consciousness expressed within speech. Hence, the speech/writing binary is hierarchically ordered between the natural presence of the phoneme, and the artificial presence of the grapheme. Confounding Rousseau, Derrida argues that ‘the infinite process of supplementarity has always already infiltrated presence, always already inscribed there the space of repetition and the splitting of the self’ (Derrida, 1976: 163). Far from speech being originary, and writing derivative, both are supplements: traces of each inhabit the other, which is ‘ultimately dependent on the absent other for its own presence and meaning’ (Storey, 1993: 87).
As with the speech/writing binary, the other oppositions which structure Western thought (such as reality/myth, presence/absence, nature/culture, good/evil, sacred/profane, masculine/feminine) are based on a ‘violent hierarchy’ (Derrida, 1981: 41) in which the first term is privileged, and the second term is subordinate and therefore inferior to it. Derrida demonstrates how binary structures rely on supplementarity for their very existence, thus forbidding the possibility that any element is a unitary presence which refers to itself alone (Derrida, 1981). No element of a binary opposition is ever fully present or absent, they are both present and absent at one and the same time. This point prompted Derrida’s commentary on Rousseau, ‘who declares what he wishes to say’ while he simultaneously ‘describes that which he does not wish to say’ (Derrida, 1976: 229, emphasis in original). Rather than exhibiting the universal truth of foundational knowledge, the hierarchically ordered binary oppositions, underpinning Western thought, science and culture, strategically naturalize modern power relations, by including, valuing and avowing certain terms and positions, while simultaneously excluding, devaluing and disavowing others (Best and Kellner, 1991; Docker, 1994). As Hollinger concluded, ‘what is privileged, what is present, depends on the absent other that it seeks to dominate and erase’ (1994: 110).
Turning to Derrida’s negligible presence within the sociology of sport. Although a self-confessed ‘card carrying Foucauldian’ (Cole, 1997), within her recent work Cheryl Cole has engaged Derrida’s oeuvre in a uniquely informed and informative manner. While Cole’s (1998) broad-ranging discussion of deviance and the (re)territorialization of exercising/sporting bodies, incorporates an invigorating theoretical synthesis of Derrida, Michel Foucault and Eve Sedgwick, her appropriation of Derridean deconstruction proves to be of most relevance to this discussion. Rigorously contextualizing the discussion within contemporary American popular cultural politics, Cole unearthed the ‘naturalistic metaphysics’ (p. 272) present within the discursive logics of exercise and sport. In true deconstructionist fashion and ‘in order to unravel it or to show how it unravels itself from within,’ Cole inhabited, resisted and disorganized, the new deviant subject position of the exercise addict (p. 266). On a superficial level, the ‘discourse of addiction is one that continually reasserts and reinvents the natural,’ by policing the boundary between the natural and the un-natural, between the pure and the corrupt, and most crucially, between free will and compulsion (p. 268). However, Cole identified the impossibility of the exercise addict being an originary or essential entity, by indicating how this subject position inhabits, and is constituted by, both poles of the aforementioned binaries, the insides of which are always already ‘contaminated by their outside’ (p. 272). Moreover, the subject addicted to exercise displays a complex and seemingly contradictory relation to the free will/compulsion binary. For, the exercise addict ‘is addicted to the idea of free subjectivity, addicted to the repeated act of freely choosing health—that act which is supposed to be anti-addiction’ (p. 271). Cole’s deconstruction of the exercise addict thus pointed to the supplementary, unstable and contradictory disposition—in other words the failure—of modern rational subjectivities and thought.
Cole also pointed to sport’s status as a context for amplifying ‘the crisis of the natural,’ particularly as it equates to ‘the presumed naturalness of the body (the persistent elision of the technological condition)’ (1998: 271). Derrida confounded the opposition between natural and un-natural bodily states, engaged within debates surrounding the artificial enhancement of bodies through prosthetic devices. According to Derrida (1993: 17), these challenges to common understandings of the body emerge in ‘discourses on the subject of, for instance, artificial insemination, sperm banks, the market for surrogate mothers, organ transplants, euthanasia, sex changes, the use of drugs in sport, and especially, especially on the subject of AIDS’ (quoted in Cole, 1998: 265). Derrida indicates how the rhetorical strategy involved within these emotive discourses presumes the existence of a natural, originary, organic body, which is somehow corrupted by prosthetic engineering. Using Derrida’s insights as a starting point, Cole questions the taken-for-granted assumption of sport’s status as a natural ‘zone of authentic work,’ and an appropriate vehicle for the organic and pure body (p. 271). By being articulated as ‘the antidrug,’ pure sport is positioned in opposition to sporting practices and bodies artificially enhanced by ‘chemical prosthetics’ (pp. 271, 270). The use of drugs in sport is criminalized, because it threatens the assumed ‘“natural” normality of the body, of the body politic and the body of the individual member’ (Derrida, 1993: 14, quoted in Cole, 1998: 269). However, in seeking to ‘discern, render visible, and measure the natural and the foreign, the pure and the impure,’ drug-testing regimes that classify what is—and what is not—a drug, continually destabilize and reinvent understandings of nature and the natural (Cole, 1998: 272). Consequently, as Cole indicates, any conceptualizing of the natural body is hopelessly outmoded, for, as well as notions of the natural always being contaminated by those of the unnatural, the natural/un-natural binary is in a perpetual state of flux. Instead of pointing toward the corruption of the natural sporting body, the ‘scopic regime of drug-testing’ which ‘attempts to discern, render visible, and measure the natural and the foreign, the pure and the impure’ is founded on, and advances, a ‘politics of and nostalgia for an organic corporeality and the moral valuations inscribed through its diagnostics’ (pp. 272, 273).
Within her intriguingly titled chapter ‘Viktor Petrenko’s mother-in-law,’ and framed by Derrida’s reflection on ‘What is a pair?’ (1987: 259), Marjorie Garber offered an interesting stratagem for deconstructing the sexual and gender politics at play within ice skating. Whilst Derrida’s question was prompted by a pair of shoes represented in a series of Van Gogh paintings, Garber’s (1995) focus is answering the question ‘What is a pair?’ in relation to the highly mediated world of figure skating. Different-sex ice skating couples advance an assumed complementarity between, and correspondence of, the oppositional elements (male/female) which comprise the pairing. They are ‘pairs’ which ‘[complete] the set’ and reassuringly, if presumptuously, leave ‘no excess, no supplement, no fetish’ with regard to the sexual orientation of the respective elements of the pairing (1995: 100). Predictably, therefore, the narration of conventional pairs figure skating has become ‘the cultural story of the heterosexual romance’ (Garber, 1995: 98). Conversely, same-sex ice skating couples represent a ‘double which does not make a pair’ (Garber, 1995: 100). The perceived similarity, and lack of symbolic correspondence, between their two parts (male/male, or female/female), precludes such couples from acting ‘as one’ (Garber, 1995: 101). Same-sex couples are thus unable to provide the ‘reassurance’ of a privileged heterosexuality, and seemingly point to the ‘“problem” of homosexuality’ (Garber, 1995: 100, 98). In inventive fashion, Garber identifies ‘Nancy and Tonya’ as a same-sex skating dyad, thrown together by the crass machinations of the popular press. In contrast with other examples, however, this same-sex couplet was based upon regressive intra-gender differences, as opposed to threatening sexual similarities. Hence, the Nancy and Tonya pairings were differentiated by oppositions (nasty/nice, sweetheart/bitch, virgin/whore, daughter/loner, butch/femme) which graphically dichotomized women, with the intent of keeping them ‘in their place.’ In this respect, they ‘were a pair, after all, to everyone but each other’ (Garber, 1995: 102).
Lastly, and albeit to a lesser extent, Derrida has also informed research related to the dynamic representation of race and racial difference within popular sport culture. Cheryl Cole and David Andrews (1996) invoked Derrida when illustrating how the boundaries between binary terms are constantly transgressed, and thus require constant policing if they are to be maintained:
Because deconstructionists emphasize the transgression always taking place at the border, deconstruction examines the force relations between the terms: the constant exertion of pressures at their boundaries, the policing required to maintain those boundaries, the incompleteness of the category of the will and the violence that it does. (Cole and Andrews, 1996: 152)
Focusing on two prominent African American NBA basketball players, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan, Cole and Andrews indicated how their mediated identities became sites for the reinvention of the ‘what and who categories which organize the racial imagination’ (Cole and Andrews, 1996: 154). As carefully constructed African American superstars, Johnson and Jordan occupied discursive spaces which distanced themselves from—and in doing so reinforced—the stereotypical images and embodiments of a threatening black masculinity which inhabit the American imaginary. Evidencing the Derridean notion of supplementarity, their (Johnson and Jordan) identities were ‘never simply self-identical or self-contained’ but were dependent upon the absent other that they sought to dominate and erase (Cole and Andrews, 1996: 152). Cole and Andrews explicated how both Johnson and Jordan subsequently transgressed the racial boundaries which their previously virtuous images had helped to maintain. The disclosure of Johnson’s HIV-positive status made acutely evident his sexuality, whilst coverage of Jordan’s gambling exploits revealed an apparently compulsive persona, both of which rendered visible that from which they were previously distanced—the pathologized and demonized bodies of African American racial others. Furthering one aspect of this analysis, Andrews (1996) flirted with Derridean theorizing whilst problematizing the very notion of Michael Jordan’s blackness. Andrews identified Jordan as a floating and unstable racial signifier that, within its various manifestions, seductively reproduced the violent racial hierarchy of the evolving American cultural formation.
Michel Foucault: The Disciplinary Formation of Modern Sport
Michel Foucault was once described as ‘the single most famous intellectual in the world’ (Miller, 1993: 13). Certainly, of all French post-structuralists, Foucault’s is the theorizing most evident within sociology of sport research. Indeed, at the time of writing, the post-structuralist presence within the sociology of sport could be described as being primarily Foucauldian. In contrast to the apparent disregard for things Derridean, and the widespread disdain for things Baudrillardian, the work of Foucault has been widely and enthusiastically embraced by numerous researchers interested in examining varied aspects of the modern sport problematic. While Derrida’s discomforting absence is somewhat perplexing, Foucault’s healthy presence is more easily attributable. Since the body constitutes the material core and most redolent expression of sporting activity (Hargreaves, 1987), and since much of Foucault’s research keyed on explicating how the growth of systematic modern knowledges coincided with the expansion of power relations into the realm of controlling bodily practices and existence (Turner, 1982), it is clear to see how Foucault’s understanding of ‘the discourses of discipline and pleasure that surround the body in modern societies has much to offer students of sport’ (Whitson, 1989: 62). Indeed, the noted French Marxist Jean-Marie Brohm, even designated sport as ‘perhaps the social practice which best exemplifies the “disciplinary society”, analysed by M. Foucault’ (1978: 18). Rather than addressing Foucault’s scholarly output in its expansive entirety, and following Whitson and Brohm’s implied directives, this discussion is limited to the aspects most germane to the study of modern sport culture: namely, Foucault’s later genealogical approach to modern disciplinary knowledge, subjectivity and society developed within his ‘masterpiece’ (Sarup, 1993: 67) Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Prison (1977a) and furthered within the History of Sexuality trilogy (1988a, 1988b, 1988c).
Paul-Michel Foucault (he dropped the Paul in later years) was born in Poitiers in 1926. His father and both his grandfathers had been surgeons in the French provincial city. Although disappointing his father by not following in the family’s professional footsteps, and while enduring periods of academic failure, the young Paul-Michel ultimately excelled at school by coming fourth in the nationwide university entrance exam for the prestigious École Normale Supérieure in Paris. Once at university Foucault suffered bouts of severe depression, allegedly linked to his homosexuality, which prompted his father to arrange for him to visit a psychiatrist. As a result of these visits, Foucault became highly skeptical of the role and influence of psychiatrists, and equally motivated to study psychology himself. To this end, he received his Licence de Philosophie and Licence de Psychologie from the Sorbonne in 1948 and 1950 respectively. In 1952 he was awarded his Diplôme de Psycho-Pathologie from the Université de Paris. Between 1951 and 1955 Foucault lectured at the École Normale Supérieure, until taking up a brief appointment lecturing French at the University of Uppsala in Sweden. While at Uppsala, Foucault took advantage of the university’s extensive medical history library, where he carried out much of the research for his first two major works, an examination of madness (Foucault, 1973a) and an examination of the clinic (Foucault, 1975).
After a five-year stint living and teaching in Sweden, Poland, and Germany, in 1960 Foucault returned to France to take up the position of director of the Institut de Philosophie at the Faculté des Lettres in Clermont Ferrand. In this position, Foucault finalized his archaeological approach (Foucault, 1973b, 1974) to the history of ideas which ‘attempts to identify the conditions of possibility of knowledge, the determining rules of formation of discursive rationality that operate beneath the level of intention or thematic content’ (Best and Kellner, 1991: 40). From this juncture, Foucault embarked on an inexorable rise to academic superstardom, which was confirmed by his election to the chair of ‘History of Systems of Thought’ at the Collège de France in 1970. The original publication of Discipline and Punish in 1975 marked Foucault’s shift from an archaeological to a more conjuncturally based genealogical approach focused on ‘the mutual relations between systems of truth and modalities of power, the way in which there is a “political regime” of the production of truth’ (Davidson, 1986: 224). The final phase of Foucault’s intellectual project was envisioned as a six-volume genealogy of modern sexuality, focusing on the politics of pleasure and the self. This grand design was brought to a halt by Foucault’s untimely death from AIDS in 1984, by which time only the first of the volumes had been published (Foucault, 1988a) leaving two others to be posthumously released (Foucault, 1988b, 1988c).
Despite sharing Derrida’s neo-Nietzschean interest in the relationship between language, knowledge and truth, Foucault offers a markedly different approach toward deciphering this fundamental post-structuralist problematic. Derrida even took Foucault to task for the way in which the rhetorical structure of his Madness and Civilization (Foucault, 1973a) reinforced the violence of the reason/madness binary: ‘How could Foucault capture the spirit of madness when he was so obviously writing from the viewpoint of reason’ (Derrida, 1978: 34). Although failing to openly acknowledge this critique, following it, there was a noticeable shift in Foucault’s work to ‘an engagement with the thickness and duplicity of this world, an engagement which is less obviously tainted by the search for an origin’ (Boyne, 1990: 108). Foucault subsequently became a ‘“specific intellectual” as opposed to the “universal” intellectual’ (Foucault, 1977b: 12), evermore motivated by a desire ‘not to formulate the global systematic theory which holds everything in place, but to analyse the specificity of mechanisms of power, to locate the connections and extensions, to build little by little a strategic knowledge’ (Foucault, 1980c: 83).
For his own part, Foucault criticized Derrida’s abstracted philosophical reflections in favour of an approach that ‘reasserts the primacy of the social real’ (Boyne, 1990: 108). As ‘first and foremost, an analyst of modernity, indeed early modernity’ (Calhoun, 1995: 107), Foucault’s critical historical analyses concretized, or empirically substantiated, the ways in which modern discursive formations act to both enable and constrain the everyday lives of human subjects. Not that Foucault furthered the teleological and rationalist idealism of Enlightenment history, rather his approach was focused on identifying historical ruptures and discontinuities (Young, 1990). Perhaps the most significant historical fissure identified by Foucault was that between the highly visible externalized practice of pre-modern power, and the anonymous internalized practice of modern power which ultimately replaced it. Foucault (1977a) famously expressed this discontinuity as a contrast between the public displays of authority embroiled within the practice of pre-modern ritualized execution, and the discrete individualizing mechanisms of control associated with modern disciplinary institutions. As Boyne succinctly noted, ‘discipline is the precise reverse of the spectacle’ (1990: 114).
Although focused on the ‘birth of the prison,’ Discipline and Punish (Foucault, 1977a) represents an important Foucauldian introduction to the ‘political anatomy’ (Smart, 1985: 90) of modern society. Concretizing his earlier archaeological design (Foucault, 1973b, 1974), Discipline and Punish demonstrated that the historical analysis of modern existence should not revolve around an understanding of the knowing subject, but should rather center on an historically grounded theory of discursive practice. Foucault’s aim was to thematize the operations of the bio-power which, in discursively dissecting the body, rendered the modern individual both the object and subject of disciplinary knowledge. In broad terms, this genealogical approach illustrated how scientific, rational and implicitly modern discourses of the human body (for example, criminology, penology, psychology, psychiatry, economics and demography) emerged from within, and provided the philosophical and organizational bases for the carceral network of modern disciplinary institutions (for example, prisons, factories, schools and hospitals) which expedited the rise of industrial capitalism. Foucault’s concern with the repressive character of modernity involved disentangling the ‘arbitrary construction of the subject as a disciplinary ploy, and the inescapable mutual imbrication of power and knowledge’ (Calhoun, 1995: 107).
In order to explicate how individual subjects became constituted as correlative elements of bio-power and knowledge, Foucault famously turned his attention to Jeremy Bentham’s 1791 design for the modern prison, known as the Panopticon. Indeed, for Foucault, such was the exemplary nature of the Panopticon that he characterized modern society as ‘an indefinitely generalizable mechanism of “panopticism”’ (Foucault, 1977a: 216). Derived from the Greek pan (all) and optos (visible), the word Panopticon ably described the form and function of a structure designed for the normalization, through surveillance, of its incarcerated populace. Disciplinary institutions, such as the Panopticon, were centered around regimes of measured, corrective and continuous corporal training, designed to facilitate the controlled manufacturing of suitably docile bodies. Less a mechanism of overt repression, modern disciplinary power was primarily a force of normalization (McNay, 1994). More than merely training the human body, modern biopower was prefigured on ‘a design of subtle coercion’ over the human soul (Foucault, 1977a: 209). The medical-scientific technologies of the body, formulated, circulated and instantiated through the corrective regimes of disciplinary institutions, generated normative models of human behaviour and identity. With the spread of these discursive fields of comparison (Foucault, 1977a), individuals were objectified in such a way that they became conscious of themselves, and were thus in a position to constitute themselves as social subjects, only in relation to this ‘new and mythical presence of the norm’ (Boyne, 1990: 113; emphasis in original).
While its discursively based disciplinary regimen sought to compare, differentiate and hierarchically order penal subjects, the effective operation of the Panopticon’s normalizing technology depended upon its revolutionary structural design. Bentham’s model consisted of a central observation tower, replete with Venetian blinds on the windows, and surrounded by a circle of inward facing and perpetually observable cells. The architecture of the Panopticon ensured that power and authority were visible (prisoners could not avoid the imposing presence of the observation tower) yet unverifiable (prisoners could never be sure that they were not being observed). The omnipresent, yet anonymous, gaze of the Panopticon’s hierarchical observer manufactured a state of constant anxiety amongst prisoners, who were psychologically coerced by the ever-present threat of normalizing judgement, assessment and/or examination. Since it demanded an unquestioned obedience to the corporal norms of the prison’s meticulously rehearsed daily regimen, the experience of constant surveillance proved an effective ‘guarantee of order’ (Foucault, 1977a: 200):
He who is subjected to a field of visibility, and who knows it, assumes responsibility for the constraints of power; he makes them play spontaneously upon himself; he inscribes in himself the power relation in which he simultaneously plays both roles: he becomes the principle of his own subjection. (Foucault, 1977a: 202-3)
Illustrating the internalized ‘penality of the norm’ (Foucault, 1977a: 183), the incarcerated subjects of surveillance were the principal regulators of their own existence, and prompted Foucault’s famous aphorism that ‘discipline “makes” individuals; it is the specific technique of power that regards individuals as objects and instruments of its exercise’ (1977a: 170).
Foucault’s dissection of the Panopticon is important since it illustrated the apparatus and arrangements of disciplinary power at work within various modern institutional spaces, ‘penitentiaries, certainly, but also schools, hospitals, military centres, psychiatric institutions, administrative apparatuses, bureaucratic agencies, police forces, and so on’ (McHoul and Grace, 1995: 66). However, Foucault’s critique of modern power relations was considerably more broad-ranging, since the practice of normalizing corporal existence through the Panoptic gaze soon spread into ‘non-institutional spaces and populations’ (Smart, 1985: 89). The spread of bio-scientific discourses within the wider society has contributed to a situation wherein the human subject has become constituted, and controlled, by a normalizing ‘conscience of self-knowledge’ relating to every facet of individual existence (Foucault, 1982: 212). Illustrating this discursive understanding of the process of subjectifi-cation, Foucault’s extended genealogy of sexuality (Foucault, 1988a, 1988b, 1988c) demonstrated how the spread of bio-power in the modern era was responsible for creating, and policing the boundaries between, what became considered as normal and abnormal sexual identities, practices and desires. As Foucault concluded, the swarming of modern disciplinary mechanisms and practices of surveillance ‘from the closed fortresses in which they once functioned,’ to their circulation ‘in a “free” state,’ has led to the emergence of ‘panopticisms of every day’ (Foucault, 1977a: 211, 223).
Despite at one time being castigated for its relative absence within the field (Andrews, 1993), in recent times Foucauldian-influenced sport research has become somewhat of a growth area. There have been two overviews of Foucault’s oeuvre and its applicability for researchers within the sociology of sport (Andrews, 1993; Rail and Harvey, 1995), both of which provide more detailed explications of Foucault’s theorizing than is possible within the constraints of the present project. Rail and Harvey’s (1995) article is additionally important in two ways. First, it brings to the fore numerous Foucauldian studies of sport by Francophone scholars, many of which have been virtually disregarded due to the Anglocentric nature of the wider sociology of sport community. Secondly, it represents the most comprehensive presentation of works that have applied Foucault’s theoretical framework to the analysis of either sport or physical education. Rail and Harvey’s discussion is also useful since it grouped sociology of sport research directly influenced by Foucauldian theory into four substantive clusters: studies that made appeals to the sociology of sport community to engage Foucault’s work (for example, Cole, 1993; Theberge, 1991; Whitson, 1989); studies that engaged Foucault’s early archaeological approach to epistemic understanding (for example, Clément, 1993; Defrance, 1987; Loudcher, 1994); studies that embraced aspects of Foucault’s Panoptic model of modern disciplinary society (for example, Cole and Denny, 1995; King, 1993; Vigarello, 1978); and, studies more directly influenced by Foucault’s later work on the technologies of the self (for example, Boudreau et al., 1992; Heikkala, 1993).
Rather than merely summarizing their findings, this discussion concentrates on reviewing a selection of the most significant Foucauldian studies published since—or in one case (Duncan, 1994) not included within—Rail and Harvey’s informative piece. Cole and Orlie (1995) provide a brief, yet illuminating, Foucauldian epistemic diagnosis of sport as a prominent modern technology. According to their analysis, sport is imagined as a site at which particular modern bio-knowledges and practices
converge in, produce, and regulate so-called athletic bodies. The athletic body is a body through which particular claims are made: it is a body whose symbolic purchase accrues most obviously around the categories health, discipline, and productivity. Sport, then, can be more usefully understood as the site where apparatuses produce, control, and regulate bodies under the guise of protecting a space that displays the pure body and the proficiencies of its will. (Cole and Orlie, 1995: 229)
Sport is thus implicated as an optic of modern disciplinary power: a mechanism of surveillance which renders visible and intelligible the normal body, and the abnormal body against which the norm is constituted. Influenced by Foucault’s notion of ‘substantive geographies’ (Philo, 1992), John Bale’s (1992, 1993, 1994) ground-breaking work in the area of sports geography examined the relationship between sport, space and power. Bale (1994) drew attention to the similarity between the modern evolution of sport and punishment, both of which were relocated from corporal/public to carceral/private spaces. As Bale noted, ‘The sports place, therefore, has changed from being one of open, public space to one of segmented and panopticised confinement’ (1994: 84). The panopticism of the modern sport space is succinctly captured within Robert Rinehart’s (1998) engaging description of the swimming pool as a mechanism of surveillance, focused on the bodies of the swimmers who execute their repetitious training regimen within it. As Rinehart noted, the individuating and normalizing horizontal panopticism of the swimming pool turned it into a site of ‘hundreds of tiny theatres of punishment’ (Foucault, 1977a: 113, quoted in Rinehart, 1998: 42).
The opening section of Toby Miller’s intriguingly titled article ‘A short history of the penis’ (1995: 2-8) also represents a useful Foucauldian precis of modern sport as a derivative of institutional and discursive power, particularly as it relates to the formulation and circulation of gendered public knowledges and truths. Miller broadly anchors the institutionalization of physical education, exercise, health and contemporary sport forms within the context of industrial and social modernity. According to Miller, these varied manifestations of modern physical culture were linked by a common political objective regarding the governance of the male sporting body, ‘rendering it efficient, aesthetic, and self-monitoring’ and the ‘standard currency of sporting discourse’ (Miller, 1995: 3, 2). Ably complementing Miller’s article, Brian Pronger (1995) draws heavily from Foucault’s work in his explication of the way ‘gross anatomy’ courses contribute to the discursive and politically charged tech-nologization of the human body as a productive machine of late modern consumer capitalism. Pronger graphically demonstrates how scientific-medical knowledges of the body informed the production, and ultimately the practice, of physical education, sport, exercise and health professionals. The bio-discursive objectification of the human form rendered the normal (that is, productive) sporting, exercising, or healthy body an oppressive yet seductive ‘instrument in the project of technological modernity’ (Pronger, 1995: 435). Shifting to a more culturally grounded focus, Susan Brownell (1995) fashioned an imaginative synthesis of Foucauldian and Eliasian theorizing, during the course of her analysis of the power relations linking sport to national, class and gender formations within modernizing China. Within the popular discourses of the body promulgated by the state institutions of the People’s Republic—of which sport was perhaps the most redolent expression—Brownell discerned a complex and dynamic fusion of the Chinese versions of discipline (jilü) and civilization (wenming). As a consequence, Brownell argued that Foucault’s understanding of discipline and Elias’s concept of the civilizing process ‘complement each other and offer comparative insights into the nature of Chinese state power’ (Brownell, 1995: 26), and its influence upon shaping popular discourse through sport.
Although Foucault has been roundly criticized for disregarding the oppressed and subordinated experiences and conditions of women (cf. Hartsock, 1993; Ramazanoglu, 1993; Sawicki, 1991), his critical appropriation by post-structuralist feminists has generated some of the most vibrant and incisive work related to the cultural politics of gender and sex (cf. Bordo, 1989, 1993a, 1993b; Butler, 1989, 1990, 1993a). This trend is equally evident within the sociology of sport, where Foucauldian theoretical imperatives have been extensively appropriated as a means of critically dissecting the sporting body as an important locus of control in the discursive constitution of gendered and sexed norms, practices and identities (Theberge, 1991). Margaret Duncan (1994) analysed the politics of women’s body images within two issues of Shape magazine (a fitness-oriented magazine targeted at the female market). In pinpointing explicitly gendered bio-discourses that unproblematically reified individual will and responsibility, and implicitly valorized the aesthetic—as opposed to health-deriving—benefits of exercise, Duncan graphically portrayed how Shape acted as a panoptic mechanism in the true Foucauldian meaning of the concept. Duncan demonstrated how the circulation of public discourses pertaining to the preferred shape of the female body, became complicit in shaping private experiences of female subordination. In a comparable panoptic vein, MacNeill (1998: 170) cast the iconic celebrity bodies, which front celebrity fitness videos, as ‘an economically and politically useful site for exerting power and for the embodiment of the “scientific” knowledges s/he espouses.’ Similarly, Cole and Hribar’s (1995) broad-ranging disassemblage of Nike’s calculated mobilization of the postfeminist body within the promotional culture of late modern America, faithfully invoked Foucault’s understanding of the normalizing epistemic regimes that pervade modern society.
Moving from the media spectacles to the material experience of female sport culture, Markula’s (1995) engaging ethnography grounded Foucauldian theorizing within the experiences of female aerobicizers. Acknowledging the panoptic power arrangements at work within the cultural space of aerobics, Markula asserted the ambivalence of women who, while wishing to conform to the idealized female body shape, perceived its actualization to be a wholly ‘ridiculous’ proposition (1995: 450). In this way, Markula asserted that the pervasiveness of power within disciplinary society does ‘not mean one is trapped and condemned to defeat no matter what’ (Foucault, 1980b: 141-2). Instead, Markula’s skeptical aerobicizers vindicated Foucault’s notion of discursive power as an inalienable producer of resistance, since the very constitution of normalizing bio-power provides the means whereby it may be resisted (Dumm, 1996). Synthesizing Foucauldian theorizing and feminist cultural studies, Gwen E. Chapman (1997) studied the practice of ‘making weight’ amongst a women’s lightweight rowing team. Her analysis illustrated how extreme regimes of physical activity, coupled with stringent controls of food intake, acted as a disciplinary mechanism for mobilizing broader technologies of femininity within the context of women’s rowing. Chapman also used the experience of female rowers to invoke the later Foucault’s (1988d, 1996) understanding of the contradictory relations between freedom and constraint, involved in the active experience of constituting the self. For, as Chapman concluded, ‘At the same time that sport offers women discursive tools to oppose oppressive power relations, it also further enmeshes them in normalizing discourses that limit their vision of who and what they can be’ (1997: 221). Through reference to Foucault’s (1980a) narration of the tragic experience of Herculine Barbin, a mid-nineteenth-century hermaphrodite, Hood-Williams vilified the sex testing procedures of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for habitually trying ‘to distinguish, to differentiate, to discover the true sex’ (1995: 297). According to Hood-Williams, the IOC’s dogmatic adherence to a dimorphic model of sex-typing is founded in the populist desire to corroborate traditional and natural gender divisions and identities, and obscures the fact that far from being fixed, natural and biologically based, ‘sex is no less a discursive construct than gender’ (1995: 291).
Strangely, in recent times Foucault has been largely neglected by the growing band of productive scholars interested in examining the relationship between sport and the male/masculine form. This oversight would appear destined to be rectified, as Foucauldian theorizing offers blatantly fruitful strategies for challenging the blithe, uncritical celebration of sport’s status as a natural male domain, by problematizing the mutually constitutive discursive linkage between sport and masculinity. Foucault has influenced research focused on the intersections between race and masculinity within contemporary sport culture. John M. Sloop’s dissection of the dominant cultural discourses which enveloped Mike Tyson’s trial for the rape of Desiree Washington, brazenly emerged ‘in the interstices of Foucault’s archaeological and genealogical methods’ (Sloop, 1997: 105). Following Foucault, Sloop sought to decipher the discursive rules, regimes of truth and social conventions through which Tyson was ‘positioned rhetorically’ in relation to the customarily pejorative signifiers ‘boxer’ and ‘African American’ (Sloop, 1997: 107). Regardless of his innocence or guilt (which obviously had not been ascertained during the build-up to, or the unfolding of, the trial), Tyson’s discursively demonized subject position cast him as representing the type of person whose guilt would be viewed as being ‘highly feasible, indeed probable’ by the majority of the American viewing public. As well as being influenced by the sedimented manifestations of cultural meaning, the mediated dialogue surrounding the Tyson trial has clearly come to influence the way we ‘frame our cultural understanding of future actors walking onto the stage’ (Sloop, 1997: 119). Lastly, within her cogent interrogation of Michael Jordan’s position within the contemporary American imaginary, Cheryl Cole (1996) blended a Foucauldian approach to modern disciplinary power, identity and the body with a Derridean comprehension of sovereignty and presence. Cole (1996) demonstrated how the commercially crafted ‘American Jordan’ was both a product, and producer, of the discursive knowledges that governed the popular American imagination. Jordan’s iconic status as part of the American national fantasy (Berlant, 1991) was produced and stabilized in opposition to the ‘location, containment and visualization of the deviant’ (Cole, 1996: 373) urban African American youth. Jordan’s venerated mediated identity was thus complicit in criminalizing the African American youth populace, in a manner that conveniently diverted popular attention—and thereby party political obligation—away from addressing the profound socially deleterious effects of anti-welfarist politics and transnational economics (Cole, 1996).
Jean Baudrillard: The Hyperreality of Postmodern Sport
Jean Baudrillard has been described as the ‘high priest’ (Willis, 1990: 152), ‘guru’ (Best and Kellner, 1991: 111), ‘Jimi Hendrix’ (Levin, 1996) and even the ‘drag queen’ (Ashley, 1997: 49) of the postmodern Left. The elevation of Baudrillard to the status of a postmodern intellectual icon has been attributed to the hasty conclusions circulated by the first generation of North American readers of his work (Genesko, 1994). While it is true Baudrillard’s idiosyncratic attention has long been drawn to the much-vaunted postmodern ‘civilization of the image’ (Kearney, 1989: 1), it is important not to overlook his post-structuralist lineage. According to Christopher Norris, ‘Baudrillard was waiting at the end of the road that structuralism and post-structuralism had been travelling for the past three decades and more’ (Norris, 1992: 25). Not that Baudrillard has been an apologist for post-structuralism. As indicated by his pointedly titled manuscript Forget Foucault (1987), Baudrillard has been highly critical of his post-structuralist contemporaries. Nevertheless, in terms of his critical engagement with the work of Ferdinand de Saussure, Georges Bataille, Henri Lefebvre, Roland Barthes and Guy Debord (cf. Genesko, 1994; Gottdiener, 1995; Kellner, 1989), and in radically problematizing the very nature of modernity and modern subjectivity, Baudrillard is every bit as much a representative of French post-structuralist thought as Derrida and Foucault. Albeit taking it in an ever-more radical direction, Baudrillard has certainly made an important contribution to the post-structuralist debate. For, while Derrida deconstructed the epistemological and ontological foundations of modernity, and Foucault excavated modern disciplinary knowledges and institutions, Baudrillard heralded the ‘end of modernity and the transition to a new stage of society and history beyond modernity’ (Kellner, 1989: 94).
Like that of Derrida and Foucault, Baudrillard’s work has produced extreme reactions amongst the global academic community, as evidenced by both the enthusiasm of his numerous advocates, and the vociferousness of his many detractors. During the course of his intellectual development, Baudrillard’s writing has evolved from relatively conventional academic discussions of his innovative synthesis of Marxist political economy and semiology, to a kind of science-fiction-like cosmology, projecting visions of futuristic worlds which expose, through ironic exaggeration, the technologically driven nature of everyday culture (Hebdige, 1988). In a 1983 interview, Baudrillard forthrightly admitted ‘My work has never been academic, nor is it getting more literary. It’s evolving, it’s getting less theoretical, without feeling the need to furnish proof or rely on references’ (Baudrillard, 1993a: 43). In adopting this radical approach, Baudrillard’s work has veered toward an undertheorized abstraction, shallow provocation and apolitical nihilism, which has exasperated and infuriated his many critics (cf. Callinicos, 1990; Kellner, 1989; Norris, 1992; Rojek and Turner, 1993). Nevertheless, while Baudrillard’s later work continues to be critiqued, often to the point of ridicule (cf. Sturrock, 1990; Woods, 1992), there remains a sentiment amongst some cultural commentators that it would be disadvantageous to categorically abandon it. Certainly, Baudrillard’s relevance to the analysis of contemporary sport culture should not be underestimated. As Charles P. Pierce commented, the American—and increasingly the global—sports industry is dominated by ‘media-driven celebrity entertainment’ which means in the future ‘for most people, sports will be even more exclusively a television phenomenon than it is today’ (1995: 185, 187). This rapid and global growth of postmodern sport culture represents a particularly important point of engagement for Baudrillard’s ontological, epistemological and political provocations.
Jean Baudrillard was born in the French cathedral town of Reims in 1929. Although his grandparents were peasants, his immediate family experienced a significant measure of upward social mobility resulting from his parents’ forging careers in the French civil service (Levin, 1996). After a period of teaching in secondary schools, it was following his move to Paris in 1966 that Baudrillard’s intellectual career took off. Having defended his thesis in sociology, entitled Le système des objets, at the Université de Nanterre (Paris X) in March 1966, he accepted a position as an assistant lecturer in sociology at Nanterre beginning in October of the same year. Apart from a number of periods of visiting lectureships—most notably perhaps, his sojourns to the United States—Baudrillard spent the entirety of his formal academic career at the Université de Nanterre. Indeed, he remained on the faculty there until his retirement from the position of junior lecturer in the Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines in 1987. As Baudrillard noted in a 1991 interview, as far ‘as the normal stages of a career are concerned, I’ve always missed them, including the fact that I was never a professor’ (Baudrillard, 1993a: 19). In following a more circuitous route to intellectual notoriety, and while never attaining the same degree of formal academic recognition or status as Foucault or Derrida, Baudrillard still became an influential and well-connected figure within Parisian intellectual circles. Between 1967 and 1970 he was closely involved in the sociology of urbanism group, and their journal Utopie. In 1975, and along with such other intellectual luminaries as Michel de Certeau and Paul Virilio, he became a member of the founding editorial board of the Centre Georges Pompidou’s cultural theory journal, Traverses. From 1969 to 1973 Baudrillard was also affiliated with the Centre d’Études des Communications de Mass at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Études (Genesko, 1994). Following his retirement in 1987, Baudrillard embraced a new intellectual mode, for which he had seemingly been preparing himself since the mid-1970s. Now liberated from the responsibilities of a formal academic post, Baudrillard assumed the mantle of a full-time roving intellectual, prodigiously documenting his global observations and experiences in a series of fragmented postmodern travelogues.
While Baudrillard’s primary institutional affiliation remained unusually constant during his academic career, the evolution of his intellectual work has been marked by a series of significant transformations. As with any attempt to periodize a shifting intellectual project, there is a tendency to create artificial boundaries between works that often correspond considerably more than they differ. This is perhaps expressly true of Baudrillard, whose often impressionistic, idealized and ungrounded later narratives continue to incorporate important aspects of the more concretized theorizing which characterized many of his earlier exertions (Gottdiener, 1995). With this proviso in mind, it is nevertheless possible to dissect Baudrillard’s project into at least five necessarily related phases. In examining the nature of modern consumer society, and specifically the regulating commodification of everyday life (1968, 1970), Baudrillard’s earliest studies supplemented the classical Marxist critique of political economy with a semiological theorizing of the sign (Kellner, 1994). Baudrillard’s innovative conflation of materiality and ideology within The System of Objects (1996c) (original 1968) even prompted Gottdiener to cite it as ‘one of the most important books of post-structuralist cultural criticism’ (1995: 35). Within his next major study, For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign (1981) (original 1972), Baudrillard first began to question the value of Marxist political economy as a tool for interpreting modern culture. In many ways, this work proved to be an intermediary point between Baudrillard’s neo-Marxist and post-Marxist incarnations. The publication of The Mirror of Production (1975) (original 1973) represented a public condemnation of Marxist political economy for being a ‘repressive simulation’ of that which it seeks to overthrow, namely capitalism (Baudrillard, 1975: 48). Within Symbolic Exchange and Death (1993b) (original 1976) Baudrillard turned to a post-Marxist and post-Saussurian radical semiurgy. This approach to understanding a society dominated by the digital and cybernetic logic of the televisual code, was elaborated within subsequent works that keyed on Baudrillard’s ‘Holy Trinity’ (Best and Kellner, 1991: 118) of simulation, implosion and hyperreality (see below for relevant works). Lastly, Fatal Strategies (1990b) (original 1983) has been cited as Baudrillard’s last piece of serious intellectual work since, over the past decade, its model of provocative and nihilist pataphysics has been almost playfully ‘replayed and recycled’ (Kellner, 1989) within Baudrillard’s numerous commentaries on the fin-de-millennium scene (cf. Baudrillard, 1988a, 1988b, 1988c, 1990a, 1990b, 1993c, 1994a, 1995, 1996a, 1996b).
Of central importance to Baudrillard’s post-Marxist, post-Saussurian, radical semiurgic approach to the complexities of contemporary culture (cf. Baudrillard, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983b, 1985, 1990c, 1993b), was his conceptualizing of the four orders of simulacra, each of which equated to the relation between appearance and representation within a given socio-historical epoch, and thus informed how reality is constituted and experienced within that context. Baudrillard identified four loosely historical orders of simulacra, based on natural, commercial, structural and fractal laws of value, which corresponded to four regimes of representation based on the processes of counterfeit, production, simulation and proliferation. This discussion focuses on Baudrillard’s understanding of the society of simulation (his third order of simulacra), which incorporated some of his most fruitful ideas and among his most promising research directives for the sociology of sport.
Baudrillard’s third order of simulacra can be characterized as one in which the simulated codes and models of media, computer and information systems have replaced material production as the organizing principle of social existence (Best, 1989; Best and Kellner, 1991; Bogard, 1996). The passage from a metallurgic to a semiurgic society (Baudrillard, 1981) has been expedited through advances made in communications and information technology, and has advanced a ‘new reality logic’ (Luke, 1991: 349) centered around mediated simulations. Since any information which ‘reflects or diffuses an event is already a degraded form of that event’ (Baudrillard, 1980: 141), information communicated by the televisual media is necessarily an imploded, reformulated and bastardized interpretation of the real. Hence, the order of appearance within this semiurgic society ‘is no longer that of a territory, a referential being or a substance. It is the generation by models of a real situation without origin or reality’ (Baudrillard, 1983b: 2). The advent of an ‘implosive socius of signs’ (Best, 1989: 33), has resulted in the obliteration of the opposition between the medium and the real. Baudrillard’s semiurgic culture is thus infused with simulated codes and models that actually produce the reality which they purport to represent (Seidman, 1994). Or, as Baudrillard famously put it, the ‘real is not only what can be reproduced, but that which is already reproduced. The hyperreal’ (Baudrillard, 1983b: 146-7).
According to Baudrillard, the ‘endless reduplication of signs, images and simulations’ (Featherstone, 1991: 15) has spawned a cybernetic culture: a closed systemic structure prompted by the reigning televisual code:
Every image, every media message and also every surrounding functional object is a test. That is to say, in all the rigour of the term, it triggers response mechanisms in accordance with stereotypes or analytical models … Both object and information already result from a selection, an edited sequence of camera angles, they have already tested ‘reality’ and have only asked questions to which it has responded … Thus tested, reality tests you in return according to the same scorecard, and you decode it following the same code, inscribed in its every message and object like a miniature genetic code. (Baudrillard, 1993b: 63)
In effect, the popular media test the mainstream cultural mores of consuming subjects: which are themselves a priori verifications of the same televisual code. It is in this sense that Baudrillard (1994b) asserted, ‘There is no longer a medium in the literal sense: it is now intangible, diffused, and diffracted in the real, and one can no longer even say that the medium is altered by it’ (Baudrillard, 1994b: 30).
Within Baudrillard’s implosive postmodern mediascape, individuals lose their ability to differentiate between the medium and the real; between their active and passive responses to mediated codes; and between themselves as subjects or objects of the mode of information (Poster, 1990). Betraying his post-structuralist affiliation, and in familiar pataphysical tone, Baudrillard thus announced the death of the modern subject, through its absorption into the black hole of the imploding hyper-media (Baudrillard, 1983a), and its subsequent metamorphosis into the masses ‘that space of ever greater density into which everything societal is imploded and ground up in an uninterrupted process of simulation’ (Baudrillard, 1982: 8-9). Hence, according to Baudrillard, the triumph of the televisual code signals that the human subject has entered into a state of absolute manipulation, and has become ‘a pure absorption and resorption of the influence networks’ (Baudrillard, 1988b: 27). Baudrillard also declared the end of modern representative power, and its replacement with circulating simulations or illusions of power: ‘“power” (under erasure) is at once everywhere, in every code and simulation, and nowhere, in no particular centralized locus’ (Kellner, 1989: 140). Given the indeterminate nature of postmodern power, Baudrillard argued that modern political struggles against supposedly identifiable sites of authority were completely futile. Instead, and to the disbelief of adherents to more conventional strategies of oppositional politics (cf. Harris, 1996; Jarvie and Maguire, 1994; Kellner, 1989) Baudrillard encouraged the practice of hyperconformity, or deliberate passivity, as an act of ‘strategic resistance’ against the domineering televisual code (Baudrillard, 1983a: 108).
Sara Schoonmaker (1994: 186) has justifiably critiqued Baudrillard’s third-order simulacrum for its ‘technological determinism, formalism, and epistemological confusion.’ Added to his political nihilism, it is clear to see why many cultural commentators have renounced Baudrillard’s work in toto. Nevertheless, and as one of his sternest detractors even acknowledged, there is an important reason for ‘not ignoring Baudrillard’ (Norris, 1992: 25). According to Christopher Norris, despite its flaws, Baudrillard’s work is replete with ‘canny diagnostic observations’ pertaining to the influence of the mass media in shaping contemporary existence (1992: 25). For this reason, Douglas Kellner implored readers to adopt a critical stance in order that they may distinguish the ‘valuable from the foolish, the important from the unimportant elements of Baudrillard’s work’ (1994: 20). So, while it may be foolhardy to take Baudrillard’s exaggerated postmodern musings too literally, not taking them literally enough would seem to deny the sociology of sport community an important source of theoretical insights into a postmodern sport culture, dominated by a proliferating economy of mass-mediated sporting commodities, celebrities and spectacles.
Baudrillard’s periodic commentaries on aspects of contemporary sporting culture vindicated his implosive postmodernism (Chen, 1987), and attested to the structure and influence of postmodern sport. To this end, Baudrillard drew attention to the French public’s transfixation with the televisual drama of a qualifying game for the 1978 World Cup, and apathetic indifference toward the extradition of the German lawyer Klaus Croissant on the same evening: ‘A few hundred people demonstrated in front of the Santé prison, there was some furious nocturnal activity on the part of a few lawyers, while twenty million people spent the evening in front of their TV screens’ (Baudrillard, 1980: 143). Baudrillard argued that the French masses should not be castigated for privileging a football match over a politico-legal occurrence, since the depthless and aestheticized hyperreality of the third order of simulacra (Featherstone, 1991) has seduced the masses into resisting the imperatives of rational communication, in favour of the affective return of a ‘dramatic sequence’ (Baudrillard, 1980: 143). Baudrillard also passed comment on the tragic events at the Heysel Stadium, Brussels, in 1985, which resulted in the death of 39 Juventus supporters. Attacking the parasitic barbarism of the global televisual media, he controversially condemned ‘not the violence per se but the way in which this violence was given worldwide currency by television, and in the process turned into a travesty of itself’ (Baudrillard, 1990b: 75). Although openly condemning such displays of violence, the media also cynically celebrated such acts through the instantaneous global dissemination of video footage which augmented the dramatic content of the ‘worldwide spectacle of sport,’ and thereby acted as global ‘fodder for TV audiences’ (Baudrillard, 1990b: 77). Lastly, Baudrillard spoke to the future of the sporting event through reference to a European Cup match played in Madrid, Spain, between Real Madrid and Naples in September 1987. Due to the unruly behavior of Madrid supporters in a previous game, the football authorities ordered this match to be played in a stadium devoid of spectators, but relayed to the adoring masses on television. Thus, this ‘phantom football match’ took place, and surgically prefigured the future of postmodern sport: where no one will directly experience events, ‘but everyone will have received an image of them’ … in this setting, sport becomes a ‘pure event … devoid of any reference in nature, and readily susceptible to replacement by synthetic images’ (Baudrillard, 1990b: 80, 79).
In denouncing his proclivity for ‘calculated exaggeration,’ Chris Rojek (1990) likened Baudrillard’s entry into the field of leisure studies to that of a garish postmodernist gatecrasher barging into a modernist party. This sentiment is equally applicable to Baudrillard’s intrusion into the sociology of sport, which has been marked by expressions of dismissive disregard from those researchers more firmly anchored in modern epistemic, political and sporting logics. Although not explicitly discussing Baudrillard’s work, within his lengthy expression of incredulity toward the apparent postmodern ‘drift’ within critical sport studies, Morgan (1995) best captured the general disdain that lies in wait for those seeking to appropriate elements of Baudrillard’s project when examining contemporary sport culture. His use of terms such as ‘facile,’ ‘abnormal,’ ‘sophomoric,’ ‘relativist’ and, most revealingly, ‘trendy’ as descriptors of the ‘postmodernist drift’ within the sociology of sport, is indeed damning. Yet, Morgan is circumspect enough to concede that there needs to be further enquiry into these ‘strange new theories’ (1995: 41), and would no doubt be encouraged by the small but growing number of studies which have appropriated, in deliberate fashion, Baudrillard’s oeuvre as a tool for theorizing the complexities of postmodern sport. While dis-parately focused, these studies vindicate Mike Gane’s guarded affirmation of Baudrillard’s work as something worth pursuing with care and trepidation, since although ‘vulnerable to the most harsh judgements … the overall impression we are left with is of a consistency and persistence of critical imagination which produces, sometimes, remarkable insights’ (Gane, 1991: 157).
Up to this point in time, Geneviève Rail has formulated the most informed and instructive Baudrillardian understanding of postmodern sport ‘as producer and reproducer of the culture present in postmodern society, and as privileged object of over-consumption’ (Rail, 1998: 156). In charting the implosion of sport and aesthetic, corporal and media realms, Rail developed a suggestive theoretical synthesis of the early (1970, 1975, 1981), middle (1980) and later (1988a) phases of Baudrillard’s writing. Rail’s discussion is particularly imaginative and enlightening when substantiating the anti-mediatory, aesthetic populist, fragmented, depthless and history-effacing nature of the ‘model used to mediate sport’ (Rail, 1998: 154). Complementing Rail’s work, John Bale (1994) mobilized numerous Baudrillardian concepts in depicting the future of sport as a world of material and televisual simulations, many of which can be found within North America, ‘the engine which drives most parts of the machine of global popular culture’ (Bale, 1994: 169).
Moving from the general to the particular, Steve Redhead (1994, 1998) appraised the relevance of Baudrillard’s postmodern musings as a tool for realizing a popular cultural studies critique of the 1994 World Cup tournament held in the United States. Despite his acknowledgement that Baudrillardian theorizing should be taken ‘seriously but with a good deal of caution, too’ (1994: 302), Redhead concluded that Baudrillard’s postmodern travelogue America (1988a), in tandem with elements of his dissection of the Gulf War simulacra (1995), provided a suggestive basis for interpreting USA ’94 as a global media event: a simulated and hyperreal spectacle devoid of a ‘real referent’ (Redhead, 1994: 298). Influenced by similar Baudrillardian sources, David Andrews (1998) identified how NBC’s coverage of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta manufactured a simulated model of Olympic reality, that was explicitly designed to constitute, and thereby seduce, the female viewing subject. Lawrence Wenner (1998) has furnished perhaps the most innovative engagement with Baudrillard’s theorizing in his spatial-geography of the hypermediated, hypercommodified, hyperreal postmodern sports bar. As Wenner noted, this ‘new genre is a high concept theme park … a cultural bin of simulations, a bunch of “important real things” that are put together for us to deconstruct by a helpful corporate sponsor’ (Wenner, 1998: 323-4).
The centrality of symbolic value within Baudrillard’s thought has also attracted scholars interested in the complex commodity-sign economy of contemporary sport. Rob Van Wynsberghe and Ian Ritchie (1998: 377) provided a compact, yet highly instructive, discussion of Baudrillard’s research as a grounding to their postmodern semiotic analysis of the Olympic Games’ five ring logo. The authors then graphically demonstrated how, within a postmodern culture dominated by the semiotic detritus of the media, advertising and marketing industries, the Olympic logo has been severed from the pseudo-sacred ideals that defined its modern signification. Within the postmodern mediascape, the Olympic logo has become a polysemic hypercommercial signifier: ‘used to represent virtually any product, advertisers could construct any story they wanted around such a symbol, while at the same time it would mean something different for diverse groups of people’ (Van Wynsberghe and Ritchie, 1998: 377). Lastly, in her broad-ranging discussion of sport mascots, Synthia Slowikowski (1993) referred to Native American mascots (such as ‘Chief Illiniwek’ at the University of Illinois at Urbana—Champaign) as nostalgically framed hyperreal simulations. These commodified ‘Native American simulacra’ evoked the dominant, and habitually subjugating, signifiers of Native American peoples drawn from the popular American imagination. In a Baudrillardian sense, they were thus hyperreal fabrications of ‘the absolute fake’ of postmodern American culture (Slowikowski, 1993: 28).
Conclusion: Toward a Post-Structuralist Sociology
Finally, post-structuralist approaches lead us to recognize that no theoretical paradigm is flawless, and no theoretical paradigm is forever. But post-structuralisms that remain attentive to history and power relations allow us to understand and, perhaps, to transform our worlds. Provisionally, they are the best we have … at least for now. (Kondo, 1995: 99)
Although merely scratching the surface of this vast topic, hopefully this discussion will have demonstrated the strength of the growing body of post-structuralist informed scholarship within the sociology of sport. More than anything, post-structuralist influenced analyses have demonstrated that sport’s language, practice and structure ‘can no longer be considered ideologically, educationally, socially or politically “neutral” and “innocent”’ (Bannet, 1989: 264). Post-structuralism’s overriding concern with subversion, dissent and the ‘destabilising of certainty’ (Docker, 1994: 142) confounds critics who have vilified it as a ‘dead end for progressive thought’ (Epstein, 1995; cf. Callinicos, 1990; Dews, 1987; Habermas, 1987; May, 1989). Nowhere is this more ably evidenced than in the way post-structuralist theory has been used to critically explicate sport’s embroilment in contemporary formations of language, power and subjectivity. Clearly, the variants of post-structuralism offer important interpretative vehicles for disrupting the stifling and oppressive formations of sporting (post)modernity, by developing alternative modes of thought, more progressive vehicles of expression and, ultimately, more potentially enabling experiences of the (post)modern sporting self.
While the post-structuralist project has much to offer the sociology of sport, it would be remiss not to point out the dangers of post-structuralist theory being taken up in the sociology of sport in potentially unproductive ways. Many fields of enquiry have been swamped by vapid and superficial engagements with the variants of post-structuralism, something that Stuart Hall characterized as ‘the endless, trendy recycling of one fashionable theorist after another, as if you can wear new theories like T-shirts’ (1996b: 149). It is perhaps more productive to view post-structuralism less in terms of becoming an exclusively Derridean, Foucauldian, or Baudrillardian scholar, and more in terms of adhering to post-structuralism’s particular type of politically informed intellectual practice. In this sense, I believe the practice of post-structuralist intel-lectualizing is closely allied to that of cultural studies (which itself has increasingly been informed by post-structuralist theorizing). Therefore, brief consideration of Lawrence Grossberg’s (1997) six-pronged characterization of cultural studies would appear to be a profitable way of delineating the post-structuralist project for future research. For as with post-structuralism, the ‘more people jump onto the cultural studies bandwagon’ the more ‘it needs to protect some sense of its own specificity as a way into the field of culture and power’ (Grossberg, 1997: 7).
In short, Grossberg (1997) believed cultural studies—and by implication, a post-structuralist sociology of sport—should be: disciplined (far from wallowing in relativism, it constantly seeks new forms of intellectual authority); interdisciplinary (its focus demands the straddling of traditional disciplinary boundaries); self-reflective (never complacent in its intellectual authority, it realizes the inadequacies and potential contradictions of the knowledge it produces); political (fundamentally concerned with understanding, with a view to transforming, people’s lived realities); theoretical (while not dogmatically adhering to one theoretical position, it stresses the necessity of theory); and radically contextual (the object, method, theory and politics of critical enquiry are inextricably tied to the context within which it is embroiled). By following these directives, a post-structuralist sociology of sport would confound Camille Paglia’s sardonic indictment of ‘Post-structuralism, that stale teething biscuit of the nattering nerds of trendy academe … [which] … cannot rival the dazzling analytic complexity of football’ (Paglia, 1997: 22), by demonstrating its vitality as a tool for critically analysing the dazzling complexity of sport in general.
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Q:
R RedditExtractoR package workaround
I am trying to use the package RedditExtractoR as I have many times in the past. I haven't used it since last month but this week when I try to use it, it returns an empty dataframe.
get_reddit(subreddit="jokes")
|======================================================================================================================================| 100%
[1] id structure post_date comm_date num_comments subreddit upvote_prop post_score
[9] author user comment_score controversiality comment title post_text link
[17] domain URL
<0 rows> (or 0-length row.names)'
I explored the function get_reddit() and it seems to use the function reddit_urls() and then take the url and load that page as a JSON. The reddit_urls() function returns a dataframe with urls of the Reddit pages, and appending a .JSON to the end of the url seems to still load the page as a JSON object.
Is anyone else having a problem with this package and/or do they know of a workaround to parse the JSON object into a datafrme?
Thank You
A:
I had the same issue. Here is my fix to it...
If you remove the option for https?:// and make it have to be https:// in reddit_content(); so the function looks like:
reddit_content <- function (URL, wait_time = 2)
{
if (is.null(URL) | length(URL) == 0 | !is.character(URL)) {
stop("invalid URL parameter")
}
GetAttribute = function(node, feature) {
Attribute = node$data[[feature]]
replies = node$data$replies
reply.nodes = if (is.list(replies))
replies$data$children
else NULL
return(list(Attribute, lapply(reply.nodes, function(x) {
GetAttribute(x, feature)
})))
}
get.structure = function(node, depth = 0) {
if (is.null(node)) {
return(list())
}
filter = is.null(node$data$author)
replies = node$data$replies
reply.nodes = if (is.list(replies))
replies$data$children
else NULL
return(list(paste0(filter, " ", depth), lapply(1:length(reply.nodes),
function(x) get.structure(reply.nodes[[x]], paste0(depth,
"_", x)))))
}
data_extract = data.frame(id = numeric(), structure = character(),
post_date = as.Date(character()), comm_date = as.Date(character()),
num_comments = numeric(), subreddit = character(), upvote_prop = numeric(),
post_score = numeric(), author = character(), user = character(),
comment_score = numeric(), controversiality = numeric(),
comment = character(), title = character(), post_text = character(),
link = character(), domain = character(), URL = character())
pb = utils::txtProgressBar(min = 0, max = length(URL), style = 3)
for (i in seq(URL)) {
if (!grepl("^https://(.*)", URL[i]))
URL[i] = paste0("https://www.", gsub("^.*(reddit\\..*$)",
"\\1", URL[i]))
if (!grepl("\\?ref=search_posts$", URL[i]))
URL[i] = paste0(gsub("/$", "", URL[i]), "/?ref=search_posts")
X = paste0(gsub("\\?ref=search_posts$", "", URL[i]),
".json?limit=500")
raw_data = tryCatch(RJSONIO::fromJSON(readLines(X, warn = FALSE)),
error = function(e) NULL)
if (is.null(raw_data)) {
Sys.sleep(min(1, wait_time))
raw_data = tryCatch(RJSONIO::fromJSON(readLines(X,
warn = FALSE)), error = function(e) NULL)
}
if (is.null(raw_data) == FALSE) {
meta.node = raw_data[[1]]$data$children[[1]]$data
main.node = raw_data[[2]]$data$children
if (min(length(meta.node), length(main.node)) > 0) {
structure = unlist(lapply(1:length(main.node),
function(x) get.structure(main.node[[x]], x)))
TEMP = data.frame(id = NA, structure = gsub("FALSE ",
"", structure[!grepl("TRUE", structure)]),
post_date = format(as.Date(as.POSIXct(meta.node$created_utc,
origin = "1970-01-01")), "%d-%m-%y"), comm_date = format(as.Date(as.POSIXct(unlist(lapply(main.node,
function(x) {
GetAttribute(x, "created_utc")
})), origin = "1970-01-01")), "%d-%m-%y"),
num_comments = meta.node$num_comments, subreddit = ifelse(is.null(meta.node$subreddit),
"UNKNOWN", meta.node$subreddit), upvote_prop = meta.node$upvote_ratio,
post_score = meta.node$score, author = meta.node$author,
user = unlist(lapply(main.node, function(x) {
GetAttribute(x, "author")
})), comment_score = unlist(lapply(main.node,
function(x) {
GetAttribute(x, "score")
})), controversiality = unlist(lapply(main.node,
function(x) {
GetAttribute(x, "controversiality")
})), comment = unlist(lapply(main.node, function(x) {
GetAttribute(x, "body")
})), title = meta.node$title, post_text = meta.node$selftext,
link = meta.node$url, domain = meta.node$domain,
URL = URL[i], stringsAsFactors = FALSE)
TEMP$id = 1:nrow(TEMP)
if (dim(TEMP)[1] > 0 & dim(TEMP)[2] > 0)
data_extract = rbind(TEMP, data_extract)
else print(paste("missed", i, ":", URL[i]))
}
}
utils::setTxtProgressBar(pb, i)
Sys.sleep(min(2, wait_time))
}
close(pb)
return(data_extract)
}
And then reset the get_reddit() function to:
get_reddit <- function (search_terms = NA, regex_filter = "", subreddit = NA,
cn_threshold = 1, page_threshold = 1, sort_by = "comments",
wait_time = 2)
{
URL = unique(as.character(reddit_urls(search_terms, regex_filter,
subreddit, cn_threshold, page_threshold, sort_by, wait_time)$URL))
retrieved_data = reddit_content(URL, wait_time)
return(retrieved_data)
}
|
November 2010 Archives
When talking about the environmental agenda, I believe a very important part of the design process is to communicate well. Communication as defined by Wikipedia is, "a process whereby information is enclosed in a package and is channeled and imparted by a sender to a receiver via some medium. The receiver then decodes the message and gives the sender a feedback." In order to create successful designs, people need to communicate with each other. Communication needs to take place between designers, clients, and intended audience that the product is for. In terms of the environmental agenda, there needs to be research done to understand what will be most beneficial for the environment and from there the designers can start to interact with the people it will affect. Listening to their needs will increase the products activity and usability.
When talking about the environmental agenda, a speech by Thomas Friedman comes to mind. He spoke on Minneapolis Public Radio about his newest book entitled, Hot, Flat, and Crowded. Here is the link to the speech: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/12/18/midday2/.
This speech talks about the real changes that need to take place in order to save this world. In Friedman's opinion, "the current green revolution alone will not work to destabilize global climate change." He designed his book around the idea of what needs to be done in the world.
Related to one of Friedman's topics about overpopulation, I found this advertisement.
In terms of the environment, overpopulation is going to cause problems along with pollution that would increase as well. This specific advertisement takes place in the big city of New York, which is one of the most populated places in the world. The ad is eye catching with the phrase and then goes on to say how harmful pollution is to us citizens. Design is a great way to communicate the problems the world is facing and how to make changes to better the world.
Reusability has the potential for significant positive environmental influence. Containers and packaging have been stacking up around the world for decades, even some items intended for reuse, such as shipping containers. 2005 estimates suggest there were one million unused shipping containers stacked up in the US alone ("Shipping container homes"). Shipping containers are extremely resilient because they are made of Corten steel, a type of steel that is resistant to rust, termites, corrosion, and mold ("Shipping container homes"). For these same reasons, these unused shipping containers are ideal for storage units, buildings, or shelters.
While shipping containers were used for other purposes prior to 2005, David Cross of SG Blocks popularized this idea in 2006. Cross used shipping containers to design traditional-looking hurricane proof homes out of ISBU (Intermodal Steel Building Unit, as they are called when used for not shipping purposes) shipping containers in Florida. Since then, many other companies have started building with ISBUs.
Reusing old shipping containers has a 95% smaller carbon footprint than simply recycling the material ("Shipping container homes"). These buildings are not only environmentally friendly, but many of them are simply beautiful as can be seen in the following video. This revolutionary concept of reusing shipping containers for buildings, homes, and other uses has created an affordable way to create green homes. Since Cross popularized this idea, shipping containers have been used for commercial projects, as well as being used to build a US Army office building and Travelodge hotels.
In addition to designing reusable products, it is also important that designers look at ways to reuse the items we already have. The popularization of shipping container buildings reduced the number of unused containers in the US by 50 percent (to 500,000) in only two years ("Shipping container homes"). Imagine the dramatic changes that could happen if we come up with uses for other potentially reusable items, like plastic bottles and plastic bags that are currently piling up in landfills or cluttering roadsides.
Reusability can have a huge impact on the environment. As designers, we need to search for ways to integrate reusability into new and old designs.
According to UNICEF, 30,000 Children die each day due to poverty!!! That's about 210,000 each week. Poverty has always been a big issue, it doesn't really have to be in Africa or Indonesia, even in Canada, 1 out of 6 children still lives in poverty. Poverty is in our very own neighborhoods. I consider myself lucky having my parents to support me. However, I don't take it for granted. I am always thankful for their financial support and love. Although, I have never personally experienced the extreme edge of poverty, I do see it around me.
Couple years ago, I went to Feed My Starving Children, and worked with a team to fill up bags of food that will be shipped to Africa. Each bag that I filled with rice and chicken, I knew that someone out there will get it and will be filled with joy knowing that someone cares about them. So I started rushing and putting more food in the bags and fill as much as I can because I wanted to help more and more children from starving. If I was in their shoes, I would hope someone out there in the world, would send me food even if they didn't know me, it's what keeps humanity surviving.
A more recent experience was a week ago, the Arabic Language and Culture Association was hosting a cultural event on campus, and we were funded with money from the Coca Cola grants. We hosted a movie night with free food. We had a lot of extra food and we knew it would be a waste if we store them, so my friend, sister and I decided to take all the extra food. It was around 10 pm with a frozen weather; we got in the car and drove around looking for people in shelters. We saw homeless people waiting in bus shelters and we gave out all the extra food we had and they were very thankful. This is one of the experiences I can't forget because I saw the true joy on their faces. We didn't really change the world but we for sure impacted their night with a warm dinner, as well as they impacted my ambitions to help and serve others more.
So I am organizing another event this month to serve homeless people in shelters or serve in nursing homes with the Maronite Young Adults group and I hope I can make a bigger difference this time.
Poverty is a very delicate issue that affects me personally as a designer. One of the reasons I chose graphic design as a major so that I can communicate with the world what is really going on by striking the hard issues without being biased. I want to get people's emotions working with my designs and let them take action. I will put the situation the way it is in front of their eyes and the audience will interact with what they see, hopefully for the good and try to make a change in their everyday lives. This can be done simply by putting some images together with music in the background or creating posters and have people join an event and them listen to a speech or watch a movie. It may sound simple, but how you do it and to capture people's attention needs creativity because poverty is overlooked and people are sick of hearing about such an issue that they think it's impossible to solve.
By creative solutions such as this website: waterlife people will actually interact more with the design and learn more instead of reading a boring book or attending a long lecture. The designers show the importance of waterlife, a lot of poverty is tied to water which is the essential need for humans to survive. Raising awareness is key for people to join the club and start impacting the world one at a time.
When you hear the word "environmental," I'm guessing the phrase "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" comes to mind. This is a common phrase I'm sure we have all heard since elementary school when learning about the recycling bins in the classrooms. There is some controversy over the phrase though, believe it or not. Have you ever thought about why the words are in the order they are? Do people just think it just sounds best that way? Or is there a meaning behind it? The controversy about this phrase is that the order does matter, and many want to change it to "Reduce, Reuse, THEN Recycle." These days, so much emphasis is being placed on recycling, that people can forget about the first two, which is where we should really start if we want to help Mother Earth. We, as designers, need to take ownership of each aspect of this phrase as we create, to make sure we don't forget the first two steps.
Reduce.
As designers, we need to take ownership of the real impact we have. Sure we can try to cop out by saying we just design what a box looks like, but often times we actually can speak up and at least attempt to reduce the amount of materials or processing used to produce our design. One good example of reduction is this coffee cup redesign by Miller Creative. One of the great features of their design are the radial fins which specifically eliminates the need for a coffee sleve. This reduces both the amount of materials consumers use, and the amount of processing needed to manufacture them.
Reuse.
After we reduce, then we can move on to reusing. As designers a great way to help the environment is to design packages that people want to own for the sake of the package, not just the product. Packages that can be reused for other purposes are the step in the right direction. Apple is one example of packaging that people want to keep, I know for a fact I still have every box to every iPod, MacBook, and iPhone I've ever had. An even smaller step is Target's approach by printing "10 ways to reuse your Target bag" right on the side of their plastic bags.
THEN Recycle.
Finally, AFTER we reduce, and then reuse, do we recycle. As designers who care about the environment, we need to take ownership of our beliefs and if possible, try to convince your clients to use recyclable materials. As with reduce, we can attempt to figure out ways to use recyclable materials as well as reducing the amount needed in a specific design. The process of recycling materials sometimes is not as kind to the environment as we think it is. That is why this is the last step in the process. It would be much more beneficial to the environment to reduce and reuse things, before sending them through the process of recycling.
Designers have a hand in every step of the Reduce, Reuse, THEN Recycle process, in one way or another. We need to take ownership, and promote ownership (in consumers keeping products and reusing them) through the designs we create. We are the creatives of the world, and it's up to us to step up and promote this change in ideologies. So take a look at your projects, products and designs, and see where you can help out. And remember, Reduce, Reuse, THEN Recycle.
So we probably all know by now that designing/producing something that is both aesthetically pleasing and environmentally safe is next to impossible. Let's face it, cheap materials are often worse for the environment: Non-recycled paper, harsh chemicals in ink, almost any kind of plastic or glue, and a huge amount of process work that ends up getting tossed. It's often difficult for me to think about how much I'm wasting (under the impression that I'm actually saving money), but there you go. Before I know it, I'm stuffing excess paper into a trash bag along with scraps of cold mount, wax paper, and post-it notes.
In my search to find sustainable resources that are also affordable, I saw this blog, which is a handy guide for graphic designers who are looking to be environmentally-friendly without spending a lot of money. It heavily emphasizes prevention as a way to do both: Since we designers primarily use computers, we're decreasing our output just by stunting how much we print out! Thus, double sided printing, scratch paper, recycled printer cartridges, and email become valuable as solutions to money woes and biodegradability. Of course, once you start learning about sustainability, you inevitably get sucked into a world of eco-friendly techniques, from the general rules about recycling to the finicky (and somewhat anal) suggestions about solar powered eco-hosting options for websites.
Another website that looked into this issue was a design business blog, which also had a helpful list of what to do to be more efficient as a designer. This blog also included hints about lightbulbs and water conservation, which also tie into design, albeit in a roundabout way. Though we as individuals can each do a little bit to decrease our carbon footprint, it's probably more difficult for a business to follow the same practices. I'm sure not everyone in a company remembers to "think before they print," but I've found that environmentalism is all about taking baby steps on the road to freeing ourselves from the constrictions of chemicals and wasteful solutions.
When people travel with kids, the children always need a million things. The parents tend to have one bag, while each child has at least two. When traveling with smaller children, there is always a need for a stroller and car seat. It's really inconvenient to walk around airports with the car seats and strollers.
I was waiting for my flight home for Thanksgiving when I noticed a couple with a baby.
They were getting off of the plane I was about to board and I noticed something really awesome - the baby's stroller. At first I only saw the car seat they were carrying. Then the dad took the car seat and strapped it onto a set of wheels with an extended handle. Instantly the car seat turned into a stroller! I was so intrigued I looked the product up online and found Go-Go Babyz's Travelmate. The Travelmate is made up of wheels and an extended handle. It connects to almost every car seat for children up to 50 pounds. It folds down to practically nothing and makes traveling much easier with kids.
They also have another product called the Infant Cruizer. This product is similar to the Travelmate, but is more for everyday use. You can strap in almost any car seat to it too. When your child grows out of the Infant Cruizer, you can buy the Infant Cruizer Toddler Adapter. To me, the coolest thing about this product is that you can attach two of them together. It can be two toddler seats, two infant seats, or one of each. The video here shows that.
The Travelmate is really affordable. I think any parent would be willing to test this product in a heartbeat. The Cruizer is a little pricier, but considering how expensive regular strollers are, it's a good product because of the lack of space it takes up.
Almost everyone these days is concerned about the environmental preservation, but it feels like we, as consumers, are not always willing to sacrifice convenience and change our habits or consumption to make a serious commitment to the environmental agenda. There are many fair reasons why we can't commit, the strongest being the lack of financial resources to purchase environmentally friendly products. There is also a lot of concern about "greenwashing," which drives people away from so-called green products because of potential unsubstantiated claims about their ecological benefits.
It is easy to see that we have found ourselves in a situation in which there is a strong social need for environmental protection, but an inability to match that attitude with action. As documented in the Roper Organization research (as cited in the Reference for Business Encyclopedia article on Green Marketing), between 1990 and 1996 the number of people who were committed to environmental products declined, as measured by what premium they were willing to pay for green products, from 6.6% to 4.5%, and the number of consumers who rated themselves with the highest commitment to green products also declined.
To encourage this social need to evolve beyond an attitude to a behavioral switch, we need a combination of legislation and business initiative to make products and behaviors that are environmentally friendly more convenient for consumers. The main barrier to behavior is the pricing of green products, but businesses must also look to potential health benefits and the ease of use and disposability (which is key in the fight against landfills) that might encourage consumers to look beyond the price difference. If the study from 1996 can be taken as a measure, then consumers (even those less interested in environmental conservation) are willing to pay up to 4.5% more for environmental products, might have some leeway in that arena.
Hotels have found many green cleaning options actually save them money, or are at least are price neutral, compared to traditional cleaning products. In addition to saving money by preventing chemical related accidents, hotels are saving money in the reduction of water used, and in the amount of cleaning products they need to purchase. The Green Hotels Association, the group responsible for cards in hotel rooms asking visitors to reuse towels claimed that the initiative saves hotels $.50 per day per occupied room (as cited in Ecofriendly Cleaning gets the Green Light by Kristine Hansen). Government agencies are also finding cost savings through using green products; Seattle estimates that its recent switch to green cleaning products costs the city 60% less per usable gallon (Hansen).
What is important to consider is how these savings can be communicated and hopefully transferred to the consumer. If a company brags that their green products are saving money, consumers will expect to see some of the price savings, either in terms of a discount or some other tangible benefit. One obvious benefit from the reduction of chemicals and the use of non-toxic cleaners is the reduction in chemical allergy and irritation complaints. If reliable statistics could be found about the amount of these types of situations that occur in hotels, it might push consumers to use the more environmentally friendly hotels, and could encourage the trend throughout the industry. There really is a circular effect that could happen here, if a few companies can teach consumers the benefits of green products, through their own usage, then those consumers will in turn drive market demand that will encourage other companies to follow suit. This is different from the boom of 'green washing' because it is the companies themselves that will have to use the products to get consumers interested. This could be especially effective in the service industries, like hotels, restaurants, and public transit.
A second important element that businesses must consider is the ease of use in encouraging consumers. Cobalt Park, an office complex outside of Newcastle, UK, is working with local public transit and ridesharing programs to lower the carbon emissions created by workers going back and forth between the complex. As the largest business park in the UK, Cobalt Park wanted to provide convenient and effective transportation options to cut down on the pollution created by all the workers. To do this, they engaged in massive research to find out what consumer perceptions of public transit were and how they could be countered to encourage usage. Cobalt worked with the buses to change routes and used a variety of media to educate the workers in how the bus system worked and how it would benefit them and the environment. Their press release states that the number of people using the buses increased substantially through their efforts, with more than 650 people riding in late 2007, compared to less than 400 in mid 2006. Associate director Peter Whitehead, says "These figures illustrate the success and effectiveness of Cobalt's sustainable transport strategy. More and more people working in the area are realising they now have the realistic option of leaving the car at home. This reduces CO2 emissions and Cobalt is an excellent example of how, simply by working together in partnership, a sustainable transport scheme, on a large scale, can work."
This example demonstrates an opportunity for businesses through the world to consider how they can make transportation more convenient for their employees, while also reducing their environmental impact. It might not work in the US now, as we are all addicted to our driving independence, but as roads become more crowded and parking rates increase, this is an area that companies should consider investing in.
The last area of environmentally friendly actions that companies can consider to increase convenience for consumers is disposability. Many consumers want to do the right thing and recycle their products properly, however, a lack of knowledge or resources to do so can prevent these well-intentioned consumers from following through on their desires. One big example of this is in the electronics industry. Everyone knows that you can't just throw a computer in the garbage, but what do you do with it? You could make a time-consuming trip to the local recycling facility (where you may have to pay to drop off your items) or conduct research to see if any appliance stores will take your old equipment. These options require time, effort, and thought on the part of the consumer and reduce the likelihood that they will follow through and do the correct thing. Many communities offer electronic recycling days throughout the year, but to participate in these consumers have to know when and where, and be free to go during those hours. They also have to hold on to the item until they can dispose of it. Another problem area is packaging materials that consumers get products in, but often through in the garbage because of inefficient recycling programs or a lack of knowledge about recycling these products.
Germany, who is already leading in eco-labeling and environmental regulation compliance, has passed many ordinances concerning this problem of "reverse logistics," which involves manufacturers taking back the products at the end of their useful lives, specifically targeting the electronics, car, and packaging industries. A group of manufacturers in Germany have banded together to create the "Dual System" which is a country wide waste management system that guarantees the collection and recycling of various packaging materials (as discussed in the Reference for Business Encyclopedia article on Green Marketing).
All of these areas are opportunities for business to be a driving force in the social shift towards environmental protection and conservation. Legislation and regulations need to be crafted to encourage business to promote and use green products and to restrict their messages to prevent lies and exaggerations of green-based claims. Consumers are already willing to change, but corporations and the government will need to provide them with a convenient way to reduce and properly manage their consumption and waste.
the blog wouldn't let post a comment for some reason, so this is my solution.
First of all, the second link isn't working, and secondly, it's interesting how this is termed as 'surviving'. Although they may see some profit right away it seems like a short term gain long term loss to me. With reduction in waste and energy the companies could actually stand to save even more money. To me its amazing how many companies aren't willing to take a small hit now and actually make some sort of difference and save money later.
My dad is a business management consultant and he ofter describes working with executives as like herding cats. I think that stubbornness is the final hurdle these companies have to overcome. Although there is a certain pride in the business world to never changing your business strategy. Like "We've been doing business this way for 100 years". Like if its proven successful in 1910, it will work forever. At any rate, I think its our responsibility to stock up catnip and yarn, because we've got a lot of herding to do.
Like Missy talked about in her most recent post, the green movement has been adopted by everyone, and in many dishonest ways. It is good for business, and it is probably necessary for many companies to say they're green to stay successful. Not necessarily an evil move. Like Missy said, they're "surviving." Though it is disturbing to people that actually know better. More disheartening is that some of us, as designers, will be the ones making the fibbing "organic" tomato sticker. But again, not necessarily an evil act. Much as I would love to walk away from a job over a sticker.
My definition of success: To be able to walk away from my job over a sticker. Ideal date: 5 years from graduation.
First, I have to learn ((educate myself!)) which stickers are the offenders. The term for making goods appear environmentally friendly without much basis is greenwashing. Here is the Wikipedia article about it. Pretty entertaining. Turns out, this whole greenwashing business began in the '60s, when ad execs started pushing "green" products in reaction to culture. "Ecopornography" is how one executive described it.
Scratch my last definition of success. New one: Having my work compared to porn.
BP spent 200 million to greenwash their walls, and Chevron did before them. Obvious offenders. But, with some digging, you can find plenty more. The article mentioned above is a good place to start. But greenwashing won't stop until people get mad about it. And, if you care, why not make a little anti-ecoporn? Here's a little reading to get started!
Over the past five years, Facebook and other networking sites have hit all of society and have changed the world as we know it. They have allowed us to communicate with people easily, and they have allowed us to meet people from across the world. What makes these networking platforms so alluring? What brings people to these websites? What makes them fun?
Since Facebook launched back in February of 2004, it has gone through many alterations and facelifts. It seems to be that with every aesthetic fix, the Facebook world blows up in outrage ("The new Facebook SUCKS!" "Why did they change what was working from the start?!" "The newsfeed is horrible!" "I hate the new changes!"). Every time that this has happened, the storm seems to always settle down over the span of a week. What makes these avid users go crazy over change? Is it that they enjoy consistency? Is it no longer fun for a user if the design of the website has been altered? Well, I would think that change would be fun.
The change of a design can really influence society and the "fun factor" that this design has or may have had. A simple change can either mend all of the problems the design had, or it can send people into a total outrage. I use Facebook as an example only because it seems so minute. It's such a widespread tool and its design is really quite simple, yet people have always seemed to get all bitter once its design has been altered in the slightest bit.
While Facebook has made many small changes, they also have made a couple of big changes, the biggest being that of their privacy settings (http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/05/facebook-privacy-changes-inspire-praise-optimism). Less than two years ago, it was stated that Facebook owned anything that anyone had uploaded or posted to the site. Even though many Facebook users were outraged over this comment, many of them opted out on deleting their accounts (http://www.visioncritical.com/newsroom/facebook-users-stop-short-of-deleting-accounts/). How do bigger changes and smaller changes in the design of something change the way people react? People who experience smaller changes to Facebook seem to initially react almost the same way as they do to larger changes. What other companies have done this? How have consumers reacted towards those changes?
To be honest, the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of the word "toxicity" is cleaning supplies. Ever since I was little, my mother warned me about the dangers beneath our kitchen sink; she warned me about all the chemicals we cleaned our house with and how much they could hurt me if I were to consume them. (Heck, we even had to call poison control once when I swallowed a not-so-nontoxic substance).
Nowadays, kids still have to beware of what lies beneath their kitchen sink, but not to the extent that I had to since many cleaning products are now considered "green". Being "green" is the new fad and companies will go to any extent to have some of their products be labeled "green" even if it's not entirely true. In other words, many companies try to "greenwash" consumers. These companies know that individuals will buy into these new "green" products, even if the chemistry behind them isn't all that different from their original (often extremely toxic) products.
For example, when consumers look at branding and identity of "Green Works" cleaning products, they believe that they're buying into and supporting a company that practices eco-friendly operations and sustainability. However, "Green Works" belongs to "The Clorox Company" and although they are making an effort to provide better alternatives for their consumers as far as cleaning products go, they are still selling their original (often extremely toxic) products to the world. But how does this relate to design? I believe it's up to me and other designers to effectively convey the product's true nature through branding and identity.
I am a designer who believes that companies need to be transparent. A great example of company transparency is from the company "Method". This company pledges that all of their products abide by eco-friendly and sustainable regulations, which includes non-toxicity. Their mission states, "Our philosophy starts with our mission to inspire a Happy, Healthy Home Revolution, and centers around using innovation to create positive change. But mere sustainability is not our goal. We want to go much farther than that. We want to become restorative and enriching in everything we do so that the bigger we get, the more good we create. We are striving for sustainable abundance."
"Method" does an extremely good job of conveying their mission through their branding. They try their best to make sure that people have a healthy and happy lifestyle. They show this by making products that appeal to consumers from the color and smell of the substance to the graphic layouts and final packaging. In short, "Method" products are ones that you do not have to hide under your sink.
(Note: While I think "Method" is doing a great job with their branding and identity, I do have one quick critique. I believe their logo could use a little work. I do not believe that their simplistic logo represents all that the company strives to do).
On November 10, 2010, the Clean the Niger Delta Coalition will be holding a meeting to discuss how to deal with the massive oil pollution in the Niger Delta, followed by a photo exhibition and concert. Effective designs come with a clear call to action, and in a time when the security of the environment is of great concern, we as designers will not be able to avoid creating designs to secure our ecosystem; to make it safer. More importantly, we may be called upon to actually design the things that will actually make improvements to the environment. The question is whether or not it is truly possible to encourage enough people to change their own methods to save our ecosystem.
Shell is a perfect example of a company who has not resorted to more environmentally friendly methods of doing business. While people are often being encouraged to find new ways to dispose of dangerous materials, many continue to pollute areas with their waste, ignoring the warnings and laws against it. Being that the world is not physically designed to take as much pollution as we make, why is it that so many people do not resort to more environmentally friendly designs? The answer is cost. The financial agendas of corporations often interfere with the new environmental agenda that has been strongly encouraged throughout the past few years. Eco-friendly alternatives often tend to cost more than the methods that pollute. For example, (environmentally friendly design)
How do we fix this? While there is no easy answer, Thomas Friedman, the author of Hot, Flat and Crowded provides insight on this matter, saying that we must make the environmental agenda a part of the financial agenda; we must control the cost of environmentally friendly design so that people will be willing to tend to the environment. Friedman calls his plan "China for a day, but NOT for two," as controlled pricing is one of the characteristics of communism. It has come to a point in which we may have to resort to a form of politics that our nation has stood strongly against just so eco-friendly products will be put to use more often. We as designers have our own financial agendas as well. If more people buy eco-friendly products, we will be even more encouraged to design them. Altering our financial agenda may be our last chance to keep newer, safer designs as a priority. Designers have what it takes to make a difference in the environment and keep it secure, and the more society begins to put the environment first, the more chances we will have to prove it.
As visual communicators, we as graphic designers have the ability to influence society. We have the potential to do great--both good and bad--things. Many designers who are proponents of social design, such as Victor Papanek, believe that "designers and creative professionals have a responsibility and are able to cause real change in the world through good design." While it certainly is well within our capabilities as graphic designers to create social change through our work, it seems that we don't usually reach our potential in this respect because our skills are most often used to contribute to and perpetuate commercialism and consumerism. So is it really feasible to design socially conscious work?
In theory, yes, it is absolutely possible. The world we live in is shaped by design at every level. Visual communication is omnipresent throughout the world. Through visual communication, we as graphic designers have the capability to shape society. The work we do as graphic designers can sell, persuade, educate and inspire. Graphic design is everywhere, and thus, so is the opportunity to create social change. To say that creating socially conscious work is only feasible in theory would be incorrect because social design does exist, but (for the most part) it is limited in practice.
In practice (for the most part), however, it is not. This is because our skills as graphic designers are most often used in advertising and marketing to contribute to and perpetuate commercialism and consumerism. Today, the production of visual communications consists essentially of advertising. John Berger says, "Publicity turns consumption into a substitute for democracy. The choice of what one eats (or wears or drives) takes the place of significant political choice. Publicity helps to mask and compensate for all that is undemocratic within society. And it also masks what is happening in the rest of the world." But we as graphic designers have the ability to contribute so much more than this.
The challenge facing the design community in particular is how to expand what we do to have a greater impact in the area of social change. How do we create space for designers to do this type of work at the professional level where concern about the bottom line is often the driving force? Often what holds a designer back is the prevailing attitude that executing social work only falls under the category of pro bono. "Giving back" is an altruistic idea, but with limited time and resources it's often not realistic. This attitude has to change in order to create a sustainable model that not only promotes this type of work, but also encourages it in the marketplace.
Berger, John (1972). Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books.
We've all probably heard the recent hype about how many of the products deemed "green" in the marketplace are actually far from being environmentally friendly. I find this embarrassing for the creators of these fakers and upsetting for us, the consumers, who have likely paid top dollar for our solar powered USB drives and other such products. So if so many of these products don't do anything to offset pollution and will, after all, end up in that land fill, why do so many businesses try their hand in the Green industry?
The answer to this seems to be: it's good for business. In the article "The Colour of Money: The business Case for Sustainable Design", the authors talk about how businesses need to adapt to the public's new awareness of environmental issues or be left in the dust. So what's the problem with this? Why doesn't every business design environmentally friendly products? This way, the company thrives, the people are happy, and the environment catches a break.
Apparently, this is easier said than done. If it wasn't, there probably wouldn't be so many fakers out there. It seems that many companies aren't as concerned with producing an honest product as they are in producing a cheap product. Another contributing factor to this onslaught of fakers could be on the consumer's end. It seems that people want both the shiny red, perfect tomato AND the organic sticker to be slapped on the side, which isn't exactly realistic in a world filled with fruit flies.
So what does this mean about businesses who try their hand in the Green industry? Well they're probably not evil, they probably just want to try and survive like the rest of us, like buying a knock off pair of designer jeans in middle school to keep up with the rest of the kids (or maybe it's not like that at all...) Either way, it seems that green (even fake green) is good for business, and it will probably stay that way until pressure from angry consumers stand up and expose the fakers.
When considering minimalism and the personal agenda we should examine an area that cannot be eliminated. There are many tools we may utilize to make work easier but no tool is so useful as practice. Experience with a process or program speeds future uses. Similarly, studying the past will hopefully enable us to avoid mistakes others have made. Minimalisation can be found in the restraint a designer shows while incorporating new practices and elements from existing designs.
Jeff Veen is a web designer that has given a small talk about design and critical thinking. In this short lecture he talks about the cargo cults that arose in the south Pacific after World War II. The story is that during WWII the American military moved onto islands that had never encountered Westerners before and brought with them the wealth of industry. The indigenous people associated the planes and the practices of the Army, this was before the Air Force existed, with the bounty but did not understand what was needed to create the goods and services. When the military left so did the goods so the natives created bamboo planes and practiced behavior mimicking what the Army personnel did while there. They are referred to as the " cargo cults ."
He uses the iPhone as an example of designers influencing other Smartphone manufacturers in the same manner as the technologically advanced people inspired the cargo cults. Though two Smartphones may have a similar appearance they may not function in the same manner because the imitator fails to understand the working of the original.
He presents the idea that " great designers steal
," itself a paraphrase of Picasso's statement that "Good artists copy, great artists steal." The concept is that great designers will steal from a design that works and incorporate the principles and elements of the original into something new. An example of this is the " iPad
from Apple. Bell calls it "an act of aggressive tech convergence" that combines tablet computer, net book, e-reader, and media player into one. Here Apple has taken elements from other devices and joined them with the brand equity of the Mac to create a device that creates longing in consumers. Apple has shown restraint in minimalising the number of features the iPad incorporates from netbooks and tablets, however. Like the elimination of the floppy drive in late '90s Macs the iPad does not have a disc drive for media. Right now this may be a hassle but will be seen as an innovation in the future as more software and media is delivered wirelessly over the web.
An example of a copy, however, is found in the new Nook Color from Barnes & Noble. Nook Color has not been given a full review since CNet has just been given a preview device. Overall they were impressed but from my point of view Barnes & Noble is moving away from the strength of the e-reader. The original Nook, like the Amazon Kindle, used an e-ink screen to enable reading without the eyestrain or the difficulty of reading in sunlight of an LCD screen like the iPad. The new device uses an LCD screen like the iPad and adds a number of Android operating system features that may enable more functionality like a tablet computer but not as many as the iPad. This will result in unfavorable comparisons, which anecdotally occurred even when the device was black and white and a quarter of the price of the iPad. Before the Nook was a strong e-reader but by copying the iPad they may be reducing the usefulness of the device's key feature. I believe the designers at Barnes & Noble would be better served by taking only the elements of the iPad that make for a better e-reader rather than copying as much as possible. The restraint shown would illustrate an understanding of their device and help stand apart from competitors.
The home and its functionality make up much of peoples' environments. This isn't just about the family; space efficiency in the home is important as well. In countries with emerging economies and large, overcrowded cities, this is a difficult issue. How does one fit a whole family - one which may not have access to proper healthcare and birth control - into a 400 square foot or smaller flat? Gary Chang of Hong Kong (considered part of an emerging economy) has designed a solution in his revolutionary sliding panel "24 rooms in one" home, which can be modified at will to include an enclosed bedroom, kitchen, or living room at any given time. Without such modifications in cramped apartments, "Killing each other is not uncommon," says Mr. Chang in an interview with the New York Times (here and here).
A short clip showing the Hong Kong space-efficient home
This space comes at a cost, however. The average income per family in Hong Kong runs between 10 and 25 thousand dollars a year, according to government publications. The apartments are expensive in the first place, but how can families afford to completely redesign a home, much less find the space to do it while living there? When only half of the population of Hong Kong - one of the more well to do areas in Asia - owns their own homes or flats, the only feasible way to do this is to require landlords to modify flats or have government enforce it. This is fine for the human environment, but it still only considers people and does not take into account the need for green space.
Green space describes areas capable of sustaining plant life. It doesn't have to be a field of soybeans, but setting aside any room for vegetation is rare when every inch of space is crucial. According to PureHealthMD, gardens bring with them more health benefits than just visual appeal and the potential veggies they can produce. They can provide stress relief - crucial in such small confines - and a reliable source of food during times of political unrest or when jobs are hard to find. In areas where the population is constantly growing, not necessarily in proportion to the job market, this could be a good change. It could detoxify the air and create a greater well being for the whole city, as it would beautify the area. The city could even recommend certain greens to be grown, which would provide a structure for people to follow.
As interesting as the use of gardens and the space they take is, the larger problem facing cities like Hong Kong is keeping small spaces efficient for people to live in so more can be packed into a smaller space. Gardens would help reduce waste from food packaging as well as provide a place to compost biodegradable wastes. The minimal amount of space is further reduced when each room can be modified at will. There could be fewer unnecessary things, and having smaller spaces with the proper reflective properties could allow for less energy usage in light and heat.
Social empowerment and design go way back. The basis of every social movement has been its ability to persuade its audience and gather support. Propaganda has always been at the front of these efforts; essays, songs, and eye-catching posters have all had influence over the spread of information. Through this effort, designers have created greatly influential work to further a cause, conceiving in the process unique aesthetics that gave a face to each movement.
Constructivist art, which began in Russia, was rooted in the practice of giving art a social purpose, rather than being "art for art's sake." In addition to being a significant precedent in the field of graphic design, Constructivist art was adopted by not only revolution in the U.S.S.R, but later by the German Revolution, which resulted in the Weimar Republic, or modern-day Germany. Constructivists aimed to "encompass cognitive, material activity, and the whole of spirituality of mankind" (Wikipedia).
The branding of social movements is employed in modern times, too. Efforts to educate and persuade the public about our effects on the environment and to reduce our impact are everywhere. While this is an environmental issue, it is more subtly a social movement. It is necessary to incite people on a social level to create any change, and the "green movement" has employed the same tactics as historical revolutions in creating this shift in ideas. As we have discussed in class before, this social movement has its own aesthetic, just as the revolutions in the U.S.S.R and Germany adopted Constructivist art.
This image shows the ironically environment-friendly aesthetic bp used in its logo, and shows the response of designers to the oil spill. Aside from the content, even the darker images have many elements in common: clean lines, graphic and geometric shapes, a flat, two-dimensional quality, and somehow or the other, the use of the color green. This is the aesthetic I have come to associate with the green movement. Although not as specified and pre-determined as Constructivist art, this is the imagery we have seen and will continue seeing as the social movement of going green progresses.
In all cases of social movements, design has been a tool for empowerment, and gives an idea a voice and face; to make it tangible and accessible, and therefore more successful.
Examining the Aesthetic Response to the BP Oil Spill Retrieved from http://hyperallergic.com/6809/bp-oil-spill/Constructivism (art) Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_(art)Weimar Republic Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_Republic
So I was kind of stumped as to what to write about with social health in the design work and I was looking at the definition of social on Webster.com, the definitions/versions I found interesting was the one that defined "of or relating to human society, the interaction of the individual and the group, or the welfare of human beings as members of society." So how as designers do we create a health social relationship with our design world and friends? I think it used to be really simple, find contacts, keep in touch, make friends, make relationships and call upon these people for references, opportunities, ect. Now there is a whole nether world to this process, its call Social Media! In our advances in technology and a need to know obsession of what everyone else is doing we now have multiple outlets that allow us to find this information (as well as post it). Social media now comes in the form of Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, Myspace, Flickr, ect. It's all over the place and in our faces. I know my generation is all about it and don't get me wrong I myself partake in a few of these guilty little pleasures, but my question is " Is this excessive amount of social media healthy?" Since when are we so self absorbed that we need to post on the Internet everything exciting or worth while that happens in our life? Via images, text or videos. I understand having all of these resources at our fingertips is absolutely amazing, but is it being used for the right things?
I read this article on AIGA Design to Empower the People by Zara Arshad, written March 03, 2009 and she talks about social media and how its changing our design world, "Socially responsible design is gaining momentum as designers are beginning to increasingly consider the context of their work, acting as indicators of current global affairs that necessitate action or response." Designers are taking the events and opinions that are happening around us and developing their design around it. She writes of "Guerilla Codes" which are those new QR codes that were seeing on a lot of advertisements and other designed things. This article is a little radical talking about social stances and standing up for what you believe in, using design supported by your beliefs. Although it's a little intense, I agree, as designers we should be grabbing all forms of new technology and trying to incorporate them in to our work. But this brings me back to how much social media is healthy for ones well being? I don't know. I personally tried participating in Twitter, I didn't get it and gave up, I don't really go on facebook anymore and haven't posted anything new in like a year, myspace is dead, I try to keep a blog but its difficult with a hectic schedule. I'd rather worry about my projects and the work I'm producing.
And all of a sudden im hearing from my peers and elder design people that if im not on these social medias im doomed in trying to find a job.... But how much time can I stress out about something that I really don't like to do or don't really want to participate in? Am I supposed to be obsessively updating my twitter account with cool design stuff or my facebook page with projects? Although these social medias are a great way of networking with people in your field, I feel like they are being pushed upon me in a forceful way. What happened to the good old days of talking to someone face-to-face or writing e-mail, now it's all about whom your following on twitter or if you're a fan of a design firm. To me its overwhelming and not in a good way. Maybe I should shut my mouth and do what I'm being told to do, the times are changing and maybe I should just accept it (but i don't really want to). What are your thoughts??
Over the last several years, the general public has become more and more concerned with the environment, with films like An Inconvenient Truth helping to bring environmental issues to the attention of a much wider audience. According to one report, 76% of consumers place environmental responsibility in the hands of business rather than government. Today, people want companies to be environmentally responsible and operate using (more) sustainable practices, and people also want to feel like they can help save the earth by supporting these sustainable businesses and products. Companies around the world have listened to this desire and are now taking advantage of environmental messages to attract consumers, often misleading them in the process.
A term has been coined for the process of falsely leading consumers to believe that a product is more environmentally friendly than it actually is: greenwashing. Greenwashing can take many different forms. In fact, according to the TerraChoice Greenwashing Report, there are seven different ways greenwashing can occur. Companies can:
You can take a look at the PDF report on the website for a more in-depth explanation of each, but they are mostly self-explanatory. The report claims that the most common form of greenwashing is the "hidden trade-off," in which the company focuses on one small aspect of their product while ignoring the bigger picture. For example, corn-based plastics are promoted as the new "green" thing in container design, but there are numerous hidden trade-offs, as discussed in this article: these items can't be mixed with regular plastic recycling, must be composted in special facilities (or else it takes up to 1,000 years to decompose!), and it takes away a supply of corn that could be used for food while supporting a disposable culture.
As designers, however, we can have control over these messages. If everyone said "no" to making misleading claims like these, the world of environmental marketing would be changed for the better, and more honesty about products could very well save the planet. If a product is truly environmentally friendly, it is often very obvious, like this new cleaning product called Replenish. It consists of a reusable spray bottle that connects to a little soap pod. You fill the bottle with tap water and voila! Instant surface cleaner. Not only does this save plastic from being dumped into landfills, but it saves the energy of shipping hundreds of gallons of water from factories to stores and homes. There are many great producst like this being developed; it is just unfortunate that they are lost in a sea of greenwashed products.
I remember sitting through a lecture some years back about disaster relief and the architects who spring forth to build structures for refugees or displaced folks and being in awe at what amazing solutions the architects came up with. I don't remember the particular architect who was being featured at the time, but I do remember being reminded of a Plato quote my dad uses (and usually butchers) whenever he's attempting to heed my worries: necessity is the mother of invention. I think that quote (thank you, Plato) is exactly it; when the need arises, the innovation has to be there (it just has to be). Before you continue, I suggest you read this wonderful short story on invention.
Let's take a look at Hurricane Katrina and the demand it placed on quick thinking (for many things) but especially housing for the many people displaced by the storm. Daniel Libeskind, a fairly eccentric and well-known architect (and also thee architect who has designed the Freedom Tower at ground zero) designed a 580-square-foot house "with two small bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and possibly a veranda." Additionally, the price of building the tiny house was estimated at $3,700 or less and could be built in about two weeks. What Libeskind designed was a way to give the people who had lost their homes homes again, not trailers, motel rooms or cruise ship rooms.
Another architect who presented relief ideas for Katrina is Sean Godsell, who has designed temporary housing out of shipping containers; he calls them Future Shacks. Godsell designed the housing to be appropriate for nearly any disaster in the world - flood, fire, earthquake, typhoon, refugee housing, etc. The Future Shack is built out of a 20-foot shipping container that is readily available, inexpensive, and durable. Even better is that the unit is self-contained and can be assembled in 24 hours.
These examples of disaster relief architecture provide a tremendously humbling example of how designers, through innovation, can benefit society at large. Personally, I've struggled with the thought that I am merely a designer and that I cannot make an impact other than through good design. However, I think it's seeing examples like these ones that remind me that socially, I can do anything that I put my mind to. Certainly we all have to make money with our day jobs, but with a little ingenuity (i.e. innovation) designers can make a difference by stepping up and out of our comfort zones and doing what we're good at, for the good of others. The architects I spoke of above were not schooled in the way of relief housing. Nobody pulled Sean aside and said, "look, look at that shipping container, you could make a house out of that," they didn't read it in a book, they simply saw an opportunity to use their creative minds and their resource of education and experience to impact the way society can expect to experience disaster relief - and, compassion.
Final word from Sean Godsell:
"As architects in stable democracies our responsibilities are reasonably clear cut. Our role in those societies where freedom has been ripped away by force, or where nature has devastated whole cities, or when generations of minority groups have been forced into a life of poverty because of a political philosophy, is hazy by comparison. The need 'to house'... offers architects the opportunity to provide shelter for fellow human beings in need."
As I dove into researching affordable yet environmental design, I was skeptical. Generally speaking in my experience I have found that "going green" always tends to need more green than not. In other words, if I want to buy organic food, it's more expensive, if I want to buy environmentally friendly light bulbs, they're more expensive, if I want to print on environmentally friendly paper with soy-based inks, it's more expensive. In my eyes, I couldn't see how environmental and affordable could be in the same sentence in respect to design. But then I found these images from oddee.com.
"World Wildlife Fund ad campaign: As the paper towel dispenser is slowly emptied of its green paper towels, we see the greenness slowly drained out of South America, symbolizing the nasty environmental impact of disposable paper towels."
"This eco-ad utilizes the movement of shadows on a billboard to demonstrate how global warming will lead to rising water levels with a shaped canopy and the shifting sun."
"Prolam Y&R , Santiago produced this large-scale billboard showing refugees fleeing from a flood in Asia, with dozens of air conditioners peeping out from a refurbished building. It was produced to raise conscience regarding global warming. The line " El aire que enfría tu hogar, calienta el mundo" (THE AIR THAT COOLS YOUR HOME HEATS UP THE WORLD), was used to help convey that climate change is also due to excess of carbon dioxide in the air."
I was blown away when I saw them. To me, these images cause me to think outside of the box in a couple of different ways. For one, they show me that as a designer, if I want to design something affordable yet impactful, it has to be a big production. These images show that placement can be just as powerful if not more so than the graphics produced. None of these campaigns would be effective had they been made as a poster. How simple is putting an awning on a billboard and using the resources given by the sun and placement to complete the design? And creating a strategic cutout sends a very powerful message. And in the last image the combination of the image choice, placement, and tagline make it an unforgettable and unavoidable message.
Switching gears now, I researched a little about our precious life-sources, the Mac computer. As designers, the majority of us eat, sleep, and breathe our apple laptops or desktops at work at school and at play. I was curious how environmentally friendly they were. Turns out the MacBooks (including air and pro) are Energy Star qualified. They are also way ahead of the game in informing their clients about their environmentally-mindedness, check out their environment page. I find it extremely interesting that they are up front and honest about their carbon footprint. Statements such as the following surprised me that they would share so truthfully with everyone but also made me respect them that much more. For 2009, we estimate that Apple was responsible for 9.6 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions. To me it shows that they are aware of the situation and are going to do something about it as they move forward.
So what does this have to do with affordability? For one, it means I can keep using my MacBook and feel good knowing it's a green machine. For two it means that the leading companies in the technological world are taking steps towards being more environmentally responsible, which is setting the stage for the rest of the world to follow suite. Once being green is the standard and no longer an alternative option, being green will be much more affordable.
If any of you have read my other blogs about recyclability, you will know that I sort of think recycling is mostly hype. Reusing is where it's at. It's where we, as individuals, have the most power to impact the issue of waste and create better lives for ourselves.
Today in class (yes, that's right . . . I'm doing this blog at the very last minute, just hours before it is due) we talked about what kind of monetary compensation we, as designers, can expect in exchange for our amazing design skills. Since I'm pretty sure I'm not the 'superstar' designer that all companies are looking for, I might be offered something around $20k per year for the privilege of working my butt off for an ungodly number of hours per week. Even if I'm working for Duffy (wishful thinking) I'll still have to figure out how to live on that teensy weensy bit of money.
Now, I've been living on a pittance for several years, so I know how to do it, but I have to admit that I haven't been all that creative about it. You come over to my house and you just think "Damn, she's poor." That's all over. I've discovered that with a little creativity, some elbow grease, and a good amount of quirkiness (don't worry, you all qualify) we can live quite stylishly on very little cash-moola-greenbacks. It's all about REUSING!!
Myself, I'm going to start right off by shopping for an old Airstream trailer to make my home, but if mobility isn't a priority for you, the 'Redneck Mansion' might be a great place to settle in and put down some roots.
Furnishing your abode should be no problem: Aluminum cans, cardboard, abandoned shopping carts, and old compact discs with four years of homework assignments (useless for your portfolio) can all be repurposed into seriously chic furniture.
For those little touches that make a house a home, check out the Goddess of Garbage. She can show you how to turn any old piece
of junk into a treasure!
Here are a few of my favorite sites for creative reusing and repurposing:
For more than 4,000 years, people have used their outdoor surroundings as a place to relax, enjoy the company of friends, and seek pleasure in the gifts Mother Nature has bestowed. From the Hanging Gardens of Babylon to the Gardens at the Château de Marqueyssac, it is apparent that society has always valued the design of nature for aesthetic purposes.
Persian gardens blossomed out of impossibility in their harsh and arid landscape, while later Egyptian gardens were maintained for secular purposes and for the pleasure of the wealthy to enjoy. Roman gardens served as places of tranquility and refuge from urban life. Japanese gardens were intended to be seen from inside, evoking mountains and rivers with suggestions of water raked into wave patterns on sand. In Byzantine Europe, gardens started to become enclosed spaces, sometimes with scenic views painted on the inside of garden walls. The Italian Renaissance later inspired a wave of private gardening, full of scenes from ancient mythology. The picturesque landscape gardens of England challenged the typical manicured style by valuing the wilder, untamed quality of the natural landscape.
Gardens have since evolved into places where harvesting herbs and vegetables is just as common as sitting and enjoying the colorful view. Also, there are many ways people are trying to bring the outdoors in and the indoors out. Not only is it fashionable to decorate our kitchens with bouquets of flowers and our mantels with preserved animal specimen, but it has also become quite trendy to create outdoor living spaces, with manufacturers creating weather-proof furniture, lighting and kitchen appliances more than ever. With TV shows like The Outdoor Room on HGTV, the idea of having a personalized living space outside is as exciting and accessible as ever. The Cool Hunter is also initiating an interactive exhibition of modern eco tree houses that allow viewers to experience nature while also escaping from the stress of everyday life. This TreeLife exhibition also focuses on sustainable design, which is becoming more apparent it many other fields of design as well.
The S-word. It made its debut among popular culture a while ago, but it seems that nowadays, it's truly everywhere. In a recent article for AIGA, sustainability was referred to as "that word that seeps into everything from annual reports to dinner-time conversation...and seems, at times, unsatisfying blunt or maddeningly evasive." With the bombardment of 'go green' and 'eco-friendly' marketing schemes, the word sustainability seems to have lost some merit among audiences--after all, seeing it on your toilet cleaner, cereal box and sweater label can easily be considered overkill. I like to think of sustainability in the broader sense, not only can the designs we produce be maintained at a certain level but the designs themselves can encompass elements from the environment to reduce waste and production.
As designers our duties entail so much more than purely designing something. Yes, we may have the perfect image, impeccable kerning, and a kickass tagline--but great design encompasses so much more--it's as much about the process as it is about the finished result, it requires concept AND quality production. Unfortunately, more often than not--these elements are not given equal weight in the design process. Students are particularly skilled in the "command+p" mentality--we design, we print, we hand-in. Very little attention is paid to production methods or material selection (in regards to the environment), when in reality these factors are just as important as the colors we choose or the size of our type. To be fair, we are limited by minimal budgets and a lack of resources, but it's important to start considering ALL of the possibilities that design can have. In a world where technology has evened the playing field for creatives--the tools and technology of our trade are accessible to everyone--we often don't take advantage of what's available, especially things within our immediate environment/surroundings.
A recent project by Happiness Brussels (designed by Anthony Burrill in London) has been receiving a lot of attention lately, and for good reason. In an effort to raise money for the Coalition to Restore Louisiana, an organization dedicated to cleaning Louisiana's coastline after the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, a silk-screened poster was produced. Although seemingly simple and straightforward in appearance, the poster's impact comes from the materials used to produce it--collections of oil deposits from Louisiana's shoreline act as the ink in a process that traditionally uses water-based inks. The literal play on words in conjunction with the symbolic use of materials create a powerful juxtaposition that is inherently reliable on the relationship between concept and execution. This is a perfect example of how designers can use their method of production and materials to add a whole other dimension to their work, giving it substance and challenging the way people perceive the issue at hand. Two other powerful examples include the creation of rocking chairs (a symbolic peace sculpture) out of melted guns or commemorative pottery glazed with volcanic ash collected from the Mount St. Helens eruption. The contradiction between material and product is truly beautiful and provides a powerful foundation for discussion, while the concept of reusing materials as a means to produce something completely different is a practice that can yield interesting and innovative results.
Disclaimer: This post was written by someone who is feeling very cynical about the state of the world when it comes to the Green Movement.
Tom Friedman talks about the faux green movement, and how nothing will actually change until the movement becomes a revolution, and companies get hurt. He argues that green energy and actions will not become widespread enough for any real difference to occur until regulations and policies are enforced by government that require corporations to budget their use of non-green energy and material. He thinks by simply adding a tax for the use of fossil fuels major change can happen. I agree with this idea, however I think the political system is not currently set up for increased taxes or regulations on corporations. In a Bionomicfuel blog post points out that the impact of individuals transitioning to green lifestyles is marginal, "but when companies get onboard with green policies the impact is tremendous." One of the most important considerations in material production is the pounds of carbon dioxide given off by every pound of plastic while it is breaking down in landfills. Biodegradable plastic produces nearly half the carbon dioxide of conventional plastic.
On the bright side of this there are some companies that are starting to get on board, and designers are helping them do it in a very unique way. This product is mainly biodegradable because of the paper it is made out of, but it is a product that is normally found in plastic. Most dog owners prefer the low tech clean up method of a hand inside of an plastic bag. These cute new poopoo-bags make biodegradable products funny and cool, showing other companies that biodegradable materials don't have to be marketable to only niche green movement consumers.
The key in designing for disability is the main focus has to be on function. The most important thing is to design something that will make the life of the person with the disability easier. "It is the environment that renders people disabled and not the medical impairments" (Singit).
In the paragraph for the personal agenda in the syllabus, there is talk about addressing the latest trends or using the latest technology. Addressing current trends is not as important as addressing current technology and the basic needs of those with disabilities. As far as design, the truth is that the more simple the design, the better. The easier it is to use or understand, the easier it is for the person with the disability to continue in their daily life with as few bumps in the road as possible.
Disability design does not need to focus on the latest trends as it will most likely be used for a long period of time and needs to stay relevant. For example, the hearing aid which first came out in the 1800s was not designed to follow trends, it was designed to fit into a person's ear and do what it was intended to do (Watson). While over the years, technology has allowed the hearing aid to become smaller, better developed, and more comfortable for the user it has not changed much in terms of appearance. The same thing goes for the wheelchair; there have been a few more modern designs recently including the following but none of them have really gone anywhere or become mainstream.
I think as far as personal preferences in design go it's kind of either way as to whether or not it really matters in bringing that into the design. Obviously because you are designing it there will be some sort of personal influence but it may be best to try and be neutral when designing for disability. The most simplicity and easy of use is the best to make everything easy for the user. It may be difficult to objectively design for others and keep your preferences out of it but that's probably what is most necessary in disability design.
To discuss poverty in our society, I feel it is important to first take a look at a few, devastating facts. I found these in an article written by Anup Shah, titled "Causes of Poverty."
1. Approximately half the world - around 3 billion people - live on less than $2.50 a day!
2. The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the 41 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (567 million people) is less than the wealth of the world's 7 richest people combined. (Shah)
3. 1 billion children live in poverty (1 in 2 children in the world). 640 million live without adequate shelter, 400 million have no access to safe water, 270 million have no access to health services. 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (or roughly 29,000 children per day). (Shah)
Just imagine being a part of these statistics. Imagine living the lives of these people, going through what they endure each and every day of their lives. We need to think ahead and outside of the box. Go above and beyond. In reality, it IS the small things that make a difference. Martin Fisher, CEO of ApproTEC/KickStart, created a presentation that explains how a design so little, with no significant cost, could change the lives of many poor people living in Sub-Saharan Africa.
He came to the conclusion that the number one need of the poor people is, essentially, the need to make money (Fisher). His presentation showed that the business for the average African, or 80% of the poor in Africa, is farming. Most of the individual farmers still farm using basic techniques such as simple watering buckets to water their crop. Fisher created a simple design that would create a low cost pressure irrigation pump. This pump would not only make farming easier for the laborers, but also create jobs to benefit all of society. KickStart would create the design of the product and set up factories in Africa to manufacture the products. They would then hire train individuals to work those factories, while keeping track of quality control. KickStart would then recruit and train wholesalers as well as retailers. Essentially, this would lead up to a "Super MoneyMaker Pump Supply Chain" where everyone from designer, to manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer, and consumer, would end up better off where they began.
When it comes to innovation and thinking of the bigger picture, Fisher's idea of social agenda is one that we should all take into consideration. His simple design, from the beginning of the process to the final use by the consumer, benefited society as a whole. This should be our priority as designers. We live in a world with a juggling economy. Let's figure out how to make things better, and bring this poverty crisis down.
A common application of a marketing strategy is what people in the industry call "trinkets and trash." The fact that something you're producing to help promote a product/company/service is referred to as "trash" should probably raise a red flag.
There are many companies that specialize in this form of promotion. So what do they do exactly? They put your logo on stuff.
Tangerine Promotions, based out of Chicago, actually does a good job of promoting brands with this method. Their clients include MTV, Smirnoff, Nintendo, Evian, Guiness, and HBO, among others. They claim that their customization goes beyond the ordinary and that they are the right partner for your brand. Tangerine Promotions uses relevant items in connecting their client's brand to their audience (i.e. a jump rope for Nickelodeon, and a vase/urn for Six Feet Under). However, other companies such as www.trinkettrash.com, pretty much create a bunch of waste.
Check out "Mr. Moody" for example. He changes his face from happy, angry, stressed, or surprised -- a perfect desktop companion! How many people do you think actually have a Mr. Moody on their desk? Yeah, it was free, given away at a trade show maybe, but what is the point?
As designers, we help to create and nurture brands. We come up with marketing applications for the strategy that took months of research to develop, followed by months of creating and refining the design. So what makes people think that putting their logo on lip balm, key chains, or random desktop items is going to help their company? If the application is relevant, it absolutely will. But handing out free things with your logo on it does not mean people are going to understand, like, or be loyal to your brand.
From a social perspective, I feel that including these kind of throwaway applications in a marketing strategy is wasteful. How is it benefiting society as a whole? What is that lip balm, for example, made of? Is it actually good for your lips? How much energy was required to produce it? And what does lip balm have to do with your business?
So in the end, the big question is: what happens to these trinkets? Well, they usually become trash. This is wasteful. Designers, we need to make sure that the applications of our marketing strategies reflect the company we are working for, as well as benefit society. There is no need for many of these items to even exist. Let's leave the organic lip balm making to companies who specialize in this, not to a business that sells in recycled paper products and knows nothing about lip balm.
When I think about the role that communication plays in my personal life, I think about the impact that design and technology have on this relationship. I think about how communication design has changed throughout my life and how it will continue to change in the future. Early on in my life, communication by use of the Internet was very new and not as essential in my lifestyle as it is now. At the time, MSN Messenger, was one of the only social distractions in my life. That, and my Hotmail account. For me, it was the beginning of this idea of being connected to someone without actually having to talk to him or her on my home phone or in person. I got my first cell phone when I was 16. It was a simple design, only used for phone calls and the few amount of text messages that I could send each month.
As I reflect on my interactions with these designed things, I realize that it was just the beginning of the way I would communicate in my life now. During the time I have been writing this blog post, I have checked my e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, went on YouTube, etc., both on my now updated touch-screen cell phone and my one-year-old MacBook. My ability to communicate through these designed objects and interfaces have practically changed the way I function and live. And it will continue to change the role it plays in my life as long as technology and communication keep on advancing. So now the question to ask is how will communication be present in our lives in the future?
I found an interesting YouTube video of a presentation that Microsoft created which demonstrates their vision for the future by the year 2019.
I found their future ambitions very intriguing, causing me to imagine how this would affect the way I will use communication in my life in less than ten years. What I found even more interesting was the parody video that came up after I watched this one. This next video allowed me to think about the effect of what this future might hold.
I understand that this video is probably making fun of Microsoft and their ability to actually make this a reality, but I found that some of the points made were extremely thought provoking. For example, the idea of having mental implants allowing us to see hallucinating icons or the idea of a newspaper crashing or getting a virus. Which brings me to my point that we heavily rely on these designed objects to communicate with each other and within our lives. I am not saying that I don't think we should design these interfaces, but we have to understand that we have adapted to them. If I can honestly say that the role of communication in my life is dependent on these innovations, how is this going to affect us ten years from now? We will never really be able to fully answer these questions until we experience it, but looking back at the trend over the years, it is worth thinking about.
As we all know, graphic design is a relatively new career field to be in. Perhaps it would be better to say that graphic design as we know it now is a new vocation to have. Even with our current advanced technology helping us design at fast speeds and in high quality, things are constantly changing. What's popular this year may not be popular two years from now. Keeping up with design trends could shoot us forward from being just another designer, to being a valuable employee. Ultimately, it is one of the many ways for us as individuals to stay competitive in the graphic design world. It's our personal responsibility to educate ourselves and stay in the loop.
Knowing what's in style in terms of color, layout, typography, etc. is vital to actively participate in brainstorming and ideation for a project. This is also important in communicating with clients and those above you; understanding references and comparisons while trying to imitate a style or feeling in design helps avoid confusion and promote efficiency in completing a project. Therefore, on a larger scale, being aware of what's going on in the graphic design world will help the company you're working for stay competitive in the market, which in turn makes you a competitive designer in the field.
Fortunately, we can depend on the Internet to inform us of design trends before we get into the work force. Can you imagine trying to appear knowledgeable in an interview without being able to look at the company's website to see their portfolio, or using the Google machine to inform yourself on what's new in graphic design? The tool is there, so we need to use it. Here are some fun articles and sites I came across that talk a bit how to keep up with design trends (first link) and some professional designers' opinions on current trends (second link).
Looking at company's portfolios, personal portfolios and keeping up with design blogs can give you an idea of what's out there and what's the topic of conversation. This is one such blog, who happened to post on logo trends for 2010. An interesting highlight on this blog: "One should not follow trends for the sake of following them." I think part of being a good, and competitive, designer is knowing when to follow a trend, and when to take a risk and go outside the box. So, step one is being familiar with what's trendy. Step two is deciding if and when the style should be used.
We all need to take a personal responsibility in educating ourselves as we prepare for the real world of design. If we do so, our portfolio will obviously be better and we will be able to talk about our work in a professional way... but once we get that job we want, the potential to become a valuable designer who can contribute to concepting and developing of a design/idea is much higher.
In my last blog, I talked about people expecting cheap goods. Now, I would like to discuss the impact that these cheap goods have on the environment. Often, reusable goods are bought because the consumer feels like they are making a difference for the earth. It's not that I think reusable good are a complete waste, I just think people need to stop buying stupid shit.
Let me explain. People tend to purchase goods because of impulse and desire; this leads people to purchasing junk. Junk is merely cheap trash. I can't say that it's meaningless because people become attached to purchases. Nonetheless, people with some money freedom often feel the need to express their success through products. They see it, they want, and then they buy it only to toss it once they realize the product has little purpose.
People are buying tons of products they don't need. For example, people often have several different types of reusable bottles, typically for water or coffee/tea. But with design rising, people also have tons of choices for the shape of the bottle and the surrounding designs. Can't decide; buy them both. Yes, these are reusable products, but there comes a point where the mass amounts of reusable products that are produced can lead to tremendous amount of waste. Here is a comparison of reusable bottles according to ban the bottle.
Plastic
Are the cheapest and simplest to clean, and come in a variety of colors and shapes.
Are not safe for hot liquids or microwaves, and can taste like plastic.
Stainless Steel
Are durable, lightweight, high-quality design, and there are no plastic toxins to worry about.
May dent, has a possible metallic taste, and can heat up in the summer temperatures.
Aluminum
Lightweight and trendy.
Possible BPA liner, dents easily, can be difficult to clean, and the construction isn't always legitimate.
Glass
No odd tastes, easy to dispose of, and production is easier on the environment
Is fragile and heavy.
I'll use myself as an example; I first bought a plastic reusable bottle and then found out about the BPA in plastic, so I bought the "better" Nalgene bottle only to later buy the aluminum bottle because I thought it was now the safest. Now, I've not only wasted my money, but there is still the plastic and toxins in the environment.
If people truly want to make less of an impact on the environment they should be content with the simple things in life. Using one mug for all their drinks is a feasible option if you are willing to lose the usability and luxury that comes along with the reusable bottles. This does not go to say that reusable bottles are bad, it's still much better than purchasing disposable bottles every day; I'm just pointing out that as a consumer society we are extremely wasteful even when we try to be "green". As it turns out this is actually more a problem of how society functions in their purchasing patterns. Something I will further discuss in my next blog.
GREEN and BLUE, the two pivotal components that make up our planet. Water and trees are indeed powerful and indispensable resources for us to sustain and maintain life on Earth. But what good can we get, if we keep using our resources without conserving or protecting it from excessive usage. How much is enough? In the past few years, we start to see more eco-sustainable products being introduced to the market. Eco-friendly products that are compostable, reusable, and made out of recycled materials are gaining more favorite in the market place as the "green" movement quickly spreads across the globe. Many major corporate decided to join in the ongoing 3R movement,"Reduce, Reuse, Recycle". It's a win-win situation for both sides. Companies can expand their customer base by offering more eco-friendly products that contribute to the conservation of resources and environment. On the other side, customers have more variety of sustainable products for a cleaner and healthier lifestyle.
Target is one of the leading companies that are very active in the eco-friendly movement. In the article "On Target: Eco-Friendly", Megan McLaughlin said, "Now, everyone's favorite [Target], trendy, cost-effective and convenient department store is offering an array of Eco-friendly products. Still affordable and smarter than ever, Target has been turning very greener every chance it gets." I think her observation is true. Target is on "target" to expand their eco-friendly product lines into more household categories that their customers would want to buy, such as home essentials, kitchen and dining, apparel and gear, etc. Target really tries to push their effort to understand what their consumers need and want from the company. For instance, consumers may find bedding accessories that are made of natural materials, bamboo and 100% organic cotton. Target also didn't forget about the appeal factor in their products. Many of their products are well designed and have nice packaging yet still economic and sustainable. For instance, the bamboo sheet sets are made from 100% bamboo fibers that were proven to "wick away moisture, block bacteria growth and are comfortable for people with night sweats." (Alter 2007) Going green without breaking a sweat.
Eco-friendly outdoor living products designed by MIO, which is known for its green design of sustainable, functional items. Target
Along with the go-green movement, the DIY (Do It Yourself) movement is also beocming more popular. It's evident that more people start making and using their own stuff. People bring their own reusable bag to groceries stores, instead of using the plastic bags. More stainless steel water bottles are being sold, it's economic, logical, and eco-friendly in comparison to buying bottled water every time. Consumers these days are becoming more conscious of the environment issues. Hence, it's very applausable that major companies are actually making efforts to help conserve the environment. It takes every single brick to build a wall of trust.
In this clip, Dianna Cohen was trying to persuade the audience that they should adopt a fourth "R" to go along with the old "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle", which is REFUSE. Her main point is to get people to avoid buying products that are packaged in plastic, so we can help cut down the plastic waste that the packages produce, which is heavily damaging our eco system. She also said, "In the United States, less than 7% of our plastics are being recycled." It is indeed a humongous waste of resource if we keep discarding plastic packaging, but instead we should use more recycled and renewable materials.
"The Personal Agenda
Creating personally desirable design work is about fulfilling the dreams and desires of the individual consumer. Graphic designers are often asked to address the latest trends or use the latest technology. Pressure comes from end-users and their peers, driven by ever-changing fashions in consumer culture. These issues are also dictated by the form and function of the design work- an instruction manual for a mobile phone will be different from its marketing campaign or its onscreen interface. But designers also bring their own personal preferences and often find it hard to objectively design for others."
-syllabus
I'd like to address this statement, and use it as a segue for the body of this post. First, I don't agree with the first sentence: "Creating personally desirable design work is about fulfilling the dreams and desires of the individual consumer." Rather, creating successful design work is about fulfilling the dreams and desires of the individual consumer. We can all agree that pleasing the client/consumer is paramount in what we do: it keeps our bills paid and our mouthes fed. So does working for minimum wage in data entry. So does delivering pizza. So does babysitting. My point? There's more to it than that. Yes, creating personally desirable work is about 'fulfilling the dreams and desires of the individual consumer' - but that's only part of it. It's also about creating work you can stand by, work that you're proud to show to friends and colleagues. I think we're all smart enough to realize that there will be times when we love our work and our client hates it, just as there will be times when we hate our work and our client loves it - it's the way of things.
So now that we have a stronger grasp on what the 'personal agenda' is, how can we relate that to design? I think it may be the easiest to take a few steps back, look at the 'status' of design as a whole. Where is it, where is it going, what's big, and - perhaps most importantly - do you care, and if so then how much?
It's more entertaining to read than anything else - it seems to be a mix of people convinced they know, and other people making fun of them. If I was forced to use a palette that was less coherent with a design only because the alternative would appease a client because it was 'more trendy,' my pride in that work would go down. That being said, I would accept my paycheck with a smile all the same.
On the flip side, mobile applications and the ever-changing 'internet' have taken over design. They're here to stay, and what once was 'hot' is now cemented into the very definition of design - it's a case by case senario.
Now, lets scope in to a specific client, going after a specific competitor who's current branding and voice is more trendy.
These are back from 2009. I don't think anybody needs to be reminded what happened in 2010....
So what if this IS what the Gap, YOUR CLIENT, asked for, following the trends of another contender? What if this is exaclty what they wanted? At least for me, that's not enough to put this work inline with my own 'personal agenda.' Rather, it's just bad.
I wasn't sure how I was going to connect these two thoughts for this blog post today, but then I began thinking about what (for the most part) what the end result of a project is: a finished graphic design piece and a paycheck. I started to wonder how the two were connected in terms of inspiration. Do the number on the paycheck affect the quality of the design. In other words does the price tag or budget attached to a design inspire better or worse design?
I feel like this can go so many ways; first I will play the con game. And say no, the budget doesn't affect the design. Good design is good design. It would be to say that a client who can't afford a project that would cost an insane amount wouldn't get your quality work. It is more a reflection of your character; and would reflect poorly upon you. Not to mention that it wouldn't be in your best interest at all to do low quality work, why wouldn't you do a your best design regardless the price tag. Money doesn't do the inspiring it merely set the parameters for what materials you can use and perhaps a timeline.
Now and the other side, I would say that 'yes' design is affected/inspired by budget and your paycheck. One way that I think it does in a big way is what the budget allows as far as materials go. Using French paper for a program versus using Office Max's card stock is going to make a large difference in the choices you make for colors, and how the ink goes onto the paper. Can you afford to have the business cards letter pressed? No, ok well maybe we need to pick a different typeface then. It is simple, but ultimately I think that we are inspired by finance when it comes to design. I don't think it is a bad thing at all, but something to be aware of.
Check out these links on costs of production and maybe comment on how you think they could inspire/affect your design:
I think that it mostly comes down to the name you are attaching to it. Saying that you printed it on French paper instead of Office max may be worth 20 bucks to someone and in a similar way to use French or Office Max may inspire someone differently.
Before the advent of genetically modified crops, an entity could not own a variety of plant. A person might be very good at growing tomatoes, for example, and cultivate the tomatoes over time to be the best and brightest tomatoes in the land, but end the end they didn't own tomato seeds. If they sold their perfect tomato to another person, who then planted it, the original tomato-grower could not sue the buyer for tomato infringement. It sounds silly to even think about.
Today, you can get sued for tomato infringement. You can also be sued for corn infringement and wheat infringement, if the variety you are using is genetically modified and you haven't paid the license to plant that crop. For example, let's say you are a farmer who is growing corn. You plant your field of non-genetically-modified corn next to your neighbor's field of genetically-modified corn. The next year, because of cross-pollination from your neighbor's farm, you are growing some corn that is genetically modified. The seed company comes to check that you are not using their seed illegally (which they do check for frequently), and they notice that you are using "their" plants and proceed to sue you. They are a large corporation and you are a tiny farmer. They win.
Another consequence of the copyright of plants is about the genetic diversity of a species. "In the last few decades F-1 hybrids, which are simply the first generation produced by the crossing of two plant varieties, have become the stock in trade of the commercial seed industry, and they are gradually crowding traditional "open pollinated" varieties (ones pollinated by bees, birds or wind instead of plant geneticists) out of the marketplace" (Pollan). Most domesticated plants cannot survive without humans constantly planting them, and thus die out. Less variety means there is less genetic diversity in a plant species. Let's say there are corn varieties A-Z, but the major commercial seed producers only sell A, D, and Y. Gradually, A, D, and Y dominate over all other varieties. This is bad because if a disease or insect comes that A, D, and Y are weak to, the plant species is in danger of dying out. Perhaps varieties B, C, F, G-M, were resistant, but because they are no longer available, their distinctiveness is loss. A loss of genetic diversity is a huge handicap for the survival of a species.
Should there be more oversight in this field? Can companies really own a patent on a living species? These important questions require careful thought.
The class talked last time about wheelchair accessibility and it got me thinking about the children in wheelchairs. How do they have fun watching other children running around, kicking balls, jumping rope, and playing tag on the playground? I realized that when I was growing up, playgrounds were not wheelchair-friendly. I decided to look and see what kind of progress was being made through design innovations.
Playgrounds are a large part of any school. Recess consists of running around outside and climbing on the jungle gym. But what do children in wheelchairs do? Companies are designing new playgrounds that are wheelchair accessible... or so they think. I found a video that shows an accessible playground with a child in a wheelchair testing it out. His mom is pushing him up the large ramp (and she doesn't look happy, mind you) all the way to the top. To me, wheelchair accessible means a child is able to get himself/herself up and around the play set. This child had to be pushed instead of being able to do it himself. I find the design really disappointing. There was no easy way for the boy to play with the other equipment around him. It just didn't seem right. While it is a small step in the right direction, I feel these designs still need improvement.
I found another video showing a new feature that can be added to any playground - the Sway Fun (video tab is on the left of the page under the photo). It's a large platform with seats on two sides and a table to hold on to in the middle. Children move it by moving back and forth using momentum. It seems like a silly idea until you see the video. Every single child is happy. There is a boy in a wheelchair that is having the time of his life. What is especially great about this new ride is that any child could ride it with their friends or parents. Toddlers can easily hop on with a parent, and it's big enough that a parent can be seated comfortably. Children with or without a wheelchair really enjoy it. To me, this is what good design is all about
The park by my grandma's house installed an accessible swing. What always confused me was that it didn't have any kind of harness to keep the child in. What if the child was paralyzed from the neck down? They are not able to hold themselves in. I did some research and came upon a much better design. Like a rollercoaster, this swing has a large safety harness. It's easy to get in and out, with or without help. I think these designs are progressing more towards a friendly environment for disabled children.
Environmentally responsible design is important in every aspect of our lives. A huge part of this is how we use our space. I read a recent article that wrote about how for the first time, 50% of the world's population lives in cities (http://www.unfpa.org/pds/urbanization.htm). This incredible urbanization is something that we all need to deal with, as there becomes less and less space.
In Midwestern America, this isn't something most of us had really ever had to experience. I remember for the first time my family had an international visitor stay at our home for a few months. Shino was from Japan, and this was her first time to the US. We have a four bedroom home, and so I took her to our guest room in our basement, and she immediately went to open the closet door because she thought that is where she was staying. The guest room was so overwhelmingly large to her that she couldn't believe the whole space was hers. In most areas of Asia, many people live in homes less than 400 sq feet.
Because of the environment I come from, I am used to a lot of space. Living in the place I do now, it's too big for me and I have a difficult time with upkeep. It's really just inefficient, and a lot of space goes unused. I think this is fairly common in our culture, particularly in the area I come from--Suburbia, the urban sprawl.
I came across this article last year (http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/01/domestic-transformer.php) and was reminded of it for this blog post. It intrigued me then, by the simplicity of its design and the pure efficiency of it. The article is about architect Gary Chang, who lives in a 300 sq foot apartment in Hong Kong and his excellent design solution on how to deal with his small space, and squeeze as much out of it as possible. If you watch the following video, you can see it at work: http://www.noob.us/miscellaneous/24-rooms-packed-into-one-tiny-room/. I felt like his design was great design because great design really is utilitarian in nature. It solves a problem and answers a question clearly, concisely and beautifully. His solution really made me think about space and how it is used, and how design can be applied to fix valid issues in the world.
When it comes to the world of design, it is important to own your personal style, tastes, and judgments. While working with clients, it can get harder and harder to own up to your personal beliefs and tell the client "no" when they ask for something absurd. I'm sure many of you out there have visited the blog, Clients From Hell, where some of the crazies questions, demands, and situations of designer-client relations have been documented. While it is amusing reading them from the outside, it is important to think about what you would do in some of those situations. Would you cave and give the client what they want? Would you try to persuade them to your point of view? Or if they are still stubborn, will you have the nerve to drop them all together?
While working with a client, there will be many times that you have to sacrifice some of your perfect design to satisfy the (what you believe is) unintelligent requests of your client. Maybe its that they want a different background color, or they want to change the wording of a certain phrase, sometimes you just have to do it. In an article by Dennis Kardys called "Give the Client What They Want," he explains that it can be hard to make changes you don't fully believe in, "you've poured passion and problem solving into a design which is both well thought out and remarkably tasteful [...] and there is a pride of ownership that goes along with that." But, he also asks you, "how drastic is their request? What would the actual consequences of implementing those requests be? [...] Client involvement is part of the web design process. In order for the project to be deemed successful, designers need to be able to objectively listen to the client, and give them something they want." Sometimes you need to pick your battles. In the real world of design, when you have a client who's paying you, sometimes you have to drop your personal ownership and do what they think they want. Of course there are times though, if you feel a bit more strongly, you can try to persuade the client.
Clients will always have, to us, silly opinions and requests. Again in Karbys article, he emphasizes that "it's really important to be able to communicate the rationale of your design decisions to the client." Even if the client already agrees with your decisions, they should understand the thought behind it. But it is even more important that they clearly understand why you did something if they are asking you to change it. You, as the designer, need to take ownership of your design and personal decisions and stand up for them. Explain to the client why you believe in your choice, don't argue, blame, or get upset, first try to be rational about things. In the end, its your work, and your name is attached to it, you need to be able to own that design. Karbys makes a good point when he states, "blaming an ineffective website on the result of poor decision-making by a difficult client, will not change the fact that ultimately you build ineffective and unusable sites." In some cases though, when a client is truly unruly or difficult, you may need to take complete ownership of yourself as a designer, and drop the project or client all together.
Being proud of your skills and owning your work can sometimes call for firing a client completely. In an article by Doc4 Design, an ad agency in Arkansas, called "Live to Design Another Day: Know When it's Time to Fire a Client," Doc4 explains that "an extremely successful businessman once told me that if you begin to compromise work, prices and time for clients, then the reputation and credibility of your company is lost, and for a design agency this is everything." This is especially true for freelance designers as well. Your work, time, and prices are everything, and clients will often try to take advantage of you if they can. The blog, and now book, Clients From Hell is filled with stories of clients trying to get out of paying full price, insisting on poor design requests, and devaluing design, and if you are faced with a client like this, you may need to end business with them. If a client compromises your design too much, that can also be reason to end business. Doc4 explains in the article a situation where the client had so many changes to a design, they hardly recognized it anymore. They stated that, "to put it simply, we were embarrassed to have our name associated with the project. So, if you have to sacrifice your integrity to please a client, they should be fired, because the success or failure of the project will ultimately fall on your shoulders." As I explained before, you need to get your clients to understand your rationale and justify your design; sure you can let things slide, but not so much that the design isn't yours anymore.
Keeping ownership of your personal design opinions, judgments, and skills can be a sticky situation with some clients. I know I've already dealt with some similar situations as those on the Clients From Hell blog. I've had bosses take advantage of free labor from an intern, I've had clients pay me far too little for the work I was producing, and I've had some requests that really compromised my design. In all of these situations I've slowly learned when to stand up for myself, and even when to fire the client or quit. As I mature as a designer, I am gaining more and more confidence in my skills and in standing my ground, and only regret that I didn't take a stand sooner in some cases. In the end, Karbys puts it well when he says, "be flexible and accommodating when it comes to matters of personal taste. Be firm in your objections to demands that reduce the effectiveness of the design or impede usability."
You'll have to forgive me for returning to furniture in yet another blog post, but serendipity led me back to it. So far I have discussed quality in the same way that Ray Eames talks about at the right -- quality that makes an object work well and last. However, there's another possible definition for quality. The New Oxford dictionary gives the second definition of quality as "a distinctive attribute or characteristic possessed by someone or something." I think both are important to consider when examining quality in the social sphere.
In the first sense of the word, I think most of us would place a high importance on quality. One of my professors, synthesizing statements made by Charles Eames in an interview, defined design as "an expression of a need." I think both of ideas make very profound claims concerning the relationship between design and quality in the social sphere. Perhaps some people today would consider the Eames couple to be excessively dogmatic concerning their opinions on the role of design, but their assertions convey very clearly a sense that they believed work should be done for the benefit of society and individuals. They wanted their work to be high-quality. This type of quality is important because it means the designed object serves a purpose, functions well, and is lasting. I think many designers would be in agreement with working for the benefit of society, but equally as many would have serious reservations about Ray's claim to the superiority of practicality over beauty.
The second definition of quality seems to fall in opposition to Ray's statement. Rather than asking, "how good is it?" it asks, "what is it like?" Even though it's the same word, suddenly the focus is no longer on the object's integrity, but instead the object's style. Style plays a significant role in the social agenda as well. It's important because "style is so compelling ... [and] can tell us a lot about which values and concerns have the most powerful emotional significance. Style tells more about people's attitudes towards things than about the things themselves" (Cranz, 1998, p. 68-69). Like it or not, style is important in commerce because it offers individuals an opportunity to define themselves. The simple act of purchasing a Coke instead of Pepsi is, in a way, identifying with a certain group.
However, these two aspects of quality can sometimes seem at odds. The realm of furniture can be used as an example. Over the past several years, furniture manufacturers have gone through great trouble to try and create chairs, desks and other work furnishings that are high-quality (in the first sense of the word). They have tried to design objects that improve both individuals' health and productivity. This helps the worker as well as the company they work for, so in a sense it benefits society as a whole. However, in the home, furnishings seem to have very little thought given to how they impact our bodies when sitting. Instead, there has been greater energy invested in the stylistic differentiation between one couch and another, this chair and that one.
When it comes to personal objects, it appears that "style eclipses physiology -- as paper covers rock" (Cranz, 1998, p. 67). However, I don't think this has to be the case. The Roman architect Vitruvius separated the essential qualities of objects into "'firmness, commodity, and delight,' that is, construction, social purpose, and aesthetics" (Cranz, 1998, p. 71-72). I think that this is a helpful way for designers to approach a problem or a need. Objects can be both lasting and socially beneficial, although the intersection of those two may not be the most apparent solution at first. I think by keeping in mind both definitions of quality and Vitruvius' elements, designers can reach more holistic solutions to design problems. That said, there might be some limitations. I would be hard-pressed to design a supercar that is affordable, efficient, and fantastical.
A newer product that Kleenex released early in 2010 is their disposable hand towels. Each box is around $3.50 and has 60 sheets. In one woman's review of the product she mentions that her family of four used one box up in 5 days. She said it was a nice option to have for messy children, but that it wasn't really that cost effective. At a rate of 5 days usage per box, her family would use about 6 boxes a month at a cost of $21. For a year's worth of disposable Kleenex hand towels it would cost them $252.
I think Kleenex is being a bit socially irresponsible here. Their method of distributing these hand towels is not eco-friendly. Even providing these sheets on a roll instead of nicely cut sheets would cut production waste and energy. But who would want some big, ugly paper towel holder attached to the bathroom wall? Oh, did I mention they are made out of 100% virgin fibers so that they are soft enough to use on your face? I was just appalled that they actually thought this was a good idea. The only way I'd even consider using this product is if it were made from recycled goods--which isn't even all that environmentally friendly either. For a company like Kleenex, which has become a generic trademark for the word tissue, coming out with such a socially irresponsible product is a big deal. Consumers think, if Kleenex made it, it must be good. Because they trust their tissue product, they trust their new hand towels as well.
Perhaps every person in your family could have their own hand towel that is washed (using environmentally friendly detergent) once a week. That way, the only germs you'd be picking up are your own. Also, isn't the idea of washing hands that they are clean afterwards? This idea is outrageous to me. At a rate of $252 a year, it would be more financially possible to purchase a hand dryer that could be used for years. Now they are made to use very little electricity too. You can buy one on Amazon.com for $40, $350, or even $1,400. Check it out here
In the end, I think companies need to really think out the possible harmful effects of their work. Did Kleenex really think about and plan for the possibilities of the new hand towels? Did they consider all the waste that would be created? Is this a product we really need? When a new idea or product is created, we should all take a step back and consider the method of distribution, production, and the degree of need that the product has. Always consider, "is there a better way?"
Reuse is a personal decision, but one that affects all of society. Consumers have to be willing to work harder and spend more to purchase products that last longer. Most people who do not use reusable products or recycle don't do this because it is inconvenient (Schiller, 2010). To change this cycle, designers and manufacturers need to give consumers the facts by creating commercials, advertisements, and point-of-purchase displays that demonstrate the annual personal savings from using reusable items. This campaign could also describe the average annual waste from specific non-reusable items per consumer. As designers, we need to motivate people to use sustainable practices. We need to make reuse personal to consumers. That is the only way to make a permanent change. As designers we need to hold ourselves personally accountable for the projects we work on and the designs we make.
As a society, we need to make reusability easier. One way of doing this is by expanding local reuse programs. College campuses are particularly suited to broader reusability programs. Every year around move in and move out there are staggering amounts of useable furniture, appliances, and school supplies that are thrown away, abandoned, or left to be ruined in the rain. A little known reusability program at the U of M works to solve this problem. MIMO, the Como-area free store, operates during the months surrounding the start of fall and the end of spring semester. MIMO takes in furnishings, keeping them safe from the elements, and provides a place for students to come and get furnishings for free. MIMO builds on the idea of thrift stores and second-hand boutiques, which are another great option for reusing items.
Thrift stores and second-hand boutiques provide an affordable way to practice reusability and still have new things, or at least things that are new to you. The popularity of vintage clothing has made thrift stores a trendy place to shop. This image shift is making reuse fashionable and sustainable. Concepts like this make reusability an issue people can get on embrace.
Some designers have made themselves personally responsible for combining reusability and fashion, bringing this topic into focus for consumers and adding credibility to reuse. Elizabeth Seward works to bring reusability into fashion by writing Do-It-Yourself directions for the greenplanet.com website. Some examples of her ideas include making earrings from plastic cups, jazz up an old shirt, or make lip gloss from beets. Reusability doesn't have to be hard, which is why designers need to make it a personal goal to do to make sustainability more reachable.
Reuse--personal yes, but key to helping to prudently use the world's resources. As designers, we have the opportunity to serve as leaders in helping make the world a better place through reuse by helping consumers make that personal decision.
In my previous posts I've considered how designers should consider convenience in terms of their audiences and their clients. This post is going to take a different approach and discuss some developments, specifically in the online and technology sectors, that are making designers' lives easier and the design process more convenient.
The "digital age" and increasing technological advances are making design easier. Designers can go online at any time of the day and get inspiration, advice, and assistance on almost any topic. Designers use the web and social media to connect with and support each other. This support ranges from design strategy suggestions, like this info-graphic designed to help designers determine the best font style for a project (created by Julian Hansen, and posted at Inspiration Lab) to free stock art and vectors that cut down on the amount of time needed to create a design, like this collection of 60 free vector packs for design professionals, (from vector tuts+: ). In addition to free files and design advice, there are also tutorials for almost any technique imaginable, which in addition to adding convenience, can also save money because they cut down on the need for expensive tutorial books that are outdated every time Adobe puts out a new Creative Suite edition.
Designers are also using the Internet to form communities and foster relationships among themselves. Designers can use each other as inspiration and give encouragement to each other by acknowledging great designs online: I have recently discovered DesignSitesUp, which is listed as a Digg-type site for designers to link together their designs and inspiration. It is constantly amazing to me how many designers, in addition to publishing their own work, operate design blogs that share advice and knowledge. AIGA, as a professional organization, is a great example of a place were designers can go to get information not just on design itself, but on business practices and other areas that designers are not specifically trained in. There are many other resources that offer advice on everything from design education to design business. A popular blog and community site is allgraphicdesign.com which: "is a Graphic Design education directory with resources & articles for Graphic Designers & Web Designer," and offers knowledgeable advice on everything from where to get a design education to crafting your final portfolio.
The web is also making it easier for designers to get their work out into the public. There are numerous portfolio websites (Carbonmade, Shownd, Coroflot, to name a few) that are not only free services, but are also job-posting sites where designers and employees can connect. Even large companies that one might assume would only be posting on the major sites (or their own employment sites) are using these venues to find new, creative talent (see Target's numerous postings on Coroflot). Other portfolio and creative sites like Behance and DeviantART allow designers to connect with each other to provide design feedback and to share inspiration and resources.
New tools are also making judging the effectiveness of designed materials more convenient (which is great for the designer and the client). 3M has created the "Visual Attention Service" to simulate eye-tracking and provide information about what a viewer would see in the first seconds of exposure to a design. The VAS program would cut down on the costs of usability testing because designers could use the program to test the piece several times and bring the product to the highest level possible, so that real eye-tracking could be used only to fine-tune the design.
Writing this post has made me extremely thankful to be living in this digital era. I cannot count the hours I have saved by an online tutorial or free vector icon. Although design is a competitive field, it is so incredible that so many designers are out there and helping each other out.
The personal agenda and communication relate to one another greatly, especially when creating a profitable design product. Communication is defined by Wikipedia as, "a process where by information is enclosed in a package and is channeled and imparted by a sender to a receiver via some medium." This definition of communication in relation to design has to do with personal agenda also because it deals with designing work driven by the consumers. By designing for the personal agenda, you are designing for the public and what it is they want.
A great example of a design geared by personal agenda, is the iPhone. There have been so many versions and upgrades. The newest iPhone is the iPhone4. There are even rumors for the next iPhone5. Below is an image of the iPhone4, which takes phones to another level.
With the iPhone4, you can do video calling, use multiple apps at the same time, and record and edit HD video. The retina display is remarkable and the screen itself does not get smudges or fingerprints. All of these new possibilities that the iPhone4 gives you is what a designer creates in order to fulfill a personal agenda. The designer is creating a product that addresses the latest trends that society is wanting in a product. By communicating with society, it is clear what people want with the ever-changing fashions out there. Apple always does a spectacular job at attending to the personal agenda. They are always creating new and improved products for their customers.
By taking advantage of all ways of communication, a designer is learning more about what products will be most successful. As stated by Jorge Frascara, "treating something as communication leads us to ask questions about intention and semiotic systems" (p. 32). I see what he means because by communicating, persons intents are geared by what they see will be most useful as a design. It is always useful to communication with society and the companies you are working with in order to create a design that will best fulfill all needs. Pressure comes along with the personal agenda by creating for others, but in the end it will be the most successful design product because you are designing for others.
Designing on a budget is hard enough to do for individual and personal work, but it's also difficult to do when working for a company that wants to keep costs down. Money for printing, labor, and the general cost of supplies and distribution adds up quickly and seems to reduce creative possibilities. It's frustrating for graphic design students with limited funds to really market themselves, since nearly any deviation from plain paper carries a hefty price tag that isn't completely understood until it's attempted. It makes me laugh (or wince)when I get class syllabi that have specific estimates on how much I'm going to spend in one class over the course of a semester ("...budget to spend at least one hundred dollars on printing alone...")--oh college, thanks for training me to be frugal early in life.
But is our cost effectiveness really at the expense of creativity? I can think of a few times where I've wanted to try new materials but I've hesitated because I would rather spend that money on groceries, or rent, or gas for my car. Is my project worse because of it? Probably, since I end up redoing it for my portfolio anyway. Point being, cost effectiveness in personal design is all about sacrifice. Here's where I found a couple of ways to cut printing costs, plus additional places to invest that extra print money. Also, college students get great discounts because businesses understand our need to budget (which is still on par with our need to consume). So if I'm ever in a situation where I need to choose one aesthetic over another, I start by looking for places that give student discounts. Groupon.com is also great because it provides daily coupons to the first however-many people who respond to its email alerts, with no hidden motives (other than getting money from the retailers to advertise its services).
Personal cost effectiveness is all about personal preference. How much are YOU willing to spend? How much does the end result matter? What materials can you reuse from past projects, or mooch from friends, or buy the generic version of? Or course, the answer varies depending on the person. Part of being a designer is being versatile, taking shortcuts, and finding ways to work around a budget. And sometimes, that can yield the most creative results.
Graphic designers are hired to communicate messages that inform and pursue our society. However, personal tastes occasionally interfere, making it more difficult to meet the desires of the individual consumer.
In the article My Favorite Things, Mark Cook quoted, "A designer that only creates work that she finds beautiful will only ever succeed when the client looks and thinks like he/she does." I find this statement to be very true because when designers create designs based on their own tastes, and thought processes, the design is more likely to have usability issues, and not appeal to many people. To avoid these issues, it is important to know the clients needs/wants, and the target audience inside and out. It's simple really, RESEARCH. There is no such thing as knowing too much about a target audience, or information about a project. The more time spent gathering valuable research at the beginning phase of any project will benefit in the design phase, and prevent the designer from being pursued by their own tastes.
During several critiques in school I often hear people (I am guilty of this too) saying, "because it looks cool," or "because i like it." Ok, so you think it looks cool, but how does it solve the problem? Does it serve a purpose? If designers begin to ignore these questions during the design phase, it is hard to say whether or not they are creating designs based on their own wants and needs or the consumers. Yes, we all have our own personal preferences, but every good designer should be able to justify any design choice they make.
So how do we know when our decisions are based on our own personal desires and tastes vs. the consumers? Throughout the design process, the designer should assume the role of the consumer. Think how the consumer thinks, and understand their motivations.
In the article Think Like a Designer, Arash Shiva discusses the competition between the Apple's iphone and Google's Android. He explains how important it is to lead by design, and to create user-friendly products with a perfect balance of form and function. While Google engineers base their decisions primarily on data and analysis, Apple makes their design decisions based on consumers' wants and needs. He states, "To be a design leader, to create something truly innovative and new, something that people not only need but want, the decision makers must have the vision and wisdom to let the design lead."
I am a former iphone user who recently switched to Android because it allows more customization and offers more features. It is a completely different experience than my iphone. From a designer's point of view, it is easy to recognize that engineers and programmers created this platform. It 'looks cool', and has 'more features' but I often find myself missing my iphone because of it's simplicity and usability. Don't get me wrong, I love my Android, but there are several features that I will never use, and I have to keep an extra battery with me at all times to keep my phone charged. It will be interesting to see if the Android trend lasts because it was created based on a group of engineers personal tastes.
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I have been an ardent tennis fan for ages now. But until recently, I never had the opportunity to watch a top level tennis match live. I have spent most of my life in Kolkata, and it is definitely not the most opportune place to be a tennis fan, or player, or anything related to tennis really. So when the Davis Cup qualifier between India and Italy was held in Kolkata, it was an opportunity that I just could not afford to miss.
The experience of watching such elite level athletes play one of the most physically demanding sports imaginable in person for the first time was definitely worth it. There were a lot of things that lived up to expectations, things that exceeded expectations, a few things that fell a bit short and many unexpected little things that added to the experience.
Anyway, read on to find out more about my takeaways from this first-in-a-lifetime experience.
The Tie
The tie was held on the grass courts of the Calcutta South Club. Heading into the tie, the Italians were the overwhelming favorites. They had far more experienced and accomplished players than the Indian team. I don’t think many realistic fans expected India to pull off the win. Personally, I would have been happy with a rather competitive tie – perhaps India winning the doubles and one upset in the singles. Ultimately, if I got to watch 5 competitive matches, I would have been delighted.
That is not how things panned out though. Italy won the tie 3-1. There was no need for a fifth rubber. India won a fiercely competitive doubles match, fighting back from a break down in the deciding set to force a fourth rubber. But the 3 singles matches were well and truly dominated by the Italians, who won all 3 in straight sets.
Following are the matches that I got to watch:
Day 1:
Andreas Seppi def. Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4 6-2
Matteo Berrettini def. Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-4 6-3
Day 2:
Rohan Bopanna/Divij Sharan def. Matteo Berrettini/Simone Bolelli 4-6 6-3 6-4
Andreas Seppi def. Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-1 6-4
The Ball
When we first entered the stands, the players were warming up. And the very first thing I noticed was the ball. The ball looked so big and prominent and was conspicuously visible even against the green background of the lush grass courts. Yeah, we’ve all seen tennis balls on TV, we’ve all played with tennis balls at some point of time or the other. But you just could not be prepared for just how prominent this ball would appear. There has been a lot of research done on the colors of the balls and courts by tennis authorities since the late 80s. And at least from the players’ and fans’ perspective, it is nigh on perfect. Most tournament balls appear pretty prominent on TV too against the backdrop of most of today’s courts. But you definitely don’t get the feel of exactly how large and visible they appear in real life.
The players really stand out
And I mean physically. Tennis players are built! When you see them on TV, you don’t really get a sense of just how big these guys are. The first match was between Seppi and Ramkumar. And by modern tennis standards, they are definitely not stand outs. When you see them on TV, you definitely don’t feel like commenting on their size. But they are 6’3” and 6’2” respectively. That is actually really tall. And the hours and hours these guys have put in at the gym is clearly apparent. Their calf muscles looked like they were carved out of marble by Renaissance sculptors. The two competitors standing in the centre of the court commanded all the attention. These were elite athletes, they belonged there. The tiny people cheering them on all around them quite visibly did not.
After the matches, we got to see a lot of the players moving about around the club. You couldn’t miss it when one of the players walked by you. They dwarfed almost everyone around. And again, it was not just about the height. Their overall physique, their gait, it all stood out. I’ve seen a lot of cricketers and footballers up close before. But they just did not command the spotlight quite the way these tennis players did. After the first day’s matches, I and a couple of friends managed a selfie with the 6’5” Berrettini, who was a really cool guy by the way. Now I’m a pretty decent sized guy at 5’10”. By Indian standards, I’m pretty much on the bigger side. But I was totally dwarfed alongside Berrettini as you can see.
Grass is beautiful
I am so glad my first tryst with live tennis was grass court tennis. Grass courts just have an inherent serene aesthetic quality to them. There were hard courts and clay courts in the South Club grounds too. None of them looked anywhere near as good as the beautiful grass courts on which the matches were held. The grass just added an extra intangible dimension to the whole experience.
What seats to get? The vertical view beats the horizontal view.
I had previously wondered what angle would be the best to enjoy live tennis from. I had suspected that a vertical view from behind one of the baselines would be the best. And that was absolutely how it turned out. I had a taste of both. On the first day, I got the vertical view. On the second day, I got the horizontal angle getting a more sideways perspective of the match. Both had its pros and cons, but on balance, the vertical view watching down the court wins out by a distance.
On the first day, I was seated in the stands behind one of the baselines. The view of the tennis was great. You have very clear perception of the shot angles and the players’ movements. The broadcasters always prefer this angle and there is a very good reason for it. However, there was one serious problem, which was probably more serious for this specific event. I’ll try to explain this as much as I can, because it is a very relevant problem.
Keep in mind that the Davis Cup rules require that World Group and Play-off ties be played at a venue where the space behind the baseline is 27 feet and there is a seating capacity of at least 4000. The AITA secured exemptions from these rules from the ITF. The courts at the South Club have a space of 21 feet behind the baselines. Temporary stands were constructed to accommodate up to 3000 spectators. Now when we entered the stand – a temporarily constructed stand – most of the front row seats were occupied. However, the stands were far from full, and there were no seat numbers specified so we could try to find the best possible available seat.
Now the first seat I tried, I could view only the far side player. The near side player and the near side baseline were totally invisible. We kept trying different seats – going further back did not help, moving forward gradually improved things. In the end, I watched the first match standing near the side railings just behind the front row, and this actually gave me an excellent view of the match.
I’ve tried to explain the exact geometric problem with the help of a few diagrams. Drawing diagrams is definitely not my strong suit, so bear with me.
The above diagram roughly represents the situation at South Club during the Davis Cup. The point H represents the height of the bottom most row of the stands. Assuming a constant slope of the stand(which is not always the case at tennis stadiums across the world, If it is not a constant slope, you would need to draw a line from each row on the stand and pass it through H), if you extend that line, you reach the court at point P. Ideally the point P for a stadium should be well behind the baseline. This is where having a large court with a significant amount of space behind the baseline can come in handy. That would provide more room for the point P to land behind the baseline. Also, if the stands are steeper, that could also help to push P back. I would suspect this is the case at a court like the Arthur Ashe Stadium, which goes up really steeply. Also, for stadiums where H reaches ground level, this viewing complication would not exist.
Since the point P was so far advanced here, we could not see the player on the near side until we got really close to the edge H. Here’s a geometric demonstration of why that was useful:
So from relatively closer in, you could get a really good view of the entire court. I saw the second match of Day 1 sitting in the second row and the view was just perfect.
On the second day, I was seated in one of the lateral stands. This felt like a significant step down from Day 1. The angles were not as clear, and even the tramlines on the far side were not clearly visible(this was perhaps a more grass court specific problem, as chalk might get erased easily). Also, you had to keep shifting your gaze left to right to left to right… throughout the rally. On the plus side, the players and their movements and mannerisms seemed more apparent.
There are probably very good reasons why the top players have achieved what they have
Okay, okay, I’m not trying to state the obvious here. My point is that these reasons are more clearly apparent when you watch these top players playing from close quarters. To demonstrate my point, I’m going to talk about Andreas Seppi’s movement here. Of course, I witnessed a lot of players with varying strengths and weaknesses plying their trade. Even Seppi has so much more to his game. But I’ll stick to that one attribute here.
Seppi has had a very long and very accomplished career. He’s reached a career high ranking of 18, and at 34 years of age, he’s still going strong. We all know his movement has always been one of his biggest strengths. But seeing it live definitely made me appreciate it a lot more. Seppi’s first match was against Ramkumar and that was a matchup of contrasts – Seppi’s baseline game versus Ramkumar’s serve and volley style play. Seppi’s second match was against Gunneswaran and this was more of a baseline duel. Even in the first match, Seppi’s superior movement was on display. But against Gunneswaran, with both players employing a more homogeneous style of play, it became really conspicuous. Make no mistake, Gunneswaran is not the worst mover around, but Seppi’s movement stood out in stark contrast. His anticipation was amazing, and he seemed to be able to start moving towards the ball a split second earlier than his opponent. And the movement itself was sure footed, confident short sharp steps and he rarely seemed to reach any ball out of position. Gunneswaran has his share of weapons including a big forehand which can cause severe damage if given the opportunity. But it just felt that Seppi had the ability to reach more balls with more time to set up for his shots, and also easily get into slightly more comfortable positions to hit his shots more consistently. In short, Seppi’s movement was clearly giving him a slightly higher probability of making better shots. And while at this level, his opponent might be perfectly capable of hitting that big forehand winner from difficult positions, you would think the slightly higher comfort levels that Seppi was hitting his shots from would eventually make a difference over the course of a set, match or tournament.
Maybe my assessment was correct, or maybe I got carried away by watching a superb display of quality tennis in person. Either way, I believe that the best players have attributes in their game that separate them from the rest. If one player has achieved more than another, there’s probably reasons for it. Of course, the margins at this level are very small. And as such, the difference in skill between Seppi’s movement and Gunneswaran’s movement on that second day was probably very minute. But that difference existed, clear as day. And such minute differences are what contributed to Seppi taking the match 6-1 6-4. And it is probably minute differences that separate top 10 players from players struggling to break into the top 150. But there will surely be some differences – be it mental, physical or in skill levels.
Other miscellaneous observations
People have heads, unfortunately
At the start of the Berrettini-Gunneswaran match, there was no one sitting directly in front of me. This afforded me a very clear, unobstructed view. A little while later, a group of people arrived and occupied the seats in front of me. Now I found myself having to look over a head, or between two heads.
Music during changeovers? Please no.
I know that some people will disagree with me on this. But for me, music just does not go well with a tennis match. And in this case, the organisers had also arranged for drummers, who sometimes added a Durga Puja like feel to the changeovers. That was just cringeworthy. My verdict on the music – it just does not belong anywhere near a tennis court.
Go to a tennis match with fellow tennis fans
If you are a true tennis fan, you know how easy it is to get involved in the game, in a point even. You know the weird reactions that you have and the weird noises you make during an intense rally. Well, I arrived kind of late on the second day, and initially I found an empty seat surrounded by a particularly sombre crowd. In fact, beside me was a mom trying to shush her kid and make him sit in the same quiet and dignified manner that she was. After reacting like a typical tennis fan for just one solitary point, I decided I had to make an effort to sit in the aforementioned quiet and dignified manner too. Luckily, I was soon able to locate my mates, and I could get back to being the typical fan for the rest of the day.
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German Patent Application No. 41 12 141 describes a traction control system that includes brake control and, if applicable, slip control as well. To facilitate the transition from stationary to mobile state, a drive wheel is braked prior to driveaway. If the non-braked wheel spins, the brake pressure at the braked wheel is reduced.
This traction control system assumes that the driver activates the accelerator pedal with sufficient force during the driveaway operation. This point is of special importance in an uphill standing-start operation.
Not taken into account, however, is the eventuality that the driver fails to activate the accelerator pedal with sufficient force.
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Impact of tranilast on restenosis after coronary angioplasty: tranilast restenosis following angioplasty trial (TREAT).
Tranilast is an antiallergic drug that suppresses the release of cytokines such as platelet-derived growth factor, transforming growth factor-beta1, and interleukin-1beta and prevents keloid formation after skin injury. Treatment with this drug reduced the restenosis rate after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty in a preliminary study. We conducted a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. A total of 255 patients with 289 lesions were randomly assigned to treatment with the oral administration of 600 mg/d tranilast, 300 mg/d tranilast, or a placebo for 3 months after successful angioplasty. Angiographic follow-up was done at 3 months, and a clinical follow-up examination was performed at 12 months. Two hundred ten (72.7%) lesions of 188 (73.7%) of the patients met the criteria and were eligible for the assessment of restenosis. The restenosis rates defined as >/=50% loss of the initial gain were 14.7% in the 600 mg/d tranilast group, 35.2% in the 300 mg/d tranilast group, and 46.5% in the placebo group (P <. 0001 for 600 mg/d tranilast vs placebo). The restenosis rates defined as percent diameter stenosis of >/=50% at follow-up were 17. 6% in the 600 mg/d tranilast group, 38.6% in the 300 mg/d tranilast group, and 39.4% in the placebo group (P =.005 for 600 mg/d tranilast vs placebo). The oral administration of 600 mg/d of tranilast for 3 months markedly reduced the restenosis rate after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty.
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A61B5/15186—Devices loaded with a single lancet, i.e. a single lancet with or without a casing is loaded into a reusable drive device and then discarded after use; drive devices reloadable for multiple use
A61B5/15186—Devices loaded with a single lancet, i.e. a single lancet with or without a casing is loaded into a reusable drive device and then discarded after use; drive devices reloadable for multiple use
A61B5/15188—Constructional features of reusable driving devices
A61B5/15192—Constructional features of reusable driving devices comprising driving means, e.g. a spring, for retracting the lancet unit into the driving device housing
A61B5/15194—Constructional features of reusable driving devices comprising driving means, e.g. a spring, for retracting the lancet unit into the driving device housing fully automatically retracted, i.e. the retraction does not require a deliberate action by the user, e.g. by terminating the contact with the patient's skin
A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
A61B5/00—Detecting, measuring or recording for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
Abstract
Method and apparatus for obtaining a sample of blood from a patient for subsequent diagnostic tests, e.g., glucose monitoring. In one aspect of the invention, an apparatus for carrying out the method described previously is provided. The apparatus comprises:
(a) a housing having a sealable chamber located therein and a sealable opening in fluid communication with the sealable chamber;
(b) a vacuum pump in communication with the sealable chamber;
(c) a device for forming an unobstructed opening in an area of skin from which a sample is to be collected, preferably a lancing assembly, the device positioned within the sealable chamber;
(d) a movable support for supporting and positioning a port for a fluid collector in the sealable chamber, the movable support capable of moving the port within the sealable chamber between a first position and a second position; and
(e) a stop for aligning the fluid collector.
In another aspect of the invention, the method comprises a method for utilizing the aforementioned apparatus.
Description
CROSS REFERENCES TO COPENDING APPLICATIONS
This application relates to four patent applications, each entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING BLOOD FOR DIAGNOSTIC TESTS, U.S. Ser. No. 08/759,698 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,063,039, filed Dec. 6, 1996, U.S. Ser. No. 08/982,323, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,071,251 filed Dec. 2, 1997, U.S. Ser. No. 08/982,324, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,071,249 filed Dec. 2, 1997, and U.S. Ser. No. 08/982,721, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,093,156 filed Dec. 2, 1997. The specifications, drawings and claims of these applications are in corporated herein by reference. All of the foregoing applications are commonly owned by the assignee of this invention.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for obtaining samples of blood for diagnostic purposes.
2. Discussion of the Art
The prevalence of diabetes has been increasing markedly in the world. At this time, diagnosed diabetics represent about 3% of the population of the United States. It is believed that the total actual number of diabetics in the United States is over 16,000,000. Diabetes can lead to numerous complications, such as, for example, retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy.
The most important factor for reducing diabetes-associated complication s is the maintenance of an appropriate level of glucose in the blood stream. The maintenance of the appropriate level of glucose in the blood stream may prevent and even reverse many of the effects of diabetes.
Glucose monitoring devices of the prior art have operated on the principle of taking blood from an individual by a variety of methods, such as by needle or lancet. An individual then coats a paper strip carrying chemistry with the blood, and finally inserts the blood-coated strip into a blood glucose meter for measurement of glucose concentration by determination of change in reflectance.
The medical apparatus of the prior art for monitoring the level of glucose in the blood stream required that an individual have separately available a needle or lancet for collecting blood from the individual, strips carrying blood chemistry for creating a chemical reaction with respect to the glucose in the blood stream and changing color, and a blood glucose meter for reading the change in color indicating the level of glucose in the blood stream. The level of blood glucose, when measured by a glucose meter, is read from a strip carrying the blood chemistry through the well-known process of reading reflectometers for glucose oxidation.
Generally lancets comprise a blade and a pressable end opposed thereto, with the blade having an acute end capable of being thrust into skin of a human. By striking the pressable portion, the acute end of the blade will pierce the skin, for example, of the finger. The finger lancet is primarily used to obtain small volumes of blood, i.e., less than 1 mL. Diabetics use the finger lancet to obtain volumes of blood less than 25 μL for analysis for glucose. A small amount of blood for the blood test will ooze out of the skin. There are many small blood vessels in each finger so that a finger can be squeezed to cause a larger drop of blood to ooze. The finger is one of the most sensitive parts of the body; accordingly, the finger lancet leads to even more pain than what would be experienced by collecting blood via lancet at a different body site. The finger lancet presents another problem because of the limited area available on the fingers for lancing. Because it is recommended that diabetics monitor their blood glucose levels four to six times per day, the limited area on the fingers calls for repeated lancing of areas that are already sore. Because fingers are sensitive to pain, it is a recent tendency that the arm is subjected to blood sampling. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,513. The device of U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,513 comprises a cylindrical housing and a lancet support, which has a gasket or flexible portion slidably accommodated in the housing. Springs will retract the lancet support to thereby reduce air pressure in the housing so that it sucks a blood sample, automatically and immediately after a lancet pierces the skin. See also U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,607, which discloses a device comprising a sealed vacuum chamber in a state of preexisting reduced pressure, a support member for the sealed vacuum chamber, the support member defining a suction portion adjacent the sealed vacuum chamber, the suction portion, in cooperation with the sealed vacuum chamber, exposing an area of the skin of a patient to a reduced pressure state when the device is actuated, and means arranged within the suction portion for slightly rupturing a portion of the area of skin of the patient exposed to the reduced pressure state.
Because the blood volume requirements for a standard glucose test strip are typically 3 μL or more, an area of the body that can generate that much blood from a lancet wound must be used. It is believed, however, that improvements in glucose test strip technology will reduce the volume of blood needed to 1 to 3 μL. Because the finger is well supplied with blood and the amount of blood can be increased by squeezing the finger after lancing, the finger is the currently preferred body site for lancing, even though lancing of the finger is painful.
A less painful technique for obtaining body fluids is described in U.S. Ser. No. 08/982,721, filed Dec. 2, 1997. This application discloses an apparatus for obtaining blood for diagnostic tests. The apparatus comprises a housing having a sealable chamber located therein and a sealable opening in fluid communication with the sealable chamber, a power source, a vacuum pump operably connected to the power source, the vacuum pump in communication with the sealable chamber, a lancing assembly positioned within the sealable chamber, and a fluid collector positioned in the sealable chamber, the fluid collector in fluid communication with the sealable opening. It would be desirable to improve that apparatus in order to ensure that the fluid collector is properly positioned in the apparatus during the lancing and fluid collecting steps.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention provides a method and apparatus for collecting a sample of blood from a patient for subsequent diagnostic tests, e.g., glucose monitoring.
In one aspect of the invention, an apparatus for collecting a sample of body fluid, e. g., blood, for analysis in a diagnostic test is provided. In a preferred embodiment, the apparatus comprises:
(a) a housing having a sealable chamber located therein and a sealable opening in fluid communication with the sealable chamber;
(b) a vacuum pump in communication with the sealable chamber;
(c) a device for forming an unobstructed opening in an area of skin from which a sample is to be collected, preferably a lancing assembly, the device positioned within the sealable chamber;
(d) a movable support for supporting and positioning a port for a fluid collector in the sealable chamber, the movable support capable of moving the port within the sealable chamber between a first position and a second position; and
(e) a stop for aligning the fluid collector.
In more preferred embodiments, the apparatus further comprises a power source, and the vacuum pump is operably connected to the power source. The stop aligns the fluid collector so that the fluid collector is capable of being properly positioned in the apparatus during the lancing and fluid collecting steps.
The fluid collector is preferably a test strip that contains at least one chemical reagent for conducting a diagnostic test, e.g., a test for determining blood glucose level. Typically the test strip has an opening formed therein, which opening is capable of being aligned with the sealable opening of the housing. A preferred device for forming an unobstructed opening in the area of the skin from which the sample of blood is to be collected is a lancing assembly, which comprises a lancet for forming an opening in the skin. Alternatively, the unobstructed opening in the skin can be formed by a laser or by a fluid jet. In the case of a lancing assembly, when the lancing assembly is triggered, the lancet of the lancing assembly passes through the opening of the test strip and the sealable opening of the housing to form an opening in the skin of the patient. The sample of body fluid, e.g., blood, is obtained from the opening formed in the skin of the patient. The opening of the test strip should be properly aligned with the sealable opening of the housing before the lancing assembly is triggered, because misalignment of these openings may result in one or more of the following undesirable occurrences: (1) an unsuccessful assay; (2) a longer period of time required to collect an adequate amount of sample; (3) extensive contamination of the apparatus by the sample. The movable support (d) and the stop (e) are designed to operate in concert to ensure that the opening of the test strip and the sealable opening of the housing are properly aligned. By designing the movable support to move the fluid collector port from a first position to a second position, the opening in the test strip can be properly aligned with the sealable opening in the housing, thereby ensuring that the assay can be conducted successfully.
The vacuum pump requires a power source. The power source can be disposed within the housing. Alternatively, the power source can be external to the housing. The vacuum pump can serve the dual purposes of (1) stretching the skin and (2) enhancing the collection of the sample of blood from the unobstructed opening in the skin. Preferably, the vacuum pump can serve the triple purposes of (1) stretching the skin, (2) increasing the availability of blood to the area of the skin from which the sample is to be collected, and (3) enhancing the collection of the sample of blood from the unobstructed opening in the skin.
The housing comprises a body and a cover. The sealable chamber is located within the cover. The cover is separated from the body so that the test strip can be inserted into a test strip port located in the volume that is to be enclosed by the cover when the cover is closed against the body of the housing. After the test strip is inserted in the test port, the cover is closed against the body to form a chamber that will be sealed when the sealable opening of the housing is placed in contact with the skin of a patient. Preferably, the body of the housing contains electronics having programmed instructions to control the vacuum pump to maintain the desired level of vacuum for the method of this invention.
The apparatus preferably contains valves, such as, for example, solenoid valves, for triggering the lancet of the lancing assembly and releasing the vacuum at the conclusion of the blood collection procedure. The apparatus can optionally contain a heating element to increase the availability of blood to the area of the skin from which the sample is to be collected.
In another aspect of the invention, a method for collecting a sample of body fluid, e.g., blood, for analysis in a diagnostic test is provided. In general, the method comprises the steps of:
(a) inserting a fluid collector into the port;
(b) aligning the fluid collector latitudinally and longitudinally so that an opening in the fluid collector is aligned with the sealable opening of the housing of the apparatus;
(c) placing the sealable opening of the housing against the skin of the patient;
(d) forming an unobstructed opening in the area of the skin from which the sample of blood is to be collected;
(e) aligning the fluid collector longitudinally so that an opening in the fluid collector is aligned with the sealable opening of the housing of the apparatus; and
(f) collecting the sample of blood from the unobstructed opening in the skin onto the fluid collector, with the aid of vacuum and stretching of the skin.
In order to insert a fluid collector into the support, the cover is separated from the body of the housing; then the fluid collector, e.g., a test strip, is inserted into the port for the fluid collector; and then the cover is closed against the body of the housing. The movable support is actuated to cause the port to move from a first position to a second position in order to align an opening in the fluid collector with the sealable opening of the housing of the apparatus.
In a preferred embodiment of the method, step (d) is preceded by the step of increasing the availability of blood in the portion of the skin from which the sample is to be collected. In this preferred embodiment, the availability of blood in the portion of the skin from which the sample is to be collected can be increased by means of a vacuum, which is applied to the surface of the skin in the vicinity of the opening prior to forming the opening in the skin. The vacuum causes the portion of the skin in the vicinity of the blood collection site to become engorged with blood. The vacuum also causes the portion of the skin in the vicinity of the blood collection site to become stretched.
An opening in this stretched portion of skin can be formed with a cutting or puncturing device, e.g., a lancet, or other device capable of forming an opening in the skin, e.g., a laser or a fluid jet. If a cutting or puncturing device is used to form the opening, it must be retracted from the opening prior to the step of collecting the sample of blood from the opening. This retraction will allow the unrestricted flow of blood through the opening. After the opening is formed, the movable support is moved from the first position to the second position in order to align the opening in the fluid collector with the sealable opening of the housing of the apparatus. Then a vacuum can be used to aid in collecting the sample of blood from the opening in the skin.
The method and apparatus of this invention provide several advantages over the methods and apparatus of the prior art. First, a sufficient amount of blood can be collected from parts of the body, other than the finger, for conducting glucose monitoring tests. Second, by rendering other parts of the body suitable for collecting blood, the use of a painful finger lance can be avoided. Third, by increasing the availability of blood at the site where the blood is to be collected, the period of time required for collecting the sample can be reduced. Fourth, by improving the registration of the opening in the fluid collector (e.g., test strip) with the sealable opening in the housing, both the likelihood that the lancet will strike a solid portion of the fluid collector during the lancing step and the likelihood that an insufficient amount of sample will be collected will be reduced. Because of these advantages, the diabetic patient is more likely to monitor glucose levels in the blood at the intervals prescribed by his doctor.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIGS. 1A and 1B depict partial cross-sectional views of an embodiment of the apparatus of this invention. In FIGS. 1A and 1B, the cover of the housing of the apparatus is closed against the body of the housing of the apparatus.
FIG. 2A is a perspective view of the alignment mechanism assembly of this invention. In this figure, the cover is in its open position.
FIG. 2B is an exploded perspective view showing the components of the alignment mechanism assembly of this invention.
FIG. 3A is a top view of the cover of the housing of the apparatus of this invention.
FIG. 3B is a side elevation view of the cover of the housing of this invention.
FIG. 3C is a side elevation view, in cross section, taken along line C—C of FIG. 3A, of the alignment mechanism assembly of this invention. In FIG. 3C, the cover is in its closed position.
FIG. 4 is a top view of a fluid collector suitable for use in this invention.
FIG. 5A is the same view as FIG. 3C, but indicating the area to be enlarged in FIGS. 5B, 5C, and 5D.
FIGS. 5B, 5C, and 5D are side elevation views, greatly enlarged, in cross section, of the switch that indicates when the fluid collector is in position for an assay. FIG. 5A shows the switch in the OPEN position, i.e., the assay is not yet ready to be run. FIG. 5B shows the switch in the CLOSED position, but the fluid collector is not in proper register. FIG. 5C shows the switch in the CLOSED position, and the fluid collector is in proper register.
FIG. 6A is a perspective view of the interior of the cover. FIG. 6B is the same view as FIG. 3A. FIG. 6C is a front elevation view, in cross section, taken along line C—C of FIG. 6B, of the cover and the alignment mechanism assembly of this invention. FIG. 6D is a perspective view of the port shroud and the test strip port of the alignment mechanism assembly of this invention.
FIGS. 7A, 7B, and 7C are side elevation views, in cross section, of the fluid collector and alignment mechanism assembly showing the sequence for properly aligning the fluid collector for an assay. FIG. 7A shows the fluid collector and the alignment mechanism assembly prior to the registration procedure. FIG. 7B shows the fluid collector and the alignment mechanism assembly during the registration procedure. FIG. 7C shows the fluid collector and the alignment mechanism assembly after the registration procedure and prior to the lancing procedure. The components of the alignment mechanism assembly in FIGS. 7B and 7C are identical to those of the alignment mechanism assembly in FIG. 7A. Therefore, reference numerals that are not relevant to the registration procedure are not restated in FIGS. 7B and 7C.
FIGS. 8A, 8B, and 8C are side elevation views, in cross section, of the fluid collector and alignment mechanism assembly showing the sequence for operating the lancing assembly for collecting a sample of blood for an assay. FIG. 8A shows the lancing assembly prior to the triggering thereof. FIG. 8B shows the lancing assembly during the lancing procedure. FIG. 8C shows the lancing assembly after the lancet has been retracted from skin of the test subject. The components of the alignment mechanism assembly in FIGS. 8B and 8C are identical to those of the alignment mechanism assembly in FIG. 8A. Therefore, reference numerals that are not relevant to the lancing procedure are not restated in FIGS. 8B and 8C.
FIGS. 9A and 9B are side elevation views, in cross section, of the sample collection procedure. FIG. 9A shows the sample collection procedure prior to the movement of the alignment mechanism assembly but subsequent to the formation of the opening in the skin of the test subject. FIG. 9B shows the sample collection procedure subsequent to the movement of the alignment mechanism assembly toward the sample. FIG. 9C is a top view of the blood collection area of the apparatus taken along line C—C of FIG. 9A. FIG. 9D is a top view of the blood collection area of the apparatus taken along line D—D of FIG. 9B. The components of the alignment mechanism assembly in FIG. 9B are identical to those of the alignment mechanism assembly in FIG. 9A. Therefore, reference numerals that are not relevant to the sample collection procedure are not restated in FIG. 9B.
FIG. 10 is a side elevation view, in cross section, of a lancing assembly installed in an embodiment of an apparatus suitable for use in this invention. This figure does not show how the diaphragm of the alignment mechanism assembly is connected to the pump.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
As used herein, the terms “register”, “registration”, and the like refer to a process resulting in correct alignment or positioning. The term “latitudinal” refers to the direction running perpendicular to the flow of fluid in the fluid collector (e.g., test strip). The term “longitudinal” refers to the direction running parallel to the flow of fluid in the fluid collector (e.g., test strip). The term “sample” means a specimen of body fluid. In this invention, the body fluid described is blood. However, it is within the scope of this invention to obtain samples of other types of specimens of body fluid.
The preferred embodiments of the apparatus of this invention utilize the following components to improve the function of obtaining a sample of blood for carrying out a diagnostic test, e.g., determining blood glucose level:
(a) a housing having a sealable chamber located therein and a sealable opening in fluid communication with the sealable chamber;
(b) a vacuum pump in communication with the sealable chamber;
(c) a device for forming an unobstructed opening in an area of skin from which a sample is to be collected, preferably a lancing assembly, the device positioned within the sealable chamber;
(d) a movable support for supporting and positioning a port for a fluid collector in the sealable chamber, the movable support capable of moving the port within the sealable chamber between a first position and a second position; and
(e) a stop for aligning the fluid collector.
The components of the apparatus other than the movable support (d) and the stop (e) are described in detail in U.S. Ser. No. 08/759,698, filed Dec. 6, 1996, U.S. Ser. No. 08/982,323, filed Dec. 2, 1997, U.S. Ser. No. 08/982,324, filed Dec. 2, 1997, and U.S. Ser. No. 08/982,721, filed Dec. 2, 1997, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,027,459, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. When relevant, portions of the foregoing applications and patent will be described in detail herein in order to more clearly describe the components involved in the alignment of the opening of the fluid collector with the sealable opening in the housing.
The apparatus of this invention is designed to perform an assay, such as, for example, an assay to determine blood glucose level, by means of a simple procedure involving a minimum of manipulation. The apparatus forms an opening in the skin of the patient, collects the sample, such as, for example, a sample of blood, and measures and reports the desired information relating to the sample. All of the foregoing steps are performed by means of a single apparatus, with all the procedural steps taking place within the apparatus.
The accuracy and reliability of the apparatus and the method require that the fluid collector, hereinafter alternatively referred to as a “test strip”, be precisely and correctly aligned within the apparatus. Misalignment of the test strip within the apparatus can possibly result in an unsuccessful formation of an opening in the skin of the patient because of the lancet's hitting the test strip. Moreover, misalignment of the test strip within the apparatus can result in poor sample collection because the sample collection area of the test strip is not aligned with the site of the opening in the skin of the patient. Either type of misalignment can result in an unsuccessful assay (i. e., no results or erroneous results), a longer period of time required to collect an adequate amount of sample, or extensive contamination of the apparatus by the sample. It is possible to ensure precise and correct alignment of the test strip within the apparatus so long as the following procedures are carried out:
(1) manufacture the test strip to proper dimensional specifications;
(2) properly align the properly manufactured test strip in a latitudinal direction; and
This invention is concerned with proper alignment of a properly manufactured test strip both in a latitudinal direction and in a longitudinal direction.
The dimensional tolerances with respect to the length and width of a test strip, and the position and diameter of the opening in the test strip, as well as the sample collection area, are closely controlled during the fabrication process in which the test strips are manufactured. The test strips are designed to work in concert with the alignment mechanism assembly to provide an accurate and reliable assay.
Referring now to FIGS. 1A and 1B, which schematically depict one embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus 10 comprises a housing 12 having a cover 12a (shown in the closed position in FIGS. 1A and 1B). The cover 12a is attached to the body 12b of the housing 12 by an attachment in the form of a hinge (not shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B but shown in FIGS. 3, 7A, 8A, and 9A as reference numeral 15). Alternatively, the cover 12a may be attached to the body 12b by frictional engagement, a detent (not shown), or any combination of a hinge, frictional engagement, and a detent. When a hinge is used, it may optionally be spring biased to retain the cover 12a in the open or closed position. A detent (not shown) may be provided on the cover 12a to engage with a protrusion (not shown) on the body 12b, or vice versa, to maintain the cover 12a in the open or closed position when desired. Although a hinge (not shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B) is utilized in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, any other attachment or combination of attachments that allows the cover 12a to attach to the body 12b and alternate between an open and closed position is acceptable. A gasket or other seal arrangement 17 is provided to seal the housing 12 when the cover 12a is closed. Additionally, a latch mechanism may be included to prevent accidental opening of the cover 12a when the apparatus 10 is in use. Typically, the latch mechanism would provide locking engagement of the cover 12a with the body 12b.
Disposed within the housing 12 are a vacuum pump (not shown), a lancet assembly 18 generally comprising a molded plastic piece 44 to which a lancet 32 is affixed, a lancing assembly (not shown) into which the lancet assembly 18 is inserted, a battery (not shown), and electronics (not shown) for purposes described hereinafter. A switch 19 is provided to activate the electronics, which may take the form as shown in FIG. 3 of U.S. Ser. No. 08/982,721, filed Dec. 2, 1997, incorporated herein by reference. The vacuum pump communicates by an evacuation tube (not shown) with the volume enclosed by the cover 12a when the cover 12a is in the closed position. Optionally a check valve (not shown) may be placed in the evacuation tube between the vacuum pump and the volume enclosed by the cover 12a when the cover 12a is in the closed position.
During the process of obtaining the sample, the cover 12a is closed to form a seal. The seal should be sufficiently tight so that a sufficient vacuum can be obtained by removing air from the volume enclosed by the cover 12a when the cover 12a is in the closed position.
The area of the cover 12a of the housing 12 that is to contact the skin is equipped with a seal 20. The seal 20 surrounds a sealable opening 24 in the cover 12a as disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 08/982,721, filed Dec. 2, 1997, incorporated herein by reference. The sealable opening 24 may be round, oval, rectangular or any other shape. The sealable opening 24 in the cover 12a allows communication between the surface of the skin and a blood collection chamber adjacent to a fluid collector, shown here in the form of a glucose detector 28, which may take the shape and form of a test strip. Preferably, the glucose detector 28 contains at least one opening (not shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B) approximately equidistant from the elongated edges of the middle of glucose detector 28 for the lancet 32 to pass through, as disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 08/982,721, filed Dec. 2, 1997, incorporated herein by reference. In this embodiment, the aforementioned at least one opening in the glucose detector 28 is preferably in alignment with sealable opening 24 and lancet 32 during the lancing step. The opening in the glucose detector 28 may be covered with a mesh. Alternatively, the glucose detector 28 used in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B may contain a semi-circular notch (not shown) in the region of the glucose detector 28 that comes into contact with the blood, as disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 08/982,323, filed Dec. 2, 1997, incorporated herein by reference. The semi-circular notch may be covered with a mesh. Fluid collectors, such as, for example, glucose detectors, suitable for use in this invention include, but are not limited to, biosensors and reflectance strips. If a biosensor is used, it is preferred that the apparatus 10 include a meter to measure electrical properties, e.g., current, arising from the interaction of a sample with the reagents of the biosensor. If a reflectance strip is used, it is preferred that the apparatus 10 include a meter, e.g., reflectometer, to measure optical properties, e.g., reflectance, arising from the interaction of a sample with the reagents of the reflectance strip.
When in use, the apparatus 10 is positioned so that the lancing assembly is placed over the region on the surface of the skin from which the fluid sample is to be obtained such that the lancing assembly is approximately perpendicular to the surface of the skin. Prior to actuating the apparatus 10, a fluid collector, e.g., a glucose detector in the form of a test strip, is inserted into a slot 36 of a movable projection 13 of the body 12b of the housing 12. The glucose detector 28 contains one or more electrical contacts (not shown) on the end inserted into the slot 36, which contacts engage one or more electrical contacts (not shown) positioned within the slot 36. In order to obtain the sample of blood, the cover 12a of the housing 12 is placed against the skin, whereby the seal 20 surrounding the sealable opening 24 allows a satisfactory vacuum to be effected. The switch 19 is actuated, typically by being pressed, thereby activating the electronics, described in FIG. 3 of U.S. Ser. No. 08/982,721, filed Dec. 2, 1997 and discussed above, which starts the vacuum pump. The action of the vacuum pump withdraws air from the volume enclosed by the cover 12a when the cover 12a is in the closed position and causes the skin circumscribed by the seal 20 to be drawn toward the sealable opening 24. This results in the skin becoming engorged with blood. Engorgement of the skin with blood is accompanied by a stretching of and rising up of the skin to the sealable opening 24 in the cover 12a.
After an appropriate period of time, which is typically pre-set by the programmed electronics, the lancing assembly is triggered, thereby causing the lancet 32 to penetrate the skin that has been pulled up into the sealable opening 24 of the cover 12a. The lancet 32 is preferably triggered automatically by activation of a solenoid valve (not shown) that causes a vacuum-actuated piston (not shown) to trigger the lancet 32, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,027,459, incorporated herein by reference.
The description to this point has dealt with apparatus and methods described previously in U.S. Ser. No. 08/982,721, filed Dec. 2, 1997 and shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. The apparatus particular to this invention will now be described in greater detail. Referring now to FIGS. 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 3C, 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D, 6A, 6B, 6C, and 6D, the alignment mechanism assembly 50 comprises the cover 12a, a port shroud 54, a skirt 56, a movable support 58, a vacuum plate 60, a diaphragm 62, a diaphragm plate 63, and a test strip port 64. The movable support 58 is analogous to the movable projection 13 shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. The test strip port 64, into which a test strip 70 for an assay is inserted, is inserted into an opening 65 in the port shroud 54. The port shroud 54 has a slot 54a formed therein to accommodate any excess fluid from the sample, so that excess fluid does not flow past the slot 54a and consequently contaminate the critical parts of the test strip port 64. The test strip 70 is analogous to the glucose detector 28 shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. The skirt 56 functions as a means for positioning the vacuum plate 60, the movable support 58, and the diaphragm 62 and as a means for providing a base for the movable support 58 and the vacuum plate 60. A first resilient biasing element 66, e.g., a spring, connects the test strip port 64 to the vacuum plate 60. A second resilient biasing element 67, e.g., a spring, connects the movable support 58 to the vacuum plate 60. The first resilient biasing element 66 operates to bias one end 54b of the port shroud 54 upwards, so that the user of the apparatus can easily insert a test strip 70 into the test strip port 64, which is carried in the port shroud 54. The upper surface of the port shroud 54 and the upper surface of the test strip port 64, which is held in the port shroud 54, are induced to be maintained in a position parallel to both the upper surface of the vacuum plate 60 and the top interior surface 71 of the cover 12a when the cover 12a is in the closed position. The operation of the second resilient biasing element 67 is described below, as it relates to the steps involved in moving the movable support 58. The skirt 56 has an opening 72 formed therein through which the lancet 74 passes during the lancing step of the method of this invention. The lancet 74 is analogous to the lancet 32 shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. The vacuum plate 60 functions to ensure that a vacuum is maintained in the chamber enclosed by the cover 12a and the skirt 56. The diaphragm 62 functions as the agent that causes the movable support 58 to move sufficiently to move test strip port 64 sufficiently to properly align the test strip with the sealable opening 24 in the cover 12a of the housing 12. The ultimate function of the movable support 58 is to move the test strip port 64 sufficiently to properly align an opening 70a in the test strip 70 with the sealable opening 24 in the cover 12a of the housing 12. In order to perform this function, the movable support 58 also supports the port shroud 54, which contains the test strip port 64.
In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 2B, 3C, 5A-5D, 7A-7C, 8A-8C, 9A-9B, the movable support 58 is an L-shaped structure having a leg 58a and a base 58b. A pivot 75 is included at the junction of the leg 58a and the base 58b. The pivot 75 can be of simple construction, such as, for example, at least one shaft supported in at least one bearing. The movable support 58 is capable of rotation about this pivot 75 at an angle of rotation sufficient to move the test strip port 64 a sufficient lateral distance toward the sealable opening 24 in the cover 12a of the housing 12, whereby an opening 70a in the test strip 70 is placed in register with the sealable opening 24 in the cover 12a of the housing 12. The base 58b is of sufficient length that the end thereof located distally of the pivot 75 can be moved vertically by expansion of the diaphragm 62 when the diaphragm 62 is subjected to a pressure gradient. The force needed to actuate the diaphragm 62 is furnished by the ambient pressure, which is the pressure within the body 12b of the housing 12. The leg 58a must of sufficient length to position the port shroud 54 sufficiently close to the top interior surface 71 of the cover 12a (when the cover 12a is closed), so that when a test strip 70 is inserted in the test strip port 64, the test strip 70 will be sufficiently close to the sealable opening 24 in the cover 12a of the housing 12 so that a sample of blood or other body fluid for an assay can be collected successfully. The movable support 58 is connected to the port shroud 54 by means of a pivot 76. Like the pivot 75, the pivot 76 can be of simple construction, such as, for example, at least one shaft supported in at least one bearing. This type of connection is used so that when (1) the diaphragm 62 expands, (2) the base 58b is raised, and (3) the leg 58a is tilted at a sufficient angle, the pivot 76 will allow the test strip port 64 of the port shroud 54 to move from a first position to a second position, at which second position the end 70b of the test strip 70 located distally from the end 70c of the test strip 70 inserted in the test strip port 64 will abut a test strip stop 76 located on the cover 12a of the housing 12, thereby placing the opening 70a of the test strip 70 in register with the sealable opening 24 in the cover 12a of the housing 12. The second biasing element 67, which was disclosed earlier, operates to urge the leg 58a of the movable support 58 to its upright position when the diaphragm 62 is not being subjected to a pressure gradient.
Referring specifically now to FIGS. 5A, 5B, 5C, and 5D, the test strip port 64 comprises a “no touch” switch 80 and a biasing bar 82. When a test strip 70 is inserted into the test strip port 64, the force of the biasing bar 82 acting upon the upper surface of the test strip 70 causes the “no touch” switch 80 to close. When the “no touch” switch 80 closes, a signal indicates that the lancing phase of the assay can begin.
Referring specifically now to FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C, and 6D, registration of the test strip 70 in the apparatus in the latitudinal direction is accomplished as the cover 12a of the housing 12 is closed. As the cover 12a of the housing 12 is closed, the latitudinal registration features 84 disposed on the cover 12a interlock with latitudinal registration features 86 disposed on the port shroud 54. This interlocking action precisely positions the test strip 70 in the latitudinal direction.
All of the parts of the alignment mechanism are preferably made of molded plastic, with the exception of the diaphragm 62, which is preferably made of a flexible elastomeric material, and the biasing elements 66 and 67, which are preferably helical springs formed from metal. Of course, the electrical contacts in the test strip port 64 and the electrical contacts of the “no touch” switch 80 are preferably made of electrically conductive metal. The biasing bar 82 is preferably made of metal.
OPERATION
Operation of the apparatus 10 will now be described. FIG. 4 illustrates a test strip suitable for use in this invention. FIGS. 5A, 5B, 5C, and 5D illustrate the operation of the switch that indicates when a test strip 70 is inserted in the test strip port 64. FIGS. 7A, 7B, and 7C illustrate how the apparatus aligns the opening 70a of the test strip 70 with the sealable opening 24 of the cover 12a of the housing 12 prior to lancing or prior to collecting a sample of blood. FIGS. 8A, 8B, and 8C illustrate the key steps of the lancing procedure. FIGS. 9A, 9B, 9C, and 9D illustrate alignment of the opening 70a of the test strip 70 with the sealable opening 24 of the cover 12a of the housing 12 during the blood collection step.
The test strip 70 is specifically designed to fit in to the test strip port 64. The test strip port 64 includes a “no touch” switch 80. This “no touch” switch 80 indicates when a test strip 70 has been inserted into the test strip port 64. As a test strip 70 is being inserted into the test strip port 64, the test strip 70 deflects the “no touch” contact 80a until the “no touch” contact 80a makes electrical contact with a “pull up” contact 80b, thereby causing the apparatus to be electrically actuated, so that an assay can be performed. Downward force provided by the biasing bar 82 aids the test strip 70 in bringing about contact of the “no touch” contact 80a and the “pull up” contact 80b. See FIGS. 5A, 5B, 5C, and 5D. However, even though the “no touch” contact 80a makes electrical contact with the “pull up” contact 80b, the user cannot be certain that the test strip 70 has been properly positioned in the test strip port 64. For example, the end 70c of the test strip 70 that contacts the “no touch” switch 80 is designed so that it abuts against the end 64a of the test strip port 64. In a worst case situation, this end 70c of the test strip 70 could be a small distance, e.g., 0.045 inch from the end 64a of the test strip port 64. This failure of the end 70c of the test strip 70 to abut the end 64a of the test strip port 64 directly translates to a misalignment between the opening 70a in the test strip 70 and the sealable opening 24 in the cover 12a. If this misalignment is not corrected, the lancet 74, when triggered, could possibly strike a solid portion of the test strip 70 and fail to pass through the opening 70a in the test strip 70, and, consequently (1) fail to pass through the sealable opening 24 in the cover 12a, (2) fail to lance the patient, and (3) fail to allow access to a blood sample. In order to correct for any possibility of misalignment of the test strip 70 in the apparatus, the apparatus undergoes the following procedure.
After the test strip 70 is inserted into the test strip port 64, the cover 12a of the housing 12 is closed against the body 12b of the housing 12. A pressure gradient is applied to the diaphragm 62. The pressure gradient causes the diaphragm 62, which is preferably made of a flexible elastomeric material, to expand. This expansion of the diaphragm 62 causes the base 58b of the movable support 58 to move upwardly, thereby causing the movable support 58 to tilt forward, i.e., toward the sealable opening 24 in the cover 12a, via the pivot 75. As the movable support 58 tilts forward, the pivot 76 allows the test strip port 64 to move forward, i.e., toward the sealable opening 24 in the cover 12a. By this movement, the end 70b of the test strip 70 is caused to abut against a test strip stop 77, which projects from the cover 12a of the housing 12. Because the force supplied by the diaphragm 62 exceeds the static friction force existing between the test strip 70 and the test strip port 64, the test strip 70 is pushed backward into the test strip port 64 until the end 70c of the test strip 70 abuts the end 64a of the test strip port 64. At this point, the test strip 70 is fully seated in the test strip port 64, and, consequently, is properly aligned in the apparatus 10. In other words, the opening 70a in the test strip 70 is properly aligned with the sealable opening 24 in the cover 12a of the housing 12. Then the pressure gradient is removed, the diaphragm 62 deflates, and the movable support 58 is reset. The second biasing element 67 operates to urge the leg 58a of the movable support 58 to its upright position when the diaphragm 62 is not being subjected to a pressure gradient. The apparatus is now ready to commence the lancing phase of the assay. See FIGS. 7A, 7B, and 7C.
In order for the diaphragm 62 to be actuated to initiate the operation of the alignment mechanism assembly 50, the pressure to which the diaphragm 62 is subjected must be varied at the appropriate times to bring about the pressure gradient previously mentioned. Referring now to FIGS. 7A through 9D, inclusive, during the time the vacuum pump (not shown) of the apparatus 10 is in operation, the pressure within the volume enclosed by the vacuum plate 60 and the cover 12a of the housing 12 is below the ambient pressure. It should be mentioned at this point that in order to maintain the pressure within the volume enclosed by the vacuum plate 60 and the cover 12a of the housing 12 below the ambient pressure while the vacuum pump is in operation, the sealable opening 24 in the cover 12a of the housing 12 must be sealed. The seal is formed by a seal 78 placed against the surface of the skin, designated herein by the letter “S”. Additional details relating to the seal 78 will be described below. In order to simplify the explanation of the steps involved in varying the pressure for operating the diaphragm 62, it will be assumed that when the vacuum pump is operating, the pressure within the volume enclosed by the vacuum plate 60 and the cover 12a of the housing 12 is 6.7 psi, while the ambient pressure is 14.7 psi. The pressure within the body 12b of the housing 12 is the ambient pressure. These particular values of pressure are not required, but in all cases the pressure within the body 12b of the housing 12 exceeds the pressure within the volume enclosed by the vacuum plate 60 and the cover 12a of the housing 12 when the vacuum pump is operating. As the vacuum pump is operating, the diaphragm 62 is maintained in an equilibrium condition, wherein the pressure upon the diaphragm 62 is below ambient pressure. For example, the pressure of the equilibrium condition is 6.7 psi. The diaphragm 62 is maintained in this equilibrium condition by means of the diaphragm plate 63, which separates the diaphragm 62 from the body 12b of the housing 12. In other words, when the vacuum pump is operating, both the surface of the diaphragm 62 facing the cover 12a of the housing 12 is under a pressure (e.g., 6.7 psi) below ambient pressure (e.g., 14.7 psi) and the surface of the diaphragm facing the body 12b of the housing 12 is under a pressure (e.g., 6.7 psi) below ambient pressure (e.g., 14.7 psi). The diaphragm 62 is connected to the ambient environment of the body 12b of the housing 12 by means of a passageway (not shown), which faces the surface of the diaphragm 62 facing the body 12b of the housing 12. In the passageway is a valve (not shown), such as, for example, a solenoid valve. The passageway is blocked when the valve is closed; the passageway is open when the valve is open. When the valve is closed, the pressure on the diaphragm 62 is the equilibrium condition pressure, e.g., 6.7 psi, which is below ambient pressure (e.g., 14.7 psi). When it is the appropriate time for the test strip 70 to be properly aligned, a signal provided by the electronics causes the valve to be opened, thereby allowing ambient air to impinge upon the surface of the diaphragm 62 facing the body 12b of the housing 12. This influx of ambient air increases the air pressure impinging upon the diaphragm 62, thereby causing the diaphragm 62 to expand. The expansion of the diaphragm 62 causes the base 58b of the support 58 to be raised, thereby causing the leg 58a of the support 58 to be tilted toward the opening 24 in the cover 12a of the housing 12. When it is time for the support 58 to be reset, a signal from the electronics causes the valve to be closed, thereby allowing the pressure upon the diaphragm 62 to reach its equilibrium condition, e.g., 6.7 psi. At that pressure, the diaphragm 62 remains in its normal, unexpanded position.
After the test strip 70 has been correctly positioned and aligned in the apparatus 10, the lancing assembly can form an opening in the skin of the patient. As indicated previously, the seal 78 of the apparatus 10 has been placed against the surface of the skin, designated herein by the letter “S”, to maintain the pressure within the volume enclosed by the vacuum plate 60 and the cover 12a of the housing 12 below the ambient pressure while the vacuum pump is in operation. The seal 78 is analogous to the seal 20 shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. The purpose of the seal 78 is to prevent air from leaking into apparatus 10, so that the vacuum pump (not shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B) can provide sufficient suction action for (1) increasing the availability of blood to the area of the skin from which the sample is to be collected, (2) stretching the skin, and (3) collecting the sample of blood from an unobstructed opening in the skin. The seal 78 surrounds the sealable opening 24 in the cover 12a of the housing 12. The sealable opening 24 in the cover 12a allows communication between the surface of the skin and the test strip 70. The seal 78 is preferably made of a rubber or an elastomeric material. After an appropriate period of time, a pressure gradient is applied to the lancing assembly, thereby triggering the lancet 74, which is propelled toward the sealable opening 24 in the cover 12a at a nominal rate of speed, for example, 3.3 m/sec. The lancet 74 passes through the opening 70a in the test strip 70, the sealable opening 24 in the cover 12a, and contacts the skin of the patient at a sufficient rate of speed to form an opening in the skin of the patient. Then the pressure gradient is removed and the lancing assembly retracts the lancet 74 to its original unfired position. Alternatively, if the test strip 70 is of the type that has a semi-circular notch at the end 70b thereof, the lancet 74 passes the end 70b of the test strip 70. See FIGS. 8A, 8B, and 8C.
After an opening has been formed in the skin of the patient, the sample, for example, a blood sample, can be collected so that an assay can be performed. The sample collection sequence is as follows. First, a pressure gradient is applied to the diaphragm 62. The pressure gradient causes the diaphragm 62 to expand. This expansion of the diaphragm 62 causes the base 58b of the movable support 58 to move upwardly, thereby causing the movable support 58 to tilt forward, i.e., toward the sealable opening 24 in the cover 12a, via the pivot 75. As the movable support 58 tilts forward, the pivot 76 allows the test strip port 64 to move forward, i.e., toward the sealable opening 24 in the cover 12a. By this movement, the end 70b of the test strip 70 is caused to abut against a test strip stop 77, which projects from the cover 12a of the housing 12. The test strip stop is designed to allow the alignment mechanism assembly to move the test strip 70 forward a small distance, which distance is equal to the distance between the center of the sealable opening 24 in the cover 12a and the sample collection area 70d located on the test strip 70. As an example, this distance is approximately 0.085 inch. The sample, e.g., blood, emerging from the opening in the skin, begins to contact the sample collection area 70d of the test strip 70. Once the apparatus 10 determines that a sufficient volume of sample has been collected, by means of the electronics, the pressure gradient is removed, by means of a signal from the electronics, the diaphragm 62 deflates, and the movable support 58 is reset. The second biasing element 67 operates to urge the leg 58a of the movable support 58 to its upright position when the diaphragm 62 is not being subjected to a pressure gradient. See FIGS. 9A, 9B, 9C, and 9D. The diaphragm 62 is actuated by means of the procedure relating to alignment of the test strip for the lancing step described previously. The apparatus is now ready to commence the analytical or measurement phase of the assay.
When a sufficient amount of blood has been collected, the test strip 70 then generates a signal, which results in deactivation of the vacuum pump, and the vacuum is released by, for example, an electronically controlled valve. Alternatively, the vacuum pump may be stopped after a pre-set time interval. The apparatus 10 may then be removed from the individual's skin. The apparatus 10 performs the assay and the results are displayed on a display such as for example a liquid crystal display. More particularly, the test strip 70 generates a signal, as described above, indicative of a condition, e.g., blood glucose level, which signal is transmitted via electrical circuitry to the electronics housed in the apparatus 10. The signal is processed by such electronics, in a manner known to those skilled in the art, and the results obtained from the test strip 70 can be displayed on a screen 40, typically a conventional liquid crystal digital display. Other manners of display may also be used.
Upon completion of the measurement, the cover 12a may be opened and the test strip 70 and the lancet 74 may be replaced. The lancet 74 and the test strip 70 may be replaced immediately after use, immediately before use, or may be replaced at any other time.
In the embodiment described herein, the test strip 70 was moved to effect proper alignment by means of an alignment mechanism assembly 50 comprising a port shroud 54, a skirt 56, a movable support 58, a vacuum plate 60, a diaphragm 62, a test strip port 64, and other accessories needed to allow the foregoing components to operate in the manner desired. Alternatively, the test strip 70 may be moved incrementally through the action of a solenoid or other electromechanical device. For example, the test strip 70 may be moved by a movable support that is moved by via a four-bar linkage.
In FIGS. 1A and 1B, an extension 42 extending laterally across the width of the apparatus 10 is shown. When present, the extension 42 stops the lancet assembly from extending beyond the extension 42 and prevents the lancet 74 from extending more than is desired into the skin. The preferred lancing depth typically ranges from about 0.5 mm to about 3 mm into the skin.
Useful practices for various steps related to the overall method, but not specifically related to the method of alignment, will now be described in detail.
An unobstructed opening in the area of the skin from which the sample of blood is to be collected is formed by a piercing device or some other type of device capable of forming an unobstructed opening in the skin. Piercing devices suitable for this invention include, but are not limited to, mechanical lancing assemblies. Other types of devices capable of forming an unobstructed opening in the skin include, but are not limited to, lasers and fluid jets. Other types of devices capable of forming an unobstructed opening in the skin can be used, and this disclosure should not be construed so as to be limited to the devices listed. Mechanical lancing assemblies are well-known in the art. These assemblies comprise standard steel lancets, serrated devices, and multiple tip devices. The lancets can be made from metal or plastic. Multiple tip devices provide redundancy, which can reduce the number of failures and increase the volume of blood collected.
Lasers suitable for forming an unobstructed opening in the skin to draw blood are also well-known in the art. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,775,361, 5,165,418, 5,374,556, International Publication Number WO 94/09713, and Lane et al. (1984) IBM Research Report—“Ultraviolet-Laser Ablation of Skin”, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. Lasers that are suitable for forming an unobstructed opening in the skin include Er:YAG, Nd:YAG, and semiconductor lasers.
Fluid jets suitable for forming an unobstructed opening in the skin employ a high pressure jet of fluid, preferably a saline solution, to penetrate the skin.
Regardless of what type of device is utilized to form an unobstructed opening in the skin, the opening formed by the device must be unobstructed. As used herein, the term “unobstructed” means free from clogging, hampering, blocking, or closing up by an obstacle. More specifically, the expressions “unobstructed opening in the area of the skin from which the sample is to be collected”, “unobstructed opening in the skin”, and the like are intended to mean that the portion of the opening below the surface of the skin is free from any foreign object that would clog, hamper, block, or close up the opening, such as, for example, a needle of any type. For example, if a lancet is used to form the opening, it must be retracted from the opening prior to the commencement of the collection of blood. Because lasers and fluid jets do not require contact with the skin to form openings in the skin, these types of devices typically provide unobstructed openings. However, these expressions are not intended to include foreign objects at the surface of the skin or above the surface of the skin, such as, for example, a glucose monitor. By leaving the opening unobstructed, blood can be collected much more rapidly from the opening than it would be collected if the piercing and cutting means were allowed to remain in the opening. In addition, the requirement of an unobstructed opening exposes the body to a foreign object either not at all or for only a very short period of time, which is welcomed by the patient.
The step of collecting the sample of blood from the opening in the skin is carried out by a combination of collection enhancing elements. Collection enhancing elements suitable for use in this invention include, but are not limited to, vacuum, skin stretching elements, and heating elements. When these elements are used in combination, the volume of blood collected is greatly increased, particularly when a vacuum is applied in combination with skin stretching. In this combination, the vacuum not only causes the blood to be rapidly removed from the unobstructed opening by suction, it also causes a portion of the skin in the vicinity of the opening to be stretched. Stretching of the skin can be effected by other means, such as mechanical means or adhesives. Mechanical means include devices for pinching or pulling the skin; adhesives bring about stretching of the skin by means of pulling. It is preferred to use a vacuum to effect stretching of the skin. Like a vacuum, a heating element operates more effectively in combination with other techniques, e.g., stretching of the skin.
In the preferred embodiment of this invention, step (d), the step of forming the unobstructed opening, is preceded by the step of increasing the availability of blood at the area of the skin from which the sample is to be collected. The availability of blood at a given area of the skin can be increased by at least two methods. In one method, a vacuum can be used to cause blood flowing through blood vessels to pool in the area of the skin where the vacuum is applied. In another method, heat can be used to cause blood flowing through blood vessels to flow more rapidly in the area of the skin where heat is applied, thereby allowing a greater quantity of blood to be collected from the blood collection site per unit of time. Although the step of increasing the availability of blood in the vicinity of the blood collection site is not required, the employment of this step can result in a greater volume of blood collected. Elements for increasing the availability of blood at a blood collection site that are suitable for use in this invention include, but are not limited to, vacuum, localized heating element, skin stretching element, and chemicals. As stated previously, applying a vacuum to the area of the skin from which blood is to be collected can increase blood availability under and within the skin at the application site. The vacuum can also be used to stretch the skin upwardly into a chamber, thereby increasing pooling of blood under and within the skin. This combination of vacuum and skin stretching can be an extension of the combination used to collect blood from the opening in the skin, as previously described. It is well-known that heat can increase perfusion on the large scale of a limb or a finger. Chemical means, such as histamine, can be used to cause a physiological response to increase perfusion under and within the skin.
Specifications for various components related to the overall apparatus 10, but not specifically related to the alignment will now be described in detail. Referring again to FIGS. 1A and 1B, the apparatus 10 comprises a housing 12, and disposed within the housing 12 are a vacuum pump (not shown), a lancing assembly (not shown), a battery (not shown), and electronics (not shown). A switch 22 is provided to activate electronics.
The housing 12 is preferably made from a plastic material. It is preferably of sufficient size to contain all of the components that are required for forming an unobstructed opening in the area of the skin from which the sample of blood is to be collected, collecting the sample of blood from the unobstructed opening in the skin, preferably with the aid of a vacuum and a stretching of the skin, and collecting the collected sample in an amount sufficient to carry out a diagnostic test. Methods of preparing the housing 12 are well-known to one of ordinary skill in the art.
The vacuum pump must be capable of providing a vacuum that will provide sufficient suction to stretch the portion of the skin in the region from which the sample of blood is to be collected. Typically, the portion of stretched skin is raised a distance of 1 to 10 mm, preferably 3 to 5 mm, from the plane of the body part of which it is a portion. As the suction provided by the vacuum pump is stretching the appropriate portion of skin, the suction provided by the vacuum pump also causes the stretched portion to become engorged with blood. The level of suction provided must be sufficient to cause a relatively large volume of blood to become engorged at the point that the vacuum is applied. The vacuum pump must also be capable of providing sufficient suction to collect blood from the opening in the skin at a rate sufficient to collect at least 1 μL of blood within a period of five minutes. A vacuum pump that is suitable for the device of this invention can be a diaphragm pump, a piston pump, a rotary vane pump, or any other pump that will perform the required functions set forth previously. Typically, the vacuum pump employs a self-contained permanent magnet DC motor. Vacuum pumps that are suitable for this invention are well-known to those of ordinary skill in the art and are commercially available. A vacuum pump suitable for use in the present invention is available from T-Squared Manufacturing Company, Nutley, N.J., and has the part number T2-03.08.004.
The vacuum pump is preferably capable of providing a pressure of down to about −14.7 psig (0 psi), and is more preferably operated at from about −3.0 psig (11.7 psi) to about −10.0 psig (4.7 psi). The area of the skin subjected to vacuum preferably ranges up to about 50 cm2, more preferably from about 0.1 to about 5.0 cm2. The period of vacuum application prior to forming the opening in the skin, i.e., for increasing the availability of blood to the application site, preferably ranges up to about 5 minutes, preferably from about 1 to about 15 seconds. The period of vacuum application subsequent to forming the opening in the skin, i.e., for aiding in the collection of blood from the unobstructed opening, preferably ranges up to about 5 minutes, preferably from about 1 to about 60 seconds. The vacuum provided by the vacuum pump can be continuous or pulsed. A continuous vacuum is preferred for the reason that it requires fewer components than does a pulsed vacuum. It is preferred that the vacuum applied not cause irreversible damage to the skin. It is preferred that the vacuum applied not produce bruises and discolorations of the skin that persist for several days. It is also preferred that the level of vacuum applied and duration of application of vacuum not be so excessive that it causes the dermis to separate from the epidermis, which results in the formation of a blister filled with fluid.
The lancing assembly comprises at least one lancet. Standard lancets can be used in the lancing assembly of this invention. Narrow gauge (28 to 30 gauge) lancets are preferred. Lancets suitable for this invention can be made from metal or plastic. Lancets suitable for this invention can have single points or multiple points. The depth of penetration of the lancet preferably ranges from about 0.4 to about 2.5 mm, more preferably from about 0.4 to about 1.6 mm. The length of the lancet or lancets preferably ranges from about 1 mm to about 5 mm. The lancing assembly is preferably located so that the user can easily replace used lancets. The lancet of the lancing assembly can be cocked manually or automatically, e.g., by means of a vacuum-actuated piston or diaphragm. The lancet of the lancing assembly can be triggered manually or automatically, e.g., by means of a vacuum-actuated piston or diaphragm.
Lancing assemblies are well-known in the art. Representative examples of lancing assemblies suitable for this invention are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. Re. 32,922, 4,203,446, 4,990,154, and 5,487,748, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. A particularly suitable lancing assembly for this invention is described in U.S. Pat. No. Re. 32,922. However, any lancing assembly selected should operate in conjunction with the other features of the apparatus 10 of this invention. For example, if a vacuum is employed, the lancing assembly must be designed so that a vacuum can be formed and drawn through the assembly. The lancing assembly can be designed to allow automatic cocking and automatic triggering of the lancet.
While conventional lancing assemblies are suitable for use in this invention, a lancing assembly that utilizes differential gas pressure to thrust a lancet into skin tissue has been developed for use with this invention.
A source of power for the vacuum pump can be disposed within the housing 12. A source of power suitable for the device of this invention is a battery. Alternatively, an external source of power can be used to operate the vacuum pump. The power source is actuated by the electronics, which, in turn, is actuated by the switch 22.
The electronics may incorporate a microprocessor or microcontroller. The function of the electronics is to switch power on and off to operate the various components in the apparatus 10. These components include, but are not limited to, the vacuum pump. The electronics can also be use to switch power on and off to operate components in alternative embodiments, e.g., heating elements, lancets, indicating devices, and valves. Electronics suitable for this invention is the “TATTLETALE MODEL 5F” controller/data logger, commercially available from Onset Computer Corporation, 536 MacArthur Blvd. P. O. Box 3450, Pocasset, Mass. 02559-3450. Auxiliary electronic devices, such as power transistors, pressure monitors, and OP-Amps (operational amplifiers), may also be required in order to provide an interface between the controller and the operational components. All electronics required for this invention are well-known to one of ordinary skill in the art and are commercially available.
FIG. 10 illustrates a preferred installation of the lancing assembly analogous to that shown in FIG. 25 of U.S. Ser. No. 08/982,721, filed Dec. 2, 1997, inside a prototype of an embodiment of the apparatus 10 of this invention. The lancing assembly 120, shown in its retracted pre-thrust position, has been fitted with a standard lancet assembly 122 and a three-way solenoid valve 124. The cap 126 of the lancing assembly 120 is fitted into the partition 127 of the apparatus 10, thereby forming an effective seal against the partition 127. The apparatus 10 comprises a housing 12, which comprises a cover 12a and a body 12b. The exit port 128 of the lancing assembly 120 is connected to a vacuum pump 130 by means of a passageway 132, such as, for example, a connecting tube. The passageway 132 is also connected to a cavity 133 inside the cover 12a of the apparatus 10. In this manner, the vacuum pump 130 can deliver an equal level of vacuum pressure to the cavity 133 and to the exit port 128. The vacuum pressure inside the cavity 133 can be maintained at a level at which the apparatus 10 operates, because the vacuum pump 130 can draw evacuated air from the cavity 133 at a rate faster than the rate at which ambient air leaks into the cavity 133 by way of the door seal 17, the seal placed against the skin of a patient 20, and the seal formed between the cap 126 and the partition 127. The body 12b of the housing 12 of the apparatus 10 contains air having a pressure level equal to the ambient pressure surrounding the apparatus 10. The level of pressure inside the body 12b of the housing 12 does not change during operation of the apparatus 10 because the body 12b of the housing 12 contains a sufficient number of openings (not shown) that communicate with the surrounding ambient air. The air inside the body 12b of the housing 12 can enter the lancing assembly 120 through the inlet port 134 when the solenoid valve 124 is activated to begin the lancing step. The difference in air pressure between the ambient air inside the body 12b of the housing 12 and the evacuated air inside the cavity 133 in the cover 12a of the housing 12 brings about the differential gas pressure needed to operate the lancing assembly. During the lancing step, the thrusting motion of the lancet assembly 122 is halted by a lancet stop 136. The lancet stop 136 has an opening (not shown) that allows the lancet 138 to pass through and penetrate the skin which is placed against the seal 20.
It should be noted that the designs of the various housings shown in FIGS. 1A-10 can be modified without substantially affecting the functioning of the components disposed within the housing or on the surface of the housing. For example, the shapes of the housings, the shapes of the covers of the housings, the shapes of the cover portions of the housings, and the shapes of the remaining portions of the housings can be modified without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention.
This invention provides numerous advantages over blood collection devices of the prior art. Among these advantages are the following:
1. Ability to use parts of the body, other than the finger, as a site for the collection of blood;
2. Reduction of pain by eliminating the need to lance the finger;
3. Increase in speed of collection of blood samples by means of pretreatment comprising a combination of stretching of the skin in conjunction with heat or vacuum or both heat and vacuum;
4. Incorporation of glucose detector in apparatus for collecting the blood sample;
5. Ability to minimize user errors, which typically arise upon insertion of the test strip;
6. Ability to provide automatic transfer of samples;
7. Ability to provide reproducible transfer of samples;
8. Ability to properly align the glucose detector in the apparatus so that the lancet does not strike the glucose detector during the lancing step and the blood emerging from the lanced skin contacts the appropriate location of the glucose detector.
Various modifications and alterations of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention, and it should be understood that this invention is not to be unduly limited to the illustrative embodiments set forth herein.
Claims (31)
What is claimed is:
1. An apparatus suitable for obtaining a sample of blood for analysis in a diagnostic test, comprising:
(a) a housing having a sealable chamber located therein and a sealable opening in fluid communication with said sealable chamber;
(b) a vacuum pump in communication with said sealable chamber;
(c) a device for forming an unobstructed opening in an area of skin from which a sample is to be collected, said device positioned within said sealable chamber;
(d) a movable support for supporting and positioning a port for a fluid collector in said sealable chamber, said movable support capable of moving said port within said sealable chamber between a first position and a second position; and
(e) a stop for aligning said fluid collector.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said housing comprises:
(a) a body, and
(b) a cover, said cover positionable over said body and including said sealable opening.
3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said fluid collector is a test strip.
4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein said test strip has an opening therein.
5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said stop (e) projects from said cover of said housing.
6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said movable support (d) supports a test strip port.
7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said test strip port is enclosed by a port shroud.
8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said test strip port includes a switch.
9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said switch comprises a “no touch” contact and a “pull up” contact.
10. The apparatus of claim 1, further including a means for preventing said sample from reaching and contaminating said port for said fluid collector.
11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said port for said fluid collector includes at least one electrical connection.
12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said housing contains at least one latitudinal registration feature to position said fluid collector latitudinally.
13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said fluid collector comprises a biosensor.
14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said biosensor comprises a glucose detector.
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Dishonored 2 PC Patch Put Out to Fix Performance Issues
By Kyle Sledge 27 October 2017
In order to fix performance problems occurring with Dishonored 2‘s PC version, the developers at Bethesda and Arkane Studios release a patch for the stealth-action title.
As many PC gamers are likely aware, Dishonored 2 has encountered a fair share of major issues on the platform since its official launch last week. With some fans’ playthroughs practically struggling to reach 60 frames per second at 1080p – there have even been reports of several games dropping as low as 13 FPS – it’s safe to say that the most recent entry in Bethesda and Arkane Studios’ stealth-action series is at the very least experiencing frame rate problems on PC.
Thankfully, the developers at Arkane and Bethesda are now attempting to rectify these post-launch issues by making Dishonored 2 run more fluidly on PC with the game’s first update for the platform since its release on November 11. Not only are developers targeting the game’s dips in frame rates with this patch, but also the title’s mouse problems are to be addressed as well.
The update for Dishonored 2 releases alongside the launch of of version 375.95 Nvidia drivers, and it’s recommended for players to download these before playing. As far as AMD users are concerned, they should still be using the 16.10.2 drivers, with Bethesda declaring that there will be “more information from AMD on CrossFire support in the near future.”
The 1.1 update for Dishonored 2 focuses on only three fixes which are directly related to the sensitivity of a player’s mouse, an issue with cloth physics on AMD cards, and CPU task priority. Those interested in the specific rundown of what’s being refined can see the patch notes written by Bethesda below.
Mouse improvements, including a fix for sensitivity being framerate dependent
Fixes an AMD cloth physics issue, which impacts framerates at various points in the game
It’s important to note, however, that this particular update for Dishonored 2 is only available in beta at this point in time, so it won’t download automatically. Instead, players will need to opt in for it through Steam by following the directions below.
Log into Steam.
Right Click on Dishonored 2 in your Library.
Select Properties.
Select Betas.
A drop down menu will appear. Select BetaPatch.
Select OK.
Wait a few minutes for game to update.
While it’s certainly disappointing that Dishonored 2‘s day one patch failed to fix any lingering errors, Bethesda has announced its intentions to make the game as pristine as possible. More specifically, the publisher said, “Our work on Dishonored 2 continues. Update 1.2 development is underway and will address a broader range of issues including performance and is estimated to be available in the next week.”
Obviously, one can’t fault Dishonored 2‘s developers for striving to improve the game, but it’s discouraging that the stealth-action title is just another example of a major release needing further polishing after having already been put out to the public. Hopefully, though, Bethesda and Arkane can fully fix Dishonored 2 and possibly move more units after its dismal sales drop from the first game.
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Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption What do students feel as new data shows Oxbridge offers are moving backwards in terms of elistism?
The sheer dominance by the top two social classes of Oxford and Cambridge University admissions has been revealed in newly released data.
Four-fifths of students from England and Wales accepted at Oxbridge between 2010 and 2015 had parents with top professional and managerial jobs, and the numbers have been edging upwards.
The data, obtained by David Lammy MP, also shows a "shocking" regional bias, with more offers made to Home Counties pupils than the whole of northern England.
Mr Lammy said he was "appalled to discover" Oxbridge is actually moving backwards in terms of elitism.
Unveiling the data, he described the universities as the "last bastion of the old school tie" and highlighted stark regional divisions.
Nationally about 31% of people are in the top two social income groups. They are the doctors, the lawyers, the senior managers.
The data reveals these top two social classes cleaned up in terms of places, with their share of offers rising from 79% to 81% between 2010 and 2015.
This was despite both universities spending £5m each a year on efforts to cast the net wider for students, according to official figures.
The data on admissions by region provided by the universities themselves showed:
More than a quarter of Cambridge offers went to eight local authority areas
Just under a quarter of Oxford offers went to eight local authority areas
London and south-east England received 48% of offers from both Oxford and Cambridge
The Midlands received 11% of Oxford offers and 12% of Cambridge offers
The North West, the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber between them received 15% of Oxford offers and 17% of Cambridge offers
Oxford made about 100 offers to students in the whole of Wales last year
The University of Cambridge made nearly 2,953 offers to four home counties, and 2,619 offers to the whole of the north of England.
Whereas Oxford made 2,812 offers to applicants in five home counties and 2,619 to students in the whole of northern England.
Applications were, however, significantly higher from both the counties surrounding London and around the universities themselves.
'Serious inequalities'
A spokesman for Cambridge said its admissions were based on academic considerations alone, adding that the greatest barrier to disadvantaged students was poor results.
"We currently spend £5m a year on access measures leading to 190,000 interactions with pupils and teachers."
An Oxford spokesman said: "We absolutely take on board Mr Lammy's comments, and we realise there are big geographical disparities in the numbers and proportions of students coming to Oxford.
"On the whole, the areas sending few students to Oxford tend also to be the areas with high levels of disadvantage and low levels of attainment in schools.
"Rectifying this is going to be a long journey that requires huge, joined-up effort across society - including from leading universities like Oxford - to address serious inequalities."
Mr Lammy said the scale of the regional divide went far beyond anything he could have imagined.
He accused Oxbridge of failing to live up to its responsibilities as national universities, saying: "Oxbridge take over £800m a year from the taxpayer - paid for by people in every city, town and village.
"Whole swathes of the country - especially our seaside towns and the 'left behind' former industrial heartlands across the North and the Midlands are basically invisible.
"If Oxbridge can't improve, then there is no reason why the taxpayer should continue to give them so much money."
Mr Lammy added: "Whilst some individual colleges and tutors are taking steps to improve access, in reality many Oxbridge colleges are still fiefdoms of entrenched privilege, the last bastions of the old school tie."
He called for a centralised admissions system to be introduced at the universities and for Oxbridge to communicate more directly with talented students by writing to all straight A students to invite them to apply.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption "It's quite unexpected...It's not something that happens where I'm from" says Max as he prepares to go to Cambridge University
Analysis
By Branwen Jeffreys, BBC News education editor
We should all care who goes to our top universities because they end up running the country.
Less than 1% of the adult population graduated from Oxford or Cambridge, but the two universities have produced most of our prime ministers, the majority of our senior judges and civil servants, and many people in the media.
So surely it's good news that more of their students are from state schools?
As this research shows, that's only part of the story. The home counties of southern England are significantly wealthier than the north. You just have to look at how many children are from families earning so little their children qualify for free school meals.
In Buckinghamshire it's just 5.5% of pupils, in Surrey 6.8%. Travel north to Middlesbrough and it reaches 27.9%, and Rochdale 20.5%
Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning
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We are overpaying spencer, but he is far, far better of an overall player than Avril.
Whining for whining,s sake gets so old.
you might be right, but Spencer is switching positions and putting his hand on the ground. I know, he did it in college.
He is 30 and had one really good season. Many players have one really good season playing for a contract.
I hope I am wrong.
Tired of the Jones' bumbling in the draft, free agency and with the cap. Tired of one playoff win in 16 seasons. Tired of all the NFC teams improving while Dallas sits on its self inflicted salary cap hell.
Look at it this way, if we crash and burn this coming season - which everyone here expects us to do - imagine how much cap space we'll have in 2014 with Romo, Spencer and the $5m penalty off the books! We could sign the entire Jacksonville Jaguars!
Look at it this way, if we crash and burn this coming season - which everyone here expects us to do - imagine how much cap space we'll have in 2014 with Romo, Spencer and the $5m penalty off the books! We could sign the entire Jacksonville Jaguars!
Don't forget the conditional 7th round pick they can surely get for Kyle Orton.
Spencer would probably have been the prized pass rusher of the entire free agency class. We're paying Spencer 10m not because we want to pay him 10m or even because that's what it SHOULD cost, but because that's what you have to pay a guy when you franchise him two years in a row.
Our cap is a complete disaster right or it wouldn't seem that significant. I'm just weary of giving Spencer a long term deal. How many guys 30+ do we need to give these huge contracts to?
With Dumvervil, I think he'd be the most sought after pass rusher.
In terms of paying Spencer, I'm not really all that concerned about him being 29 or 30.
I think there are too many holes to dedicate so much cap space to one guy.
They had better work out a long term deal or trade him. Playing under the cap again is not an option. That would be $20M in total cap hits which is just insane to think about if the team has to constantly restructure every year to get the job done.
Consider that the cumulative cap hits for Romo over the last 5 seasons has been about $36M because of the maneuvering they have done. Even if he played at $16M this year, that's still less than the $10M/year that it would ultimately be for Spencer to play last year and this year as a tagged player and he still wouldn't be under contract nesxt and Dallas would be right back at square one next offseason.
Spencer is not the most important player on the team and yet to some extent he's being treated like he is.
If he plays tagged again, Dallas will have sacrificed a ton in order to rent a guy for two years.
That's kinda the problem with this organization and it's fans, they're handling disappointment better and better as the years go on. I guess we're just getting used to it.
You know, I remember listening to financial counselor Dave Ramsey and he said "Things won't change for you until you have a 'sick and tired' moment".
When will that moment be for this organization and it's fans? Is it 1 playoff win in 20 years, 1 in 25 years or 1 in 30?
Every year more and more "positive" fans turn into "complainers" because the results on the field doesn't warrant giving this team the benefit of the doubt. At some point this organization has to prove it on the field and in the front office to turn the tide of the public sentiment.
Positive fans and complainers just have a different way of looking at the same thing, two different sides of an argument. The thing that settles this argument is the teams record over the last 18 years or so.
Sad state of affairs when you're coming off a 3rd place finish in the weakest division in football and while other teams are signing free agents, not only can you not sign anyone, you're cutting players to get under the cap.
Baltimore is doing the same thing only they are coming off winning the Super Bowl.
That's kinda the problem with this organization and it's fans, they're handling disappointment better and better as the years go on. I guess we're just getting used to it.
You know, I remember listening to financial counselor Dave Ramsey and he said "Things won't change for you until you have a 'sick and tired' moment".
When will that moment be for this organization and it's fans? Is it 1 playoff win in 20 years, 1 in 25 years or 1 in 30?
Every year more and more "positive" fans turn into "complainers" because the results on the field doesn't warrant giving this team the benefit of the doubt. At some point this organization has to prove it on the field and in the front office to turn the tide of the public sentiment.
Positive fans and complainers just have a different way of looking at the same thing, two different sides of an argument. The thing that settles this argument is the teams record over the last 18 years or so.
Sad state of affairs when you're coming off a 3rd place finish in the weakest division in football and while other teams are signing free agents, not only can you not sign anyone, you're cutting players to get under the cap.
Baltimore is doing the same thing only they are coming off winning the Super Bowl.
Haven't you heard, the Cowboys are an up and coming team pointed in the right direction. ee:
...Sad state of affairs when you're coming off a 3rd place finish in the weakest division in football and while other teams are signing free agents, not only can you not sign anyone, you're cutting players to get under the cap.
Baltimore is doing the same thing only they are coming off winning the Super Bowl.
SilverStarCowboy;5025259 said:
Haven't you heard, the Cowboys are an up and coming team pointed in the right direction. ee:
you might be right, but Spencer is switching positions and putting his hand on the ground. I know, he did it in college.
He is 30 and had one really good season. Many players have one really good season playing for a contract.
I hope I am wrong.
Tired of the Jones' bumbling in the draft, free agency and with the cap. Tired of one playoff win in 16 seasons. Tired of all the NFC teams improving while Dallas sits on its self inflicted salary cap hell.
is'nt ware doing the same thing? seems like people are so concerned about spencer being able to do exactly what we are about to ask ware to do, but no one seems worried about ware who is coming off an injury being able to do the same thing spencer will be doing
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# Table Select2 Filter
Use Plugin: [bootstrap-table-select2-filter](https://github.com/wenzhixin/bootstrap-table/tree/master/src/extensions/select2-filter) </br>
Dependence if you use the select2 option: [Select2](https://select2.github.io/) v4.0.0
## Usage
```html
<script src="extensions/select2-filter/bootstrap-table-select2-filter.js"></script>
```
## Options
### filter
* type: Boolean
* description: enabled select2 filter exetension.
* default: `false`
### filterValues
* type: Object
* description: Set default selected value. <br>Example: {columnA.field.:'Column A Selected Value',columnB.field:'Column B Selected Value'}
* default: `undefined`
## Column options
### filter
* type: Object
* description: Set filter option to configure the filter. <br>Example: {type:'select', data:["itemA", "itemB", "itemC"]}
* type: add an `input` or `select` into the column.
* data: need to set when type is `select` , filter data list. (The same as [Select2 Options](http://select2.github.io/examples.html#data))
* default: `undefined`
## Methods
### setFilterData
* Set column's filter data.
* Parameters
* String : column field.
* Object : filter data list.
* Example: <code> $table.bootstrapTable("setFilterData", "columnA.filed", ["itemA", "itemB", "itemC"]);</code>
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Recent Posts
Eventually We Want People to Make Sense
The rhetoric of a nonsense spewing wannabe political figure such as Donald Trump will always fall short of statements of substance.
Eventually, his fans will flock elsewhere as they tire of hearing him answer every questions with, “We will make America great again!” It’s fine for a slogan, even a campaign promise, but it’s not policy.
We do want to be led by people of substance, who actually understand what they are doing. There was an early belief by some that Trump’s business experience would provide that substance – an entirely warranted belief, by the way, considering his success (ignoring whatever you may think of it). However, it is turning out that you need to eventually provide a useful world outlook and be capable of understanding more than the insular world you have built for yourself. Just ask Sarah Palin (although she’s too far gone into her own head that she’d never understand the problem).
Some people will continue to support such buffoons; however, the masses will move toward leaders with actual knowledge and decision-making ability.
Trump’s numbers took a slide recently. Now, that doesn’t mean he’s going to start tanking tomorrow, but it is a chink in the armor. It’s just representative of people who have come down from the emotional high he provided and now want to vote for someone useful.
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Biotreatment of a gas-phase volatile mixture from fibreglass and composite manufacturing industries.
Acetone, toluene and styrene (ATS) are representative air pollutants emanating during the production process in fibreglass and composite manufacturing industries. In this study, the performance of a steady-state biofilter inoculated with the fungus Sporothrix variecibatus was tested at different empty bed residence times (EBRTs), and at different inlet concentrations of ATS, corresponding to total pollutant loading rates ranging from 30 to 490 gm(-3)hour(-1). Styrene was somewhat better removed (47-100%) in the biofilter than acetone (34-100%) and toluene (42-100%), with maximum elimination capacities (EC(max)) of 108, 72 and 144 gm(-3)hour(-1), for ATS, respectively. Besides, it was observed that, although increasing the concentration of ATS decreased their removal, the presence of toluene also decreased the EC(max) of both acetone and toluene in the ternary mixture. During transient operations, the biofilter was subjected to intermittent shutdown and re-start operations where the gas-phase pollutant flow was stopped for either 5 or 16d. It was observed that, for longer shutdown periods (16d), the biofilter required nearly 8-10d to reach similar removal patterns to those observed before the shutdown phase. Batch biodegradation tests were conducted, using Sporothrix-like microorganisms present in the leachate of the biofilter, with a mixture of ATS as the sole carbon source. Complete removal of ATS was observed within the test period of 168 hours. Styrene was degraded faster, with a specific substrate utilization rate of 0.9 mg styrenemg biomass(-1)hour(-1), followed by toluene (0.6) and acetone (0.44). The effectiveness of the biofilter to reach high total EC (321.3 gm(-3)hour(-1)), and withstand transient operations shows the robustness of this fungal-bioreactor and its suitability to handle emissions from a fibreglass and composite manufacturing industry.
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Foley catheterisation versus oral misoprostol for induction of labour in hypertensive women in India (INFORM): a multicentre, open-label, randomised controlled trial.
Between 62 000 and 77 000 women die annually from pre-eclampsia and eclampsia. Prompt delivery, preferably by the vaginal route, is vital for good maternal and neonatal outcomes. Two low-cost interventions-low-dose oral misoprostol tablets and transcervical Foley catheterisation-are already used in low-resource settings. We aimed to compare the relative risks and benefits of these interventions. We undertook this multicentre, open-label, randomised controlled trial in two public hospitals in Nagpur, India. Women (aged ≥18 years) who were at 20 weeks' gestation or later with a live fetus and required delivery as a result of pre-eclampsia or hypertension were randomly assigned (1:1), via computer-generated block randomisation (block sizes of four, six, and eight) with concealment by use of opaque, sequentially numbered, sealed envelopes, to receive labour induction with either oral misoprostol 25 μg every 2 h (maximum of 12 doses) or a transcervical Foley catheter (silicone, size 18 F with 30 mL balloon). Randomisation was stratified by study centre. The catheter remained in place until active labour started, the catheter fell out, or 12 h had elapsed. If the catheter did not fall out within 12 h, induction continued with artificial membrane rupture and oxytocin, administered through a micro-drip gravity infusion set. Fetal monitoring was by intermittent auscultation. The primary outcome was vaginal birth within 24 h. Due to the nature of the interventions, masking of participants, study investigators, and care providers to group allocation was not possible. We analysed by intention to treat. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01801410. Between Dec 20, 2013, and June 29, 2015, we randomly assigned 602 women to induction with misoprostol (n=302) or the Foley catheter (n=300; intention-to-treat population). Vaginal birth within 24 h was more common in women in the misoprostol group than in the Foley catheter group (172 [57·0%] vs 141 [47·0%] women; absolute risk difference 10·0%, 95% CI 2·0-17·9; p=0·0136). Rates of uterine hyperstimulation were low in both the misoprostol and Foley catheter groups (two [0·7%] vs one [0·3%] cases; absolute risk difference 0·3%, 95% CI -0·8 to 1·5; p=0·566) and neonatal deaths did not differ significantly between groups (six [2·0%] vs three [1·0%] neonatal deaths; 1·0, -1·04 to 2·97; p=0·322). 17 serious adverse events (3%) were reported during the study: one case of intrapartum convulsion and one case of disseminated intravascular coagulation (both in the Foley group); ten perinatal deaths, including two stillbirths (both in the Foley catheter group) and eight neonatal deaths (n=5 in the misoprostol group and n=3 in the Foley catheter group); and five of neonatal morbidity, comprising birth asphyxia (n=3), septicaemia (n=1), and neonatal convulsion (n=1). Oral misoprostol was more effective than transcervical Foley catheterisation for induction of labour in women with pre-eclampsia or hypertension. Future studies are required to assess whether oxytocin augmentation following misoprostol can be replaced by regular doses of oral misoprostol tablets. Medical Research Council, Department for International Development, and Wellcome Trust Joint Global Health Trials Scheme.
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Editor’s Note: NBA Post Presence is a column dedicated to the Bigs. This space is your one-stop shop for commentary and analysis on the guys who play with their back to the basket in the NBA. As always, you can scroll over words underlined in red for additional commentary.
Alert! Lanes across the Western Conference are being invaded by giant men from Eastern Europe! It’s just like Red Dawn except compelling and believable. No, these invaders aren’t Russian. Their Polish and Montenegrin. The Terror Alert color of the day is…White! Pasty, pasty white.
Tonight’s game between the Phoenix Suns and Minnesota Timberwolves featured a matchup between up-and-coming centers in the NBA’s Western Conference. I’m speaking, of course, about Marcin Gortat and Nikola Pekovic. You may know Gortat as Dwight Howard’s former backup or the driver of this sweet BMW M5. You might know Pekovic as that guy who looks exactly like Kevin Love from far away. Both Love and Pekovic have thick beards and run down the court in a way that can only be described as “not fast”. The best way to tell them apart is that Love is the guy bombing threes and Pekovic is the guy dominating the post on nearly every possession.
I’ll be honest, Pekovic wasn’t even on my radar as a standout post player until he dropped 30 points against the Rockets back on February 17th. From that point on, I kept an eye on the schedule for a good matchup to evaluate the big man from Montenegro. A visit to play a fellow import from the former Soviet Block seemed as good a time as any to give Nikola a look. Plus players having career nights against Phoenix has become commonplace this season.
I had also been dying to get the chance to write about Gortat in this column. I spend most of my nights writing about the Suns for ESPN TrueHoop’s Valley of the Suns, so I have seen Gortat play a ton this season. He had a career night against the Thunder last Wednesday, dropping 28 points in a 104-94 loss. He has really developed his post scoring this season, so I was giddy at the prospect of watching these two pasty, yet talented young big men go head-to-head for 48 minutes.
It was clear from the opening period that was not what I was going to see.
Nikola Pekovic’s first quarter against the Suns is the single best performance I have seen by post player this season. His complete domination of the Suns’ frontline was incredible. He made every play you could ask a center to make on the offensive end, and he made it look easy. Phoenix starters Channing Frye and Gortat are no slouches on defense. Each of them is a fully capable shot blocker with adequate foot work and positioning. Pekovic made them look like folding chairs nailed to the ground. There was nothing Frye or Gortat could do to keep Pekovic away from the rim. He finished the first quarter with 15 points on 7 of 9 shooting. More importantly he drew two fouls on Gortat and forced The Polish Machine to the bench halfway through the first. He also forced Gortat to the bench with four fouls with five minutes left in the third. All in all, Gortat had one of his worst games of the season recording only eight points and four rebounds. Marcin had no blocks, four fouls (all drawn by Pekovic), and four missed free throws, including two crucial misses late.
This was by no means Pekovic’s best game of the year, but his performance is indisputable evidence of exactly how great a player he can be down low. Nikola finished the night with 24 points going 11 of 17 from the floor. He grabbed eight rebounds – five on the offensive end, and his scoring in the first quarter kept the game within reach for the Wolves who came out cold and allowed Phoenix to put up 34 points.
There were five things that stood out to me about Pekovic:
Resilency. Pekovic doesn’t have a ton of lift, so despite being listed at 6’11” he gets his shot blocked from time to time. In the first few minutes of this game, Gortat buried a jumper with Pekovic guarding him and Frye blocked Nikola at the rim. Pekovic came down and scored the next seven Wolves’ points. Most bigs have a tendancy to get down on themselves when they get blocked or get scored on. Pekovic just kept on playing hard.
Footwork. Nikola isn’t fast by any definition of the word, but he does have quick feet. When a Phoenix defender was bodied up on Pekovic directly, he was able to face the basket and beat them – going either to the middle or the baseline. At 7:53 in the first, he faced up on Gortat, stepped to the middle, and buried a runner in the lane. 90 seconds later, with Channing Frye guarding him on the right block, Pekovic backed Frye down, faced up, and scored on a nice step through move to the baseline side. He is perfectly capable of executing a standard drop step, but his footwork on face ups is impeccable and is his clear strength in the post.
Body position. At 290 lbs, Pekovic has a good deal of weight to throw around. He uses his body very well both posting up and blocking out. More than half of the fouls Pekovic drew were loose ball fouls on rebounds where he had great position and forced his defender to go over or through his body for the ball. His work on the offensive glass got him several put back buckets. His size and rebounding ability force whomever is guarding him to abstain from help defense lest they allow him to get inside position for a rebound. When it comes to posting up, Pekovic is always driving towards the rim and moving his defender with his backside to provide a clear path to the bucket. The best example of this was at the 3:44 mark of the 3rd quarter. Pekovic positioned himself in the middle of the key with his left foot pointed at the rim, his hands up, and his butt on the Suns’ player defending him. He did this early in the possession before any teammate was in position to get him the ball knowing the opportunity would be there. Sure enough, he got an entry pass and an easy bucket after the ball swung around the perimeter. The Suns’ frontline needed to move him out of the key and away from the rim, but for most of the evening they were unable to do this. With how much Pekovic was in the lane, it was impressive that he was called for only one 3-second violation.
Hands. The downfall of many a big white guy in the NBA is his hands. From what I saw Monday night, Pekovic has great hands. He caught quick passes as he flashed in the lane and wrap-around dishes on the baseline with ease. I don’t believe he fumbled a pass all night.
Confidence. I mean this not just in the confidence that Nikola has in himself, but the confidence his teammates have in him as well. It was clear in the first half that Kevin Love did not have it going, so the Timberwolves got the ball to Pekovic early and often believing he could carry the scoring load and help them keep pace with the Suns.
As for Gortat, this was just one of those games where very little aside from hitting his first jump shot went right. Not much else can be said.
My main takeway from this game is that the Montegrin invasion is upon us. Phoenix was nearly powerless to stop it, and your team could be next.
If the Wolves have any hope of competing for the 8th spot in the West now that they are Rubio-less, they will need Pekovic to play like this night in and night out. If he keeps this up, I suspect we’ll see him here in the NBA Post Presence column again soon.
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What Do You Get?
• 10 ‘EPIC‘ 808 Kicks (Instant Impact)
• 15 ‘Murder‘ Kicks (Competition? What Competition?!)
• 15 ‘Killer‘ Snares (R.I.P. other drum sounds)
• 15 ‘Knock-Out‘ Claps (System overload…)
• 15 ‘Grooving’ Hi Hats (Your mix will thank you for using these)
• 50 ‘Exotic‘ Percussion Sounds (Spice up your beats with unique flavours)
No Tweaking Necessary!
Everything is already EQ-ed, compressed and filtered: they are fully radio- and club-ready!
.WAV Format
Compatible with any DAW or Drum Computer.
Extremely Categorised & Organised
Find what you are looking for in seconds.
No Filler Sounds
As an obsessive perfectionist, I have only handpicked the best of the best sounds for my collections.
|
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
// E L E N A P r o j e c t: ELENA IDE
// GTK Common Window Implementation
// (C)2005-2015, by Alexei Rakov
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
#include "gtkcommon.h"
using namespace _GUI_;
//// --- Callbacks ---
//
//static gboolean delete_event(GtkWidget *widget, GdkEvent *event, gpointer data)
//{
// return ((Window*)data)->on_Close() ? TRUE : FALSE;
//}
//
//static void frame_callback(GtkWidget *window, GdkEvent *event, gpointer data)
//{
// ((Window*)data)->onResize(event->configure.x, event->configure.y, window->allocation.width, window->allocation.height);
//}
//
//// --- Control ---
//
//bool Control :: isVisible()
//{
// return gtk_widget_get_visible(_handle);
//}
//
//void Control :: show()
//{
// gtk_widget_show(_handle);
//}
//
//void Control :: hide()
//{
// gtk_widget_hide_all(_handle);
//}
//
//void Control :: setFocus()
//{
// gtk_widget_grab_focus(_handle);
//}
//
//void Control :: refresh()
//{
// gtk_widget_queue_draw(_handle);
//}
//
//void Control :: setCaption(const char* caption)
//{
// gtk_window_set_title(GTK_WINDOW(_handle), caption);
//}
//
//// --- Window ---
//
//void Window :: _initCallbacks()
//{
// g_signal_connect(G_OBJECT(_handle), "delete_event",
// G_CALLBACK (delete_event), this);
//}
//
//void Window :: _initResizeCallback()
//{
// gtk_widget_add_events(GTK_WIDGET(_handle), GDK_CONFIGURE);
//
// g_signal_connect(G_OBJECT(_handle), "configure-event",
// G_CALLBACK(frame_callback), this);
//}
// --- Clipboard ---
void Clipboard :: settext(const char* text)
{
GtkClipboard *c = gtk_clipboard_get (GDK_SELECTION_CLIPBOARD);
if (!c)
return;
gtk_clipboard_set_text(gtk_clipboard_get(GDK_SELECTION_CLIPBOARD), text, _ELENA_::getlength(text));
gtk_clipboard_store(c);
}
char* Clipboard :: gettext()
{
GtkClipboard *c = gtk_clipboard_get (GDK_SELECTION_CLIPBOARD);
if (!c)
return NULL;
if (!gtk_clipboard_wait_is_text_available(c))
return NULL;
return gtk_clipboard_wait_for_text(c);
}
void Clipboard :: freetext(char* text)
{
g_free(text);
}
// --- DateTime ---
DateTime DateTime :: getFileTime(const char* path)
{
DateTime dt;
stat(path, &dt._time);
return dt;
}
|
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jobless claims hit a 10-week high last week while producer prices shot up in December, pointing to headwinds for an economy that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said was showing fresh vigor.
Job seekers attend a career fair at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, January 6, 2011. REUTERS/Mike Segar
However, a surge in exports to their highest level in two years, which included record sales to China, helped narrow the U.S. trade deficit in November, an encouraging sign for fourth-quarter economic growth.
The data on Thursday marked one step forward and two steps back for an economy that appeared to gain a bit more momentum toward the end of last year.
Bernanke said he was hopeful about the recent improvement in the outlook, saying he expects the economy to expand between 3 percent and 4 percent this year.
“That’s not going to reduce unemployment at the pace we’d like it to, but certainly it would be good to see the economy growing,” Bernanke said at a conference on small business sponsored by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
In November, the Fed’s estimates for 2011 were in a range of 3 percent to 3.6 percent.
“I think deflation risk has receded considerably and so we’re moving in the right direction,” Bernanke said.
Still, Thursday’s data showed just how torturous the economy’s path to recovery would be.
The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly to 445,000 from 410,000 in the prior week, a Labor Department report showed. It was the biggest one-week jump in about six months and confounded analyst forecasts for a small drop to 405,000.
The jobs figures weighed on U.S. stocks and boosted government bonds, which were also benefiting from concerns about Europe’s debt struggles.
“The jobless number highlights the patchy recovery we’ve seen in the job market and reinforces that it will be a slow process bringing down the jobless rate,” said Omer Esiner, market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington.
The rebound in benefit claims came in the wake of the holidays, which may have hindered new applications and created a backlog. Claims, which peaked around 650,000 in April of 2009, had been on a downward trajectory, dipping below 400,000 for the first time in two years during the week of Christmas.
The four-week moving average of new claims, which strips out short-term volatility, rose by 5,500 last week to 416,500.
A separate report from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank showed factory activity in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region accelerated less in December than originally reported.
WHOLESALE STICKER SHOCK
Though underlying inflation trends remain tame in the United States, food and energy costs were rising briskly at the wholesale level as 2010 drew to a close.
U.S. producer prices climbed 1.1 percent in December after a 0.8 percent rise in November, according to another Labor Department report. Economists had been looking for a repeat of that 0.8 percent advance in December. For the year as a whole, the PPI index was up 4 percent.
Inflation excluding food and energy, however, rose just 0.2 percent, in line with forecasts. That left the year-on-year gain in core producer prices at 1.3 percent, just below analyst estimates, helping tame inflation fears.
The rising prices producers receive ultimately could put upward pressure on retail prices, acting like a tax on consumers that could slow growth. Up to now, companies have not been able to pass increasing costs onto consumers because of weak demand, but that too has consequences.
“Eventually this means corporate profits could be squeezed,” said Robert Dye, senior economist at PNC Financial Services in Pittsburgh.
A recent spike in global food costs has raised fears of a crisis in the poorer corners of the developing world.
World food prices hit a record high last month, outstripping the levels that sparked riots in several countries in 2008, and key grains could rise further, the United Nations’ food agency said recently.
TOUGH SELL
On a more positive note, the U.S. trade gap narrowed to $38.3 billion in November from $38.4 billion in October, the Commerce Department reported. Analysts had expected it to widen to $40.5 billion.
November’s deficit was the slimmest since January 2010. Exports totaled $159.6 billion, the highest since August 2008 -- just weeks before the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers touched off a trade-crushing global panic.
Exports to China in November totaled a record $9.5 billion. Still, they were swamped by rising imports that pushed the politically touchy U.S. shortfall with China to $25.63 billion.
Chinese President Hu Jintao meets with President Barack Obama in Washington next week, and trade issues -- and what the United States calls China’s “substantially undervalued” exchange rate -- will be high on the agenda.
The split between weak underlying inflation and high food and energy prices makes it harder for Federal Reserve officials to argue publicly that inflation is not a threat. A fear of inflation being too low has underpinned the Fed’s efforts to support the economy by purchasing government bonds.
Another key factor is the bleak jobs picture, not helped by the Labor Department data.
The number of Americans who continued to claim benefits after an initial week of aid retreated sharply to 3.88 million from 4.13 million, offering some reason for hope.
Still, the total number of Americans on benefit rolls, including those receiving extended benefits under emergency government programs, jumped to 9.19 million from 8.77 million.
|
Second, the Chinese have changed their economic focus so that their economy can directly replace ours. The regime’s “Made in China 2025” policy is an attempt to go up the value chain and dominate high-tech industries like aerospace, robotics and biotech.
According to a report just released by Marco Rubio, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, China’s artificial intelligence industry has grown by 67 percent over the past year and has produced more patents than its U.S. counterparts. One estimate suggests China is investing as much as 30 times more capital in quantum computing than the U.S. My colleague Thomas L. Friedman notes that China already has the No. 1 and No. 3 drone manufacturers in the world, and it is way ahead of us on technologies like facial and speech recognition.
All this would be fine if China were simply competing, but it’s not. It’s stealing. A commission led by retired Adm. Dennis Blair and former U.S. ambassador to China Jon Huntsman estimated in 2017 that the annual loss to the U.S. economy from Chinese intellectual property theft was between $225 billion and $600 billion.
Some of the theft is done through hacking. Some of it is done by surreptitiously buying tech firms through shell companies in order to seize the technologies. Some of it is pure espionage and thuggery. Sometimes China offers to give American companies access to its markets in exchange for the technology, and then after China has digested the knowledge it closes off access. This is not competition. This is replacement.
Third, Beijing is trying to seize the controlling centers of the new tech economy. If China can set the standard for 5G communication and dominate artificial intelligence and quantum computing, then it will be able to write the rules and penetrate the fibers of our society and our lives in ways that we cannot match.
|
The Range: The Tucson Weekly's Daily Dispatch
Memorial for Dino Raspanti
Dean "Dino" Raspanti played for Three Left For Dead, Thunderosa, Worm, and Brother Creep.
Stephen Seigel, Weekly music editor, closed this week's Soundbites with some unfortunate news regarding the death of local musician Dean "Dino" Raspanti.
Raspanti 41, suffered a fatal heart attack on Tuesday, Jan 1. The Chicago native was one of seven siblings. Raspanti recently recorded an album with his band Three Left For Dead. The album is currently in the mixing and mastering stage, but Three Left Ford Dead members disbanded in honor of Raspanti's passing.
OK, with Dino's passing 3L4D has officially ended. All the material we managed to record is still in the mixing and mastering process. As soon as that is complete we will make it all available to anyone interested. This FB page will remain up as long as possible. Thank you all for listening and hanging around.
Danielle Beverly, Dino's older sister, says he was a cook and worked for Daglio's and Philly's Finest Cheese Steaks. Dean's brother Nick said, "Dino was very dedicated to his craft." The lifelong bachelor was born on July 15, 1972.
Dean's memorial will start at 6 p.m. at Kolb Lounge, 1180 S Kolb Road. The memorial is open to the public.
|
Effects of testosterone on bone marrow erythroid cells of normal and nephrectomized rats.
Continuous infusions of testosterone for 8 hr exerted a stimulatory effect on the bone marrow erythroid compartment of normal rats. However, simultaneous administration of testosterone with antiserum against erythropoietin resulted in a complete inhibition of the erythropoietic effects of testosterone. In addition, the stimulatory action of testosterone on bone marrow erythroid cells was completely abolished in rats with bilateral nephrectomy. These results suggest that testosterone stimulates erythropoiesis indirectly, through a previous stimulation of kidney erythropoietin production.
|
Recall deficits in stroke patients with thalamic lesions covary with damage to the parvocellular mediodorsal nucleus of the thalamus.
The functional role of the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus (MD) and its cortical network in memory processes is discussed controversially. While Aggleton and Brown (1999) suggested a role for recognition and not recall, Van der Werf et al. (2003) suggested that this nucleus is functionally related to executive function and strategic retrieval, based on its connections to the prefrontal cortices (PFC). The present study used a lesion approach including patients with focal thalamic lesions to examine the functions of the MD, the intralaminar nuclei and the midline nuclei in memory processing. A newly designed pair association task was used, which allowed the assessment of recognition and cued recall performance. Volume loss in thalamic nuclei was estimated as a predictor for alterations in memory performance. Patients performed poorer than healthy controls on recognition accuracy and cued recall. Furthermore, patients responded slower than controls specifically on recognition trials followed by successful cued recall of the paired associate. Reduced recall of picture pairs and increased response times during recognition followed by cued recall covaried with the volume loss in the parvocellular MD. This pattern suggests a role of this thalamic region in recall and thus recollection, which does not fit the framework proposed by Aggleton and Brown (1999). The functional specialization of the parvocellular MD accords with its connectivity to the dorsolateral PFC, highlighting the role of this thalamocortical network in explicit memory (Van der Werf et al., 2003).
|
History API broken bad in iOS 9.3 - bowlingx
https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/36650
======
bowlingx
My cordova application's history management stopped "randomly" working with
"SecurityError: DOM Exception 18" exceptions. The reason (mentioned in the
link I found) is a limit that has been recently introduced by apple to prevent
a security flaw.
It doesn't make any sense for me. This might break a lot of applications and
Websites that rely on the History API.
|
Q:
How to randomize (and paginate) large set of results?
I am creating a contest application that requires the main index page of entries to be randomized. As it will potentially be a large set of entries (maybe up to 5000), I will also need to paginate them.
Here are the challenges:
I have read that using a database's 'random()' function on a large set can perform poorly.
I would like for things to not be re-randomized when the pagination links are clicked. In other words, it should return a random set upon first load and then keep the same order while someone uses the pagination.
The second challenge seems potentially unrealistic, but perhaps there are some create solutions out there?
Thanks for any input.
A:
a simple way I suggest is writing your own random function with SQL query, for the function more complicated the more random, for example:
you already know
select * from your_table order by rand() limit 0, 10
assume your_table has a primary key "id", now replace "rand()" with "MOD(id, 13)"
select * from your_table order by MOD(id, 13) limit 0,10
if your_table has a datetime column, the result would be better, try this query:
select * from your_table order by MOD(id, 13), updated_at limit 0,10
also if you don't think it's not random enough, there is I bet you love it:
select * from your_table order by MD5(id) limit 0, 10
|
# Copyright 2018 Google LLC
#
# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
# You may obtain a copy of the License at
#
# https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
#
# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
# limitations under the License.
steps:
- name: 'gcr.io/cloud-foundation-cicd/cft/developer-tools:$_DOCKER_TAG_VERSION_DEVELOPER_TOOLS'
id: 'lint'
args: ['/usr/local/bin/test_lint.sh']
tags:
- 'ci'
- 'lint'
substitutions:
_DOCKER_IMAGE_DEVELOPER_TOOLS: 'cft/developer-tools'
_DOCKER_TAG_VERSION_DEVELOPER_TOOLS: '0.6.0'
|
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<pre>public abstract class <span class="typeNameLabel">Java7Support</span>
extends <a href="https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/lang/Object.html?is-external=true" title="class or interface in java.lang">Object</a></pre>
<div class="block">To support Java7-incomplete platforms, we will offer support for JDK 7
annotations through this class, loaded dynamically; if loading fails,
support will be missing. This class is the non-JDK-7-dependent API,
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<pre>public Java7Support()</pre>
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<pre>public abstract <a href="https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/lang/Boolean.html?is-external=true" title="class or interface in java.lang">Boolean</a> findTransient(<a href="../../../../../com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/introspect/Annotated.html" title="class in com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.introspect">Annotated</a> a)</pre>
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Incidence and prevalence of HIV encephalopathy in children with HIV infection receiving highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART).
To describe neurologic outcomes in children infected with HIV in the era of highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART), including rates of progressive HIV encephalopathy (PHE) and clinical sequelae among PHE survivors. Neurobehavior and school placement was assessed prospectively in the year 2000 in 126 children infected with HIV. PHE, developmental delay, and attention deficit disorder (ADHD) were the main outcome variables analyzed. Predictors of PHE were assessed in controlled analysis among age-matched controls. The rate of active PHE in 2000 was 1.6% (n = 2), and the prevalence of arrested PHE was 10% (n = 13). Residual motor and cognitive sequelae and need for special education was found in the majority of survivors. PHE relapse occurred in 3 (23%) children with previously arrested PHE. Viral load (VL) was the only significant factor associated with PHE. HIV or PHE was not associated with ADHD. Isolated developmental delay was not associated with HIV. PHE is an infrequent and reversible complication of HIV infection that responds to HAART and that may relapse if control of the virus is lost. Children with arrested PHE show higher rates of residual neurologic, cognitive, and scholastic impairments compared with children who never had PHE. Children with arrested PHE are the group of children with HIV infection most at risk for PHE, in the form of a relapse.
|
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- GET
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recorded_at: Wed, 25 May 2016 16:28:19 GMT
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Burns is a supreme athlete that is very raw in his technique. Even so, the Lions should draft him in the Second Round.
Artie Burns was a two sport athlete at the University of Miami as a cornerback for the football team and an All-American hurdler for the track team. He’s a playmaker who has leaned on his athletic superiority to break up five passes and haul in six interceptions this past season. So Burns has some skills, but why should Detroit draft him?
Team Needs
The Lions have plenty of needs to address in the draft, chief among them are offensive tackle, defensive tackle and defensive end and I wouldn’t blame you for yelling at me about taking a corner this early, especially when corner is probably the team’s deepest position. But the Lions could use another outside corner. Right now, Nevin Lawson is probably the starter opposite Slay and while he’s serviceable outside, Lawson just doesn’t have the size, speed or physicality to consistently win outside of the hashes. He’s much better suited inside as the Nickel or Dime corner. Do you know who has size, speed and physicality in spades? Artie Burns. He’s built almost exactly the same as Slay and has every bit as much athleticism. If he can learn the technical stuff from Slay himself, it wouldn’t take long for Burns and Slay to form one of the best CB duos in the league.
Burns the Player
As I’ve been hammering, Burns is very athletic. When he’s on his game, you notice him on the field. But he has a tendency to take plays off or sometimes it seems he takes entire games off. He also plays very physical. He’s best in press man coverage where he can disrupt receivers from the start. On the flip-side of that coin, he gets grabby when he ends up out of position due to his poor technique. Essentially, he has all the physical traits you want in an outside corner but he lacks the technique to be a top corner. That’s what coaching is for.
Burns the Person
I know what you’re thinking. Burns takes plays off and can appear to be lackadaisical at times. Does that mean he’s a risky player or that there may be character concerns? I don’t think so. Burns has a lot on his plate. His mother passed away suddenly in the middle of the football season this year, leaving him in charge of raising and caring for his siblings. That was the main factor in Burns’ decision to declare early for the draft. Imagine having to deal with that and still have your head in the game every week.
Why Not Someone Else?
In this year’s draft class, Vernon Hargreaves III and William Jackson III are the top corners and they probably won’t be there for the Lions in the first round. Shoot, even Eli Apple may be gone before the Lions make their first selection. If those three are all gone, the Lions won’t be using a first rounder on a corner. After Apple though, you have Mackensie Alexander, Kendall Fuller and Sean Davis. Alexander and Fuller should be gone before the Lions are on the clock in the second round and Davis is probably more of a safety in the NFL. Burns is the next best corner after these guys on most boards and while some might view the Lions’ pick as early for Burns, I think he’d cement the Lions’ corners as the best group in the NFL in terms of youth and talent.
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The Eagles would trade with the Jaguars or Raiders. The Redskins would trade with the Browns. Funny thing, The eagles wouldn't be able to offer foles to the Jags or Raiders because they are already set. With those 2 teams, they would have to trade a lot!!!!. Chip Kelly makes the decisions now, And If He Wants Marcus Mariota, He Is Going To Get, Marcus Mariota.
Dynamite-Dye hereby Awards you the Boxingscene Medal of Honor for The Heroic Risk of your social life in Order to keep Boxingscene from becoming boring, Your actions are in Keeping with the highest traditions of the Boxingscene Lounge.
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Is type 2 diabetes mellitus a disorder of the brain?
I propose that type 2 diabetes mellitus is due to damage to neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus or to a defect in the action or properties of insulin or insulin receptors in the brain. These neuronal abnormalities are probably secondary to a marginal deficiency of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids during the critical periods of brain growth and development. Hence, supplementation of adequate amounts of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids during the third trimester of pregnancy to 2 y postterm can prevent or postpone the development of diabetes mellitus.
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[Bioethics, ethics in commission].
Since the outset, bioethics has been organised as ethics in commission, then it developed as a two-faced academic discipline with one face open to society and the other turned towards culture. It thus forms a bridge between techno-science and social morals. Commission is literally "management in common "from which comes the manner of being ethical in the field of life sciences and health. Our aim is to draw up an overview of bioethics in commission in its theoretical, historical and prospective aspects.
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Q:
What determine the length of encrypted String in RSA?
I know about length of some small encrypted strings as: 160, 196 ..
What determines the size?
A:
The size in bytes of a single "block" encrypted is the same as the key size, which is the same as the size of the modulus. The private exponent is normally about the same size, but may be smaller. The public exponent can be up to to the key size in size, but is normally much smaller to allow for more efficient encryption or verification. Most of the time it is the fourth number of Fermat, 65537.
Note that this is the size in bits of the encrypted data. The plain data must be padded. PKCS#1 v1.5 uses at most the key size - 11 bytes padding for the plain text. It is certainly smart to keep a higher margin though, say 19 bytes padding minimum (a 16 byte random instead of a 8 byte random for padding).
For this reason, and because it is expensive to perform RSA encryption/decryption, RSA is mostly used in combination with a symmetric primitive such as AES - in the case of AES a random AES symmetric secret key is encrypted instead of the plain text. That key is then used to encrypt the plain text.
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[Epidemiological study of preoperative anaemia in surgical oncology patients in Spain. RECIRON Study].
Anaemia is common in oncology patients who are going to have surgery for tumour resection. Allogenic blood transfusion has been associated with a greater incidence of postoperative complications. The aim of this study is to analyse current clinical practice as regards the preoperative treatment and conditions of these patients in Spain. This is an epidemiological observational study which included 472 patients from different hospitals. The data included in the clinical history was analysed: tumour location, preoperative laboratory tests, functional situation (Karnofsky index [KI]), anaemia treatment and transfusions given since the diagnosis. As regards the tumour location, 181 were urological (38.3%), 161 digestive system (34.1%), and 130 gynaecological (27.5%). The time from the initial diagnosis until surgical intervention was 6.2+/-6 weeks, and 19.1+/-23 days from the anaesthetist visit to the surgical operation. The mean pre-operative haemoglobin (Hb) was 13.1+/-2 g/dl. The anaemia was treated in 12.9% of the patients and 15% (69 patients) received a transfusion before surgery. A total of 28.1% patients had a KI< or =80. The lowest preoperative haemoglobin levels are associated with the lowest KI. Anaemia is present in a high percentage of oncology patients who are going to be surgically treated. Preoperative blood transfusion is the most common treatment. It was observed that there is sufficient preoperative time to be able to improve preparation of the patient for surgery.
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Q:
How can I format RSS feed content description?
I would like format the my RSS feed content. Like embed some information with Description tag. I am creating Wordpress Rss feed and trying to create rss 2.0
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
<item>
<title>firstquestion</title>
<url>test-domain.com</url>
<description>This is some ifnormation on the description. The below are the answers for the new question</description></item>
</channel>
</rss>
Now, I want to format or further some table or information to be attached with special characters, even html tags formatting in the <description> ... How can I do that?
When I simply insert , it gives me an error?
A:
You can have HTML inside the description element, but you have to encode it using htmlspecialchars.
$description = '<strong>Strong formatting</strong> or <em>emphasis</em>.';
$item = '<item>
<title>firstquestion</title>
<url>test-domain.com</url>
<description>'.htmlspecialchars($description).'</description>
</item>';
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Jennings and Brown are both currently playing in the NFL. Jennings is a free agent running back after a season in which he obtained co-offensive MVP recognition with the Oakland
Raiders.
After spending his first five seasons in Jacksonville, Jennings made the transition across the country to California. In his sixth season, he displayed his potential as a quality running back in the NFL. He led the Raiders with 163 carries for 733 yards and six touchdowns, appearing in 15 games.
Brown, who spent the majority of his time at quarterback and little time at wide reciever at Liberty, has transitioned back to receiver and ascended to the top of the depth chart with the Jaguars.
Despite being NFL players, Brown and Jennings have not lost sight of how they achieved that goal, and coming back to Liberty is one of the ways they want to give back to the community.
Brown explained how the two based R&M Endeavors on serving the greater Lynchburg region. Jennings emphasized their campaign’s goal to guide and influence teenagers.
“High school students can’t go to college unless they have (good) grades, no matter what their skill set is like,” Jennings said. “So I want to set a stage and educate high school students about what it takes to make it in college, because there will be a lot of sad faces if they don’t face the facts of reality.”
Jennings and Brown share a common goal in their desire to help the community who helped them while they were at Liberty. Both said that they are accustomed to the Lynchburg area and want to provide for families who are less fortunate
They hosted a Kids’ Punt, Pass and Pancake Breakfast and a Skills and Drills minicamp at Williams Stadium for third to eighth grade students Saturday, Feb. 22.
“Even if (the kids) don’t learn anything through any drill we do, if we can say something to them that will impact them, that’s what we want to do, just plant a seed, a small seed,” Brown said.
Jennings and Brown appeared at Convocation Friday, Feb. 21 and later that evening at a player panel to explain to the only goal of their initiative — positively affecting people’s lives, even if just one person.
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Etiology and risk factors of 339 cases of infective endocarditis: report from a 10-year national prospective survey in the Slovak Republic.
The authors studied the etiology, outcome and risk factors of 339 cases of infective endocarditis (IE) in Slovakia over the last 10 years. Aortic valve was infected in 59.9%, mitral in 38.1% and tricuspidal/pulmonary in 5.0% of cases. The majority of IE were caused by staphylococci (29.2%), 15.0% were due to viridans streptococci, 7.4% due to Enterococcus faecalis, 3.9% due to the HACEK group (Haemophilus spp., Actinobacillus spp., Corynebacterium spp., Eikenella spp., Kingella spp.) and 39.2% were culture negative. The following risk factors were the most frequently identified: rheumatic fever in 24.2%, dental surgery in 13.3%, previous cardiosurgery in 7.1% and neoplasia in 7.1%. All patients were treated with antimicrobials and 42.5% of patients also with surgery (valvular prosthesis replacement): 61 (18.0%) died, and 278 (82.0%) survived at day 60 after the diagnosis of endocarditis was made. Univariate analysis did not show significant differences in most of the recorded risk factors between patients who died and those who survived: apart from staphylococcal etiology (44.3% vs. 26.6%, P < 0.01), persistent bacteremia (with three or more positive blood cultures 24.6% vs. 9.7% P < 0.002) which were significantly associated with higher attributable mortality, as was absence of surgery (55.7% vs. 6.1% P < 0.001), whereas antibiotic therapy in combination with surgery significantly predicted better outcome (P < 0.001). We compared risk factors, etiology, therapeutic strategies and outcome of IE in two periods: from 1991-1997 (180 cases) and from 1998-2001 (159 cases). Rheumatic fever was less commonly observed in second period (1998-2001) P < 0.01 since its prevalence in Slovakia is rapidly decreasing. Dental surgery was less frequent as well (20.5% vs. 5.0% P < 0.001). There was a significant shift in etiology within the second study period: negative-culture endocarditis (despite better bacteriological techniques) (P < 0.001) was more frequently observed in the 1st period and represented 53.3% of all cases in 1998-2001 in comparison to 26.7% in 1991-1997. Enterococci (P < 0.0002) were also more frequent in the 2nd period. Persistent bacteremia (3 or more positive blood cultures 20.5% vs. 3.1%, P < 0.001 was less commonly observed within the 2nd period (1998-2001) in comparison to 1991-1997. More patients in the second period (1998-2001) had complications of IE (P < 0.001) than in the 1st period. However mortality was lower (22.2% vs. 13.2%, P < 0.044) because of more surgical intervention in the 2nd period (52.8% vs. 33.3%, P < 0.001).
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Refining peripheral blood smear review rules for neonatal inpatients in a South African academic laboratory.
Peripheral blood smear review (PBSR) is a labour-intensive test, and skilled morphologists are in short supply. It is therefore helpful for laboratories to establish rules for PBSR to improve laboratory efficiency. Previously published guidelines in this regard are useful, but make few recommendations specific to neonates. Neonatal blood is characterized by several peculiarities which would be considered pathological if present in adults. Consequently, smear review rules (SRR) are often triggered in neonates without significant value being added on review. This study aimed to assess and fine-tune the SRR triggered in neonatal samples in order to improve laboratory efficiency. Full blood counts collected from 188 neonatal inpatients of the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in South Africa were retrospectively reviewed, the triggered rules documented, and the value added on PBSR determined. Smear review rules were triggered in 148 (78.7%) samples, with significant morphological abnormalities identified in 84 (54.4%), and a false-positive rate of 34.0%. In patients with unhelpful review, the commonest rules triggered were the flags querying the presence of abnormal lymphocytes, blasts or nucleated red blood cells. When one or more of these flags were triggered in the absence of any other SRR, PBSR was always noncontributory. Disregarding these flags in the current cohort would reduce both the review and the false-positive rates by >20% without increasing the false-negative rate. False-positive smear review is common in neonates, and minor modifications to SRR can substantially reduce the smear review rate without increasing the false-negative rate.
|
Q:
Div Span inside a Div Span....DivSpanception
Im trying to create a DIV & Span inside a DIV & Span.
I have created the show/hide code that will allow someone to click "Show All" or "Hide All" and all the Spans open and close properly. Or the user can click individually on the DIV and it open that section.
<script type="text/javascript">
function displayMap() {
document.getElementById('map_canvas').style.display="block";
initialize();
}
function showhide(id) {
if (document.getElementById) {
obj = document.getElementById(id);
if (obj.style.display == "") {
obj.style.display = "none";
} else {
obj.style.display = "";
}
}
}
function hide(id) {
if (document.getElementById) {
obj = document.getElementById(id);
if (obj.style.display == "none") {
obj.style.display = "none";
} else {
obj.style.display = "none";
}
}
}
function hideall(id1,id2,id3,id4,id5,id6,id7) {
var status1 = document.getElementById(id1).style.display;
var status2 = document.getElementById(id2).style.display;
var status3 = document.getElementById(id3).style.display;
var status4 = document.getElementById(id4).style.display;
var status5 = document.getElementById(id5).style.display;
var status6 = document.getElementById(id6).style.display;
var status7 = document.getElementById(id7).style.display;
if ((status1 == 'none') || (status2 == 'none') || (status3 = 'none') || (status4 = 'none') || (status5 == 'none') || (status6 == 'none') || (status7 == 'none')) {
hide(id1); hide(id2); hide(id3); hide(id4); hide(id5); hide(id6);hide(id7); return;
}
if ((status1 != 'none') || (status2 != 'none') || (status3 != 'none') || (status4 != 'none') || (status5 == 'none') || (status6 == 'none') || (status7 == 'none'))
{hide(id1); hide(id2); hide(id3); hide(id4); hide(id5); hide(id6);hide(id7); return;
}
}
function show(id) {
if (document.getElementById) {
obj = document.getElementById(id);
if (obj.style.display == "") {
obj.style.display = "";
} else {
obj.style.display = "";
}
}
}
function showall(id1,id2,id3, id4, id5, id6, id7) {
var status1 = document.getElementById(id1).style.display;
var status2 = document.getElementById(id2).style.display;
var status3 = document.getElementById(id3).style.display;
var status4 = document.getElementById(id4).style.display;
var status5 = document.getElementById(id5).style.display;
var status6 = document.getElementById(id6).style.display;
var status7 = document.getElementById(id7).style.display;
if ((status1 == 'none') || (status2 == 'none') || (status3 = 'none') || (status4 = 'none') || (status5 = 'none') || (status6 = 'none') || (status7 == 'none')) {
show(id1); show(id2); show(id3); show(id4); show(id5); show(id6);show(id7); return;
}
if ((status1 != 'none') || (status2 != 'none') || (status3 != 'none') || (status4 != 'none') || (status5 != 'none') || (status6 != 'none') || (status7 == 'none')) {show(id1); show(id2); show(id3); show(id4); show(id5); show(id6);show(id7); return;
}
}
</script>
What I currently have:
<center>
<div style="background-color:black; width:80%; cursor:pointer;hand" onClick="showhide('id5'); return(false);"><table width="100%"><tr><td width=80% align=left><font color="white" size="4"><strong> General Airport Information</strong></font></td><td align=right><font color="white" size="1">Click to Expand/Close</font></td></tr></table></div>
<span id="id5" style="display: none">
...HIDDEN TEXT...
</span>
</center>
<br>
What I want:
<center>
<div style="background-color:black; width:80%; cursor:pointer;hand" onClick="showhide('id6'); displayMap(); return(false);"><table width="100%"><tr><td width=80% align=left><font color="white" size="4"><strong> Airport Maps</strong></font></td><td align=right><font color="white" size="1">Click to Expand/Close</font></td></tr></table></div>
<span id="id6" style="display: none">
<center>
<div style="background-color:black; width:80%; cursor:pointer;hand" onClick="showhide('id7'); displayMap(); return(false);"><table width="100%"><tr><td width=80% align=left><font color="white" size="4"><strong> Airport Maps hiddent toolbar</strong></font></td><td align=right><font color="white" size="1">Click to Expand/Close</font></td></tr></table></div>
<span id="id7" style="display: none">
...HIDDEN TEXT...
</span>
</center>
</span>
</center>
<br>
Currently I have created the Inner DIV/SPAN, and I can click the toolbar and it opens, but when I click "SHOW ALL"/"HIDE ALL" It does not work properly.
How do I solve this?
A:
First of all, nesting <div> inside a <span> is not valid HTML. Span is an inline element while div is a block element. Block elements are allowed to contain inline elements, or other blocks, but not vice versa.
If I understand your question correctly, you want to toggle ALL spans or ALL divs.
One easy way to do this would be to get all spans or divs, then loop through each one of them and add display none or block depending on if they already have display:none.
// tagName would be span or div
function toggleAll (tagName) {
// Get all divs or spans
var elems = document.getElementsByTagName(tagName);
// Do this for each element
for (var i = 0; i < elems.length; i += 1) {
// If elem has display none, show it!
if (elems[i].style.display === 'none') {
elems[i].style.display = 'block';
} else { // .. else hide them
elems[i].style.display = 'none';
}
}
}
// Call the function
toggleAll('span');
|
Q:
How to set main class in build?
Upon sbt run I have multiple choices of main class.
I would like to set a main class so I've writen in build.sbt:
mainClass := Some("aMainClass")
But sbt fails with:
build.sbt:1: error: not found: value aMainClass
I've also tried with project/Project.scala file :
import sbt._
class ExecutableProject(info: ProjectInfo) extends DefaultProject(info) {
override def mainClass = Some("aMainClass")
}
error :
project/Project.scala:3: not found: type aMainClass
How to set the main class in a build?
A:
The main Class must be fully qualified with the package:
Compile/mainClass := Some("myPackage.aMainClass")
This will work for run and it will set the Main-Class in the Manifest when using the package task. The main class for these tasks can be set separately as in:
mainClass in (Compile, run) := Some("myPackage.aMainClass")
mainClass in (Compile, packageBin) := Some("myPackage.anotherMainClass")
Note:
mainClass := Some("myPackage.aMainClass")
does nothing. If you put this in your build file you will receive no warning that it does nothing.
A:
As far as I know, sbt expects here a fully qualified class/object name within your project. For example, if your main class is like this:
package prog
object Main extends App {
// Hic sunt dracones
}
then you would have to give your main class like this:
mainClass := Some("prog.Main")
You get a type error because that type is not simply found.
|
Had it not been for Cartwritght's expressions of remorse, his guilty pleas and emotionally vulnerable state at the time, the judge said his tariff would have been 20 years.
Even when Cartwright is released he will remain on "life licence" for the rest of his days, subject to prison recall if he puts a foot wrong.
The judge said Cartwright, the youngest of seven children, endured a troubled childhood.
Psychiatrists agreed he was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder at the time of the double murder.
One said he had an "emotionally unstable personality disorder".
He arrived in Llangollen on April 2002 on an outward bound course, but was asked to leave after a fight.
But he bought a tent and returned to the town eventually pitching up at Tower Farm.
'End automatic life for murder'
MURDERERS would no longer face automatic life sentences under proposals published yesterday - changing a law dating back to the death penalty's abolition 40 years ago.
The government's legal advisers suggested creating a new framework of "first degree" and "second degree" murder alongside a revised definition of manslaughter.
There should also be new categories of homicide for specific offences, such as assisting suicide and infanticide, the Law Commission said in provisional proposals.
Crucially, killers who intend to cause their victims "serious harm" but not to kill them will be treated as second degree murderers and will no longer face mandatory life sentences.
Ministers previously suggested the end of mandatory sentences would undermine public confidence in the criminal justice system.
But the proposals were harshly criticised by victims' groups because they opened the door to an end to mandatory life sentences.
Law Commission chairman Sir Roger Toulson agreed it could lead to fewer killers receiving life. But he insisted it was a "misconception" that Parliament was assured when capital punishment was abolished in 1965 that all murderers would get life.
|
558 F.2d 786
Elton Wayne HANCOCK, Petitioner-Appellant,v.W. J. ESTELLE, Jr., Director, Texas Department ofCorrections, Respondent-Appellee.
No. 76-3645
Summary Calendar.*
United States Court of Appeals,Fifth Circuit.
Sept. 2, 1977.
Leon S. Hirsch (Court-appointed), Houston, Tex., for petitioner-appellant.
Elton Wayne Hancock, pro se.
John L. Hill, Atty. Gen., Romaner J. Strong, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Houston, Tex., David M. Kendall, Jr., 1st Asst. Atty. Gen., Joe B. Dibrell, Asst. Atty. Gen., Austin, Tex., for respondent-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Before THORNBERRY, RONEY and HILL, Circuit Judges.
JAMES C. HILL, Circuit Judge:
1
The appellant was convicted of murder with malice aforethought, he received a sentence of 99 years, and the conviction was affirmed on appeal. Hancock v. State of Texas, 462 S.W.2d 36 (Tex.Cr.App.1971). The facts are set forth in detail in that opinion. His first federal habeas petition was denied for lack of exhaustion. A habeas petition was denied without a hearing by the state district court on March 28, 1972. Its decision was affirmed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals without written order on April 12, 1972, and on reapplication on May 24, 1972.
2
The appellant raised the issue of the voluntariness of his confession at his state trial at which time he was afforded a full Jackson v. Denno, 378 U.S. 368, 84 S.Ct. 1774, 12 L.Ed.2d 908 (1964) hearing. The court found the confession to be voluntary.
3
The appellant's aunt, Nettie Olds, was found stabbed to death in her home in Baytown, Texas, on November 1, 1967. Fingerprints were taken at the scene. During the course of the investigation, Baytown Police Department detectives sought to take "eliminator prints" from members of the deceased's family, including the daughter of the deceased and the appellant. The purpose of these prints was to eliminate members of the deceased's family as suspects in the investigation. Detective Merchant of the Baytown Police Department asked appellant to accompany him to the station. Appellant was not placed under arrest at this time, nor were the detectives concentrating on him as the focal point of the investigation. They arrived about 9:00 p. m. and talked till about 9:35 p. m. when the prints were taken. During the first interview, appellant indicated that he had visited his aunt on the evening of the murder, that he had left and later returned, but hearing no answer to his knock, had gone home. He also indicated that police would likely find his fingerprints on a knife at his aunt's house since he had used the knife to prepare a sandwich during his visit.
4
After the prints were taken, the detectives commenced a second interview of appellant to determine the conditions of his return to the aunt's house and to ascertain whether appellant heard or saw anything suspicious. In discussing the visit to the home of his aunt, petitioner made different statements about where he parked his car and the number of times he went to the house. He made the statement that he had visited the house only once. The detectives became suspicious of appellant because his rendition of the sequence of events during the second interview contradicted his previous statement. At this point, about 10:12 p. m., Detective Merchant advised petitioner not to make any more statements because he was a suspect. A magistrate was then summoned and the appellant said nothing further until the judge arrived at about 10:45 p. m. and proceeded to give petitioner full warnings in accordance with Texas law, Art. 15.17, Vernon's Ann.C.C.P., and the Miranda (Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966)) guidelines.
5
After the warnings were given by the magistrate, the appellant was again advised by Detective Merchant of his rights to remain silent and to counsel. He indicated he wished to waive his rights and to make a statement concerning his commission of the crime. The record contains a waiver form titled "Confession Warning 1967" signed by the appellant and dated November 4, 1967, at 10:45 p. m. It enumerates all the Miranda rights. The "Voluntary Statement" form that petitioner signed, wherein he made his confession, also contained warnings of the right to counsel and to remain silent. Additionally, petitioner's father was called during the giving of the statement, and conferred with his son for some five minutes.
6
The trial court concluded that the statement was "knowingly, intelligently, freely and voluntarily made." The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed that decision. The district court dismissed the habeas petition, after appointing counsel for petitioner, concluding that no constitutional violation occurred so as to violate petitioner's rights under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments.
7
The appellant contends that "custodial interrogation" had begun well before he was given his Miranda warnings thus the confession was tainted and involuntary. Miranda defines custodial interrogation as "questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person has been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way," 384 U.S. at 444, 86 S.Ct. at 1612. Furthermore, in applying the Miranda definition, this Court has decided the issue of "custodial interrogation" on a case-by-case basis. United States v. Carollo, 507 F.2d 50 (5th Cir. 1975).
8
In Carollo the court attributed special significance to four factors: (1) probable cause to arrest, (2) subjective intent of the police, (3) subjective belief of the defendant, and (4) focus of the investigation. Accord, Alberti v. Estelle, 5 Cir. 1975, 524 F.2d 1265, 1267 citing numerous cases. In the instant case, the police did not have probable cause to arrest the appellant when the questioning began, they had not focused their investigation on him, and they intended merely to take his fingerprints for elimination purposes in their investigation. Moreover, in Alberti, supra, we noted that focus without probable cause is insufficient to establish " custody." Thus, appellant was not in custody "or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way." Recently the Supreme Court in Oregon v. Mathiason, 429 U.S. 492, 97 S.Ct. 711, 50 L.Ed.2d 714 (1977), rejected an identical contention on facts which more closely approached custodial interrogation than those sub judice.
9
Here, the appellant volunteered information about frequent visits to his aunt's house, and the fact that he had been in the house on the night in question. Upon a contradiction in his story, the police ceased the interview and summoned a magistrate. The record totally lacks any evidence that appellant was coerced into confessing. He was advised of his rights, he understood them, and he voluntarily waived them. Far from offending appellant's rights, the detectives exercised a commendable degree of caution by stopping the interview and giving the Miranda warnings in a timely fashion.
10
AFFIRMED.
*
Rule 18, 5 Cir.; see Isbell Enterprises, Inc. v. Citizens Casualty Co. of New York, et al., 5 Cir., 1970, 431 F.2d 409
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In case you somehow didn't notice, it's Eagles-Giants week. As if you couldn't notice.
It's no secret that there's bad blood between these NFC East rivals. The two teams will meet up in Philadelphia for a very big game on Sunday Night Football. You won't have to wait until Sunday to see trash talk, however. That much has already begun. It appears the G-Men are the firsts ones to fire shot.
It started with Giants safety Antrel Rolle, who isn't shy to run his mouth, talking about how the Eagles aren't the team in the NFC East. You know, the same Eagles team that actually won the division crown in 2013 and currently sit in first place in the division? Yeah, that team.
Eagles outside linebacker Trent Cole was asked to respond to Rolle's comments. The veteran delivered a well-played response:
"We hear a lot of talk that they don’t think we’re the team to beat," Cole told The Post with a devilish grin after Tuesday’s practice. "Anton Rolle, is that correct?"
But it didn't stop there. New York Giants super-fan "License Plate Guy", who I think is trying to impersonate Fabio, tweeted out the following picture recently.
Hanging with The Prince of NY and @drc_two1 tonight. You already know what they think of the jersey! #GIANTS #0 #4 pic.twitter.com/zQZZewpg9b — LPG - Joe (@LicensePlateGuy) October 7, 2014
In case you didn't notice, that's former Eagles cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie on the left. DRC, as he's known, signed with the Giants in the offseason. And now he's apparently reminding everyone of how many Super Bowl rings that he has: 0.
So far New York is doing all of the talking. They riding a three-game winning streak and feeling pretty good about themselves despite a 0-2 start to the season. For their sake, the Giants will hope they can back up their trash talk with a win this week.
Is it Sunday yet?
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Q:
文字コードSJISのファイルデータを文字コードUTF-8のデータベース(Oracle)に文字化けしないでプログラムで格納できますか？
文字コードがSJISのファイルデータを読み込んで、文字コードがUTF-8のOracleデータベースのテーブルにデータを登録したいです。プログラムをC#で作成する際、文字コードの差異による問題がありましたらご教示頂きたく、よろしくお願い致します。
C#ではファイルをSJISで読み込んで、そのままDBへの登録処理をするだけで、プログラムやデータベースが文字コードの差異を吸収してくれるとありがたいのですが。
実行環境
Windows 10 / Windows Server 2016
.NET Framework 4.6.2
Oracle 12.2
A:
C#のstringはUnicodeと定められています。つまり、外部とやり取りする際には常にエンコーディングの変換が行われます。Shift-JISのファイルを読むのであれば読み込みの際にエンコーディングを指定しますし、Oracleと接続する際にはOracle側とエンコーディングの整合が取られます。
後は、各々を正しく設定するだけの問題となります。
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El actor publicó la foto en sus redes y explicó el porqué: debido a una tormenta, se había quedado sin luz y la puerta era eléctrica. Decidido a no llegar tarde al trabajo, tomó el asunto en sus manos.
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Comment on mobility-shift computations featuring cage effects.
Theoretical mobility-shift patterns are computed by solution of conservation equations for electrophoresis coupled with chemical reaction. The chemical reaction term is often formulated in terms of dissociation of the protein-DNA complex in a gel cage. This formulation assumes that once the dissociated protein escapes the cage, it goes down a sink and is totally lost. This implies that the concentration of the escaped protein is too low to affect significantly the rates of protein-DNA association along its migration pathway.
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Colts position breakdown: It all starts with Vontae Davis
Buried beneath the headlines Ryan Grigson’s 2012 draft haul generated that fall — welcome to town, Andrew Luck, T.Y. Hilton and friends — was the best trade the Indianapolis Colts have made in a decade. Maybe longer.
It came months after the draft, amidst the doldrums of training camp, when Grigson acquired a lockdown cornerback who’d worn out his welcome with the Miami Dolphins. Three years later, consider what little the Colts had to give up to lure Vontae Davis to town: A second-round draft pick. That looks like chump change weighed against the value Davis has brought to their defense.
In the three seasons that have followed, Davis hasn’t just become one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL. He’s become of its best players, period.
“The trade made me look at the NFL as an opportunity I had,” Davis confessed last season. “And I didn’t want to let that opportunity slip through my fingers. I had all the talent in the world to be the best player I could be, and I wanted to take ownership and make the most of my experience in the NFL. You only get one of them.”
If Davis’ career has undergone a renaissance in Indianapolis, last season was his Mona Lisa. Over the course of 1,038 snaps, Davis held opposing quarterbacks targeting his receiver to a passer rating of just 38.8. That’s better than Richard Sherman, better than Darrelle Revis. Davis didn’t allow a touchdown in coverage all season — and hasn’t going all the way back to Week 15 of the 2013 season.
That’s no touchdowns allowed in more than 1,320 snaps. That’s why the phrase “lockdown corner” was invented.
So superb was Davis’ coverage of Tennessee’s receivers in a Week 4 meeting that two Titans quarterbacks — Charlie Whitehurst and Zach Mettenberger — elected not to throw his way a single time. Not once. All afternoon. In 43 snaps.
“They went straight Richard Sherman on him,” Colts coach Chuck Pagano said with a smile later that week.
In December, Davis earned his first Pro Bowl nod, deservedly, and became the first Colts cornerback to earn the distinction since 1968. It marked the culmination of his climb. From forgotten man in Miami — just three years prior, Davis was the third cornerback on the Dolphins’ depth chart — to one of the best of the league.
That trade is what saved his career.
He was at his best for the Colts in January, putting on a clinic in Indy’s divisional playoff upset over the Denver Broncos. Davis, a relentlessly physical corner who detests giving his receiver much in the way of breathing room, defended five passes that day, tied for the third-most in a playoff game dating back to 1994. What Davis proved that afternoon, facing off against future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning and a slew of talented Denver receivers: When he’s at his best, he’s every bit as good as the Shermans and Revises of the world.
“His preparation is better than it’s ever been,” Pagano said midseason. “Practice habits, in the meeting room, walkthroughs, just the detail of his game. You see the results on Sunday because of what he’s doing throughout the course of the week and I think that’s where he’s taken his game.”
Lining up opposite Davis this fall will be Greg Toler, entering the last of the three-year deal he signed with the Colts in 2013. Toler often gets overshadowed by his more talented teammate, and is subsequently picked on by quarterbacks aiming to avoid Davis’ side of the field. It’s cost the Colts on more than one occasion: Elite offenses had their way with Toler far too often last season. He allowed 118 receiving yards and two touchdowns in that massacre in Pittsburgh in October, then yielded 81 yards and three touchdowns against the Cowboys in December.
If that doesn’t change, offenses will continue ignoring Davis and looking Toler’s way.
There’s good news on the safety front: Pro Bowler Mike Adams is back. And LaRon Landry is not. Adams tied for the NFL lead with seven takeaways in 2014, the most of his 11 seasons in the league. He also had 93 tackles, another career-high. He was one of the Colts’ most pleasant surprises.
Landry never bought into the team concept in Indianapolis, instead alienating himself in the locker room and earning a four-game suspension for violating the league’s PED policy. A solid tackler but a liability in coverage, his release was one of the easiest decisions Grigson made this past offseason.
New Colt Dwight Lowery, a former Atlanta Falcon, figures to slide into Landry’s vacant spot at free safety. He said this spring he is confident the concussion problem that has trailed him in recent seasons (he missed most of the 2013 campaign in Jacksonville with head trauma, then suffered another with the Falcons during training camp last August) is behind him. But it’s the NFL. There are no guarantees. Darius Butler, the Colts’ go-to cornerback in nickel situations, will need to be ready.
That’s one of the reasons the Colts added depth to their secondary in the draft, swiping corner D’Joun Smith out of Florida Atlantic with the first pick in the third round and Clayton Geathers, a safety out of Central Florida, in the fourth.
The Colts are high on both. Smith says he was thrown at just 11 times during his entire senior season.
“I can fit any scheme,” he boasted in May.
Watching Davis work everyday will be a good start.
Who’s back: CB Vontae Davis (1,038 snaps, 13 passes defended, 0 TDs allowed); CB Greg Toler (1,188 snaps, 10 passes defended, 9 TDs allowed); CB Darius Butler (758 snaps, 7 passes defended, 3 TDs allowed); S Mike Adams (1,246 snaps, 47 tackles, 5 INTs); S Colt Anderson (38 snaps, 2 tackles, 0 INT); S Dewey McDonald (8 snaps, 0 tackles, 0 INTs); CB Jalil Brown (6 snaps, 1 pass defended, 0 TDs allowed); Sheldon Price (spent most of 2014 season on Colts’ practice squad); S Winston Guy (spent most of 2014 season on the Colts’ practice squad).
Who’s new: S Dwight Lowery (1,050 snaps, 79 tackles, 1 INT); CB D’Joun Smith (rookie out Florida Atlantic); S Clayton Geathers (rookie out of Central Florida); CB Deveron Carr (last played for Tampa Bay in 2013); CB Chance Casey (61 snaps, 0 passes defended, 0 TDs allowed for Oakland last season); CB Donald Celiscar (rookie out of Western Michigan); S Robert Smith (rookie out of Clemson).
Who’s gone: S LaRon Landry (616 snaps, 48 tackles, 0 INTs); S Sergio Brown (26 tackles, 0 INTs); CB Loucheiz Purifoy (48 snaps, 1 pass defended, 1 TD allowed); CB Josh Gordy (292 snaps, 3 passes defended, 4 TDs allowed).
Projected starters: Davis at right cornerback, Toler at left cornerback, Adams at strong safety, Lowery at free safety.
Most to prove: Toler. He must perform better in big games, otherwise elite offenses will continue to target him.
X-factor: Geathers. Pagano raved about his versatility after seeing him in action this spring. He remains a player to keep an eye on during training camp.
Stat to chew on: 43.7. That’s the completion percentage for quarterbacks targeting Vontae Davis’ receiver in 2014, the lowest in the league for cornerbacks who saw more than 50 snaps.
Quotable:
"Under the right coach who is going to make my technique even better, I'll probably be the best cornerback to play the game. I'm not even trying to talk arrogant. My passion to be the greatest, my passion to win is (greater) than anybody because I hate losing more than people like to win. I like to compete." – third round pick D’Joun Smith
“He's been really impressive as far as picking things up… He's going to be one of those guys that in today's football you can play inside as a dime backer and get faster, get more speed on the field and match up with the tight ends that we've got to cover now." – Chuck Pagano on Clayton Geathers
Call Star reporter Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134 and follow him on Twitter: @zkeefer.
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Q:
Tomcat and JMeter generating HTTP 404 errors
I'm a complete novice with JMeter. I'm trying to use JMeter to connect to a web application deployed in Tomcat to simulate a small number of users logging in and browsing a page.
When I ran the test plan, JMeter log showed a series of HTTP 404 messages indicating that there was a communications problem somewhere.
The following link shows the test plan's HTTP defaults:
alt text http://www.dcs.bbk.ac.uk/~martin/uploads/HTTP_Defaults.PNG
With two simple HTTP requests to follow.
The first request should enable the users to log in:
alt text http://www.dcs.bbk.ac.uk/~martin/uploads/Login.PNG
And the second request should allow the newly logged in users to browse a page:
alt text http://www.dcs.bbk.ac.uk/~martin/uploads/Browse.PNG
But, as I said, all I received in the JMeter logs were HTTP 404 messages:
2009/09/23 15:10:43 INFO - jmeter.protocol.http.sampler.HTTPSampler: Error Response Code: 404
Tomcat is running during the test and in the test plan, I also have a HTTP Cookie Manager set to 'default'.
When my application runs under Tomcat in test, its URL is http://localhost:8080/myDataSharer and I'm trying to have JMeter reflect this.
Any help would be welcome as I can't work out why JMeter and Tomcat aren't talking to each other.
Thanks
Martin
A:
The path in HTTP Request Defaults is not added at the beginning of the path in HTTP Request. Add the context root myDataSharer to the path in HTTP Request.
If you don't want to repeat it everywere, there is a Configuration Element where you can define proeprties and later reference it like this ${my.propertie}.
Also you should add an element that shows request and response data, I think it's called Result Tree or something like that.
Edit 1: Another thing that looks extrange is the path of the Login request. Is that URL correct? Shouldn't it be j_acegi_security_check? Is that the url that appears in the action of the login form?
Edit 2: In Tomcat there is an example application used to test security:
http://example.com:8080/examples/jsp/security/protected/login.jsp
The users are in conf/tomcat-users.xml. Add one with the role: role1 like this:
<role rolename="role1"/>
<user username="test" password="test" roles="role1"/>
Start the server and you should be able to login. Then try this JMeter test plan:
<jmeterTestPlan version="1.2" properties="1.8">
<hashTree>
<TestPlan guiclass="TestPlanGui" testclass="TestPlan" testname="Plan de Pruebas" enabled="true">
<boolProp name="TestPlan.functional_mode">false</boolProp>
<stringProp name="TestPlan.comments"></stringProp>
<stringProp name="TestPlan.user_define_classpath"></stringProp>
<boolProp name="TestPlan.serialize_threadgroups">false</boolProp>
<elementProp name="TestPlan.user_defined_variables" elementType="Arguments" guiclass="ArgumentsPanel" testclass="Arguments" testname="User Defined Variables" enabled="true">
<collectionProp name="Arguments.arguments"/>
</elementProp>
</TestPlan>
<hashTree>
<ThreadGroup guiclass="ThreadGroupGui" testclass="ThreadGroup" testname="Grupo de Hilos" enabled="true">
<boolProp name="ThreadGroup.scheduler">false</boolProp>
<stringProp name="ThreadGroup.num_threads">1</stringProp>
<stringProp name="ThreadGroup.duration"></stringProp>
<stringProp name="ThreadGroup.delay"></stringProp>
<longProp name="ThreadGroup.start_time">1157555458000</longProp>
<stringProp name="ThreadGroup.on_sample_error">stoptest</stringProp>
<stringProp name="ThreadGroup.ramp_time">0</stringProp>
<elementProp name="ThreadGroup.main_controller" elementType="LoopController" guiclass="LoopControlPanel" testclass="LoopController" testname="Loop Controller" enabled="true">
<stringProp name="LoopController.loops">1</stringProp>
<boolProp name="LoopController.continue_forever">false</boolProp>
</elementProp>
<longProp name="ThreadGroup.end_time">1157555458000</longProp>
</ThreadGroup>
<hashTree>
<CookieManager guiclass="CookiePanel" testclass="CookieManager" testname="Gestor de Cookies HTTP" enabled="true">
<boolProp name="CookieManager.clearEachIteration">false</boolProp>
<collectionProp name="CookieManager.cookies"/>
</CookieManager>
<hashTree/>
<HTTPSampler guiclass="HttpTestSampleGui" testclass="HTTPSampler" testname="Petición HTTP" enabled="true">
<stringProp name="HTTPSampler.domain">localhost</stringProp>
<stringProp name="HTTPSampler.FILE_NAME"></stringProp>
<stringProp name="HTTPSampler.path">/examples/jsp/security/protected/login.jsp</stringProp>
<stringProp name="HTTPSampler.method">GET</stringProp>
<elementProp name="HTTPsampler.Arguments" elementType="Arguments" guiclass="HTTPArgumentsPanel" testclass="Arguments" testname="User Defined Variables" enabled="true">
<collectionProp name="Arguments.arguments"/>
</elementProp>
<stringProp name="HTTPSampler.FILE_FIELD"></stringProp>
<stringProp name="HTTPSampler.mimetype"></stringProp>
<boolProp name="HTTPSampler.auto_redirects">false</boolProp>
<boolProp name="HTTPSampler.follow_redirects">true</boolProp>
<stringProp name="HTTPSampler.port">8080</stringProp>
<boolProp name="HTTPSampler.use_keepalive">true</boolProp>
<stringProp name="HTTPSampler.monitor">false</stringProp>
<stringProp name="HTTPSampler.protocol"></stringProp>
</HTTPSampler>
<hashTree/>
<HTTPSampler guiclass="HttpTestSampleGui" testclass="HTTPSampler" testname="Petición HTTP" enabled="true">
<stringProp name="HTTPSampler.domain">localhost</stringProp>
<stringProp name="HTTPSampler.FILE_NAME"></stringProp>
<stringProp name="HTTPSampler.path">/examples/jsp/security/protected/j_security_check</stringProp>
<stringProp name="HTTPSampler.method">POST</stringProp>
<elementProp name="HTTPsampler.Arguments" elementType="Arguments" guiclass="HTTPArgumentsPanel" testclass="Arguments" testname="User Defined Variables" enabled="true">
<collectionProp name="Arguments.arguments">
<elementProp name="" elementType="HTTPArgument">
<boolProp name="HTTPArgument.use_equals">true</boolProp>
<boolProp name="HTTPArgument.always_encode">false</boolProp>
<stringProp name="Argument.name">j_username</stringProp>
<stringProp name="Argument.value">test</stringProp>
<stringProp name="Argument.metadata">=</stringProp>
</elementProp>
<elementProp name="" elementType="HTTPArgument">
<boolProp name="HTTPArgument.use_equals">true</boolProp>
<boolProp name="HTTPArgument.always_encode">false</boolProp>
<stringProp name="Argument.name">j_password</stringProp>
<stringProp name="Argument.value">test</stringProp>
<stringProp name="Argument.metadata">=</stringProp>
</elementProp>
</collectionProp>
</elementProp>
<stringProp name="HTTPSampler.FILE_FIELD"></stringProp>
<stringProp name="HTTPSampler.mimetype"></stringProp>
<boolProp name="HTTPSampler.auto_redirects">true</boolProp>
<boolProp name="HTTPSampler.follow_redirects">true</boolProp>
<stringProp name="HTTPSampler.port">8080</stringProp>
<boolProp name="HTTPSampler.use_keepalive">true</boolProp>
<stringProp name="HTTPSampler.monitor">false</stringProp>
<stringProp name="HTTPSampler.protocol">http</stringProp>
</HTTPSampler>
<hashTree/>
<ResultCollector guiclass="ViewResultsFullVisualizer" testclass="ResultCollector" testname="Ver Árbol de Resultados" enabled="true">
<objProp>
<value class="SampleSaveConfiguration">
<time>true</time>
<latency>true</latency>
<timestamp>true</timestamp>
<success>true</success>
<label>true</label>
<code>true</code>
<message>true</message>
<threadName>true</threadName>
<dataType>true</dataType>
<encoding>false</encoding>
<assertions>true</assertions>
<subresults>true</subresults>
<responseData>false</responseData>
<samplerData>false</samplerData>
<xml>false</xml>
<fieldNames>false</fieldNames>
<responseHeaders>false</responseHeaders>
<requestHeaders>false</requestHeaders>
<responseDataOnError>false</responseDataOnError>
<saveAssertionResultsFailureMessage>false</saveAssertionResultsFailureMessage>
<assertionsResultsToSave>0</assertionsResultsToSave>
</value>
<name>saveConfig</name>
</objProp>
<stringProp name="filename"></stringProp>
<boolProp name="ResultCollector.error_logging">false</boolProp>
</ResultCollector>
<hashTree/>
</hashTree>
</hashTree>
</hashTree>
</jmeterTestPlan>
Look that I added an extra request before loging in to get the cookie. If you don't do that login will fail with a 408 code.
If you get this to work then your application can be tested in the same way.
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Q:
How to aggregate 2 columns into map in pyspark
I have a DataFrame like this
a = spark.createDataFrame([['Alice', '2020-03-03', '1'], ['Bob', '2020-03-03', '1'], ['Bob', '2020-03-05', '2']], ['name', 'dt', 'hits'])
a.show()
+-----+----------+----+
| name| dt|hits|
+-----+----------+----+
|Alice|2020-03-03| 1|
| Bob|2020-03-03| 1|
| Bob|2020-03-05| 2|
+-----+----------+----+
I want to aggregate dt and hits Columns into map -
+-----+------------------------------------+
| name| map |
+-----+------------------------------------+
|Alice| {'2020-03-03': 1, '2020-03-05':2}|
| Bob| {'2020-03-03': 1} |
+-----+------------------------------------+
But this code throw an exception:
from pyspark.sql import functions as F
a = a.groupBy(F.col('name')).agg(F.create_map(F.col('dt'), F.col('hits')))
Py4JJavaError: An error occurred while calling o2920.agg.
: org.apache.spark.sql.AnalysisException: expression '`dt`' is neither present in the group by, nor is it an aggregate function. Add to group by or wrap in first() (or first_value) if you don't care which value you get.;;
Aggregate [name#1329], [name#1329, map(dt#1330, hits#1331) AS map(dt, hits)#1361]
+- LogicalRDD [name#1329, dt#1330, hits#1331], false
What am i doing wrong?
A:
For spark2.4+, you can use map_from_arrays like this:
from pyspark.sql import functions as F
a.groupBy("name").agg(F.map_from_arrays(F.collect_list("dt"),\
F.collect_list("hits")).alias("map")).show(truncate=False)
#+-----+----------------------------------+
#|name |map |
#+-----+----------------------------------+
#|Bob |[2020-03-03 -> 1, 2020-03-05 -> 2]|
#|Alice|[2020-03-03 -> 1] |
#+-----+----------------------------------+
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Legal Help Desk
Nearly one in six transgender Americans has been to prison—and
nearly half of all black transgender people.
Once behind bars,
discriminatory policies and the constant threat of sexual assault can
make prison a living hell for this already mistreated group.
For lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) seniors, finding, keeping, and advancing in good jobs can be a challenge. LGBT seniors may confront both age-related bias and anti-LGBT bias in the workplace, which can leave them even more vulnerable than those of their counterparts who share, and therefore face discrimination based on, only one of those characteristics. Legal protections against workplace discrimination based on age, sexual orientation, and gender identity have expanded dramatically in many places across the United States, and LGBT seniors can access these legal tools to protect their rights in the workplace.
Over the last decade, hospitals throughout the United States have recognized that some groups of people face significant barriers to health care because of historic bias and discrimination against them. Many efforts have been launched to identify these groups, learn more about the challenges they face in health care, and welcome them into the nation’s hospitals. To reach out to these long overlooked groups, hospitals have examined their policies and practices to ensure that discrimination is clearly prohibited, recommendations for equitable and inclusive care are being followed, and staff are trained to provide knowledgeable, sensitive care.
On October 21, 2013, Lambda Legal’s case to bring marriage equality to New Jersey concluded in a final, resounding
victory: After the New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously refused to postpone our trial court win in Garden State Equality
v. Dow that ordered marriage without discrimination based on sexual orientation, the government abandoned its appeal!
Marriages began across the state at 12:01 a.m., and with so many thousands of couples newly able to wed, Lambda
Legal has created and updated our answers to frequently asked questions about the effect of our win and what it means
for people in New Jersey.
The federal 1987 Nursing Home Reform Law requires nursing homes to “protect and promote the rights of each resident” emphasizing individual dignity and self-determination in the provision of long-term care. Every nursing home accepting Medicare and/or Medicaid must meet federal requirements, including those regarding residents’ rights.
There's no doubt we are still feeling the positive reverberations of June 26th. Since the Supreme Court’s momentous ruling striking down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), same-sex couples across the country are exploring and taking advantage of exciting new options, benefits and responsibilities.
Lambda Legal is working to repeal or reform HIV criminalization laws throughout the United States. An HIV criminalization law is one that specifically targets and punishes people living with HIV for engaging in conduct that would otherwise be legal if not for the person’s HIV status. Most of these laws do not require transmission of HIV and are based on the mere failure to announce one’s medical condition to a potential partner prior to engaging in sexual contact. Below we describe 15 ways these laws harm public health, result in unjust prosecutions, and serve primarily to stigmatize and oppress people living with HIV.
What kind of long-range vision do you have for your future and that of your loved ones? Have you taken the necessary
legal and financial planning measures to protect that vision? Answer the following life planning questions
to find out how prepared you really are—or what life planning issues you need to start thinking about now.
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Monday, December 04, 2006
Pre-pondering 2008...
Alright y’all, a bitch is tired as hell of all the “is she going to run?” and “will he put his hat in?” crazy talk going on right now. That shit encourages the type of political spin infused frenzy that got us stuck with the head asshole in charge we are currently stuck with!People need to pause, for the love of all that’s holy, and breathe a bit.
Come on now...let’s everybody calm the fuck down before someone pisses all over themselves.
This bitch is going to take as much time considering candidates as my ass spends considering any major long term commitment. If the current administration has taught me anything, it’s that 8 years can be long as hell!
My concern is that pundits and the masses are going to be looking at dumb ass shit or looking at important shit from a dumb ass perspective when assessing candidates..and we really can’t afford that.
For example…LikeabilityA good leader of a diverse population is going to have to piss everyone off a bit and have to be cool with it. This bitch wants to understand the president…wants to see that, even though I disagree, her or his notions aren’t insane or based in fear-mongering bigotry.
A bitch looks for a touch of asshole in leaders. Not Rumsfeldian assholia, mind you...that much asshole is dangerous as hell…but just enough asshole to say words like “no” and “are you out of your damned mind?” when necessary.
See, this bitch has long speculated that many of my fellow Americans voted for Scooter B. in 2000 because he seemed the type of person they’d like to share a beer with.
Now that most of those voters have realized that Scooter B. is that guy at the pub…you know, the one who seems kind of cool until you find out he lifted your wallet, spent all your money, tapes your phone calls, wrecked your car into your neighbor’s house and then kicked your dog…yeah, thaaaaat guy...now that most voters have realized that shit, they need to apply what they have learned.
My ass was watching PBS and they had a documentary on about Senator Robert Kennedy and I was struck by his presence, his ability to change and acknowledge that change happened…and his wicked smart grasp of all manner of shit.
It struck me that presidents used to represent a level of intelligence (hell, even the appearance of intelligence) that walked out the door with Reagan…flickered back for a bit with Clinton…and then was washed away with industrial strength bleach when Scooter B’s dumb ass came on board.
Oh, some knavish troll is sure to comment that Scooter B. went to Yale…cough…and Harvard Business School (ask C-Money for her thoughts of HBS grads if you want a good laugh) but anyone who has danced on the Ivy or Baby Ivy dance floor knows that legacy goes a long way, baby.
Don’t let that shit impress you. As my father used to say, money walks and bullshit talks.
Anyhoo, now that we have a chance to go at this shit again let’s look for someone who has demonstrated some intellectual capacity! Someone who knows where countries are on a map, who can tell you how the United Nations came to be, who quotes from the Constitution every now and then and who can give us some visionary speeches once a year.
Lawd knows this bitch has had enough of watching our front guy on the world stage as he makes an ass of himself whilst trying to sound decisive only to end up coming across like the dumb ass out of touch ignorant as hell blue blooded son of privilege that he is.
Sigh.People just don’t care about knowing shit anymore, but that’s another post.
Anyhoo, where was I?
We’ve got a long way to go before November 2008 and this bitch plans to sit back and watch as people talk themselves out of the job. There’s plenty of time left before my ass has to pick my horse…
12 comments:
I also saw that RFK documentary on PBS last week, and had the exact same thought. When was the last time you heard a politician effectively quoting his or her favorite poet? It would be nice to have some eloquence and intelligence back in the White House.
intelligence would be nice wouldn't it. i remember watching clinton on the daily show awhile back and thinking, "wow, he's really smart." and then i remembered, while he is smart, w put a whole new perspective on being able to put a complete sentence together.
I am in 100% agreement with you! I'd like our president to be really, really SMART, and an amazing diplomat. Why elect someone you'd want to party with? I want someone very smart and polished, who can represent our country with diplomacy...with an amazing command of words, not just the ability to giggle and push a button (BOOM!)
When we pick our horse we must first demand that that horse is ready to run with the needs of the people at heart. All across America tonight people will be meeting in living rooms in an organized effort to ensure the newly elected majority will do the work the voters sent them to do. If we do our work early, old school political activisim to make our voices heard, we can effect change. Speak up and speak out! That is Democracy in action!
Interesting. I'm teaching a course right now that's on a somewhat related topic. One of the things we cover is how people choose candidates and parties.
I'd note that you weight heavily on personal characteristics(assertiveness, trustworthiness, and smarts). Leaving aside the notion that one might choose other personal characteristics (such as your example of the affable "guy I'd have a beer with"), it's worth noting what you don't mention: neither issues, nor ascriptive attributes (such as gender or race).
This I find interesting, inasmuch as I suspect that while a lot of people _say_ they vote on the basis of issues they in fact don't (mainly because they either don't have enough information to make an "informed" choice on candidate stands on issues, or because they rely on poor information -- such as stereotypes and media-generated reputations for things like "maverick-ness").
Similarly, while a lot of people _say_ they don't vote on the basis of ascriptive characteristics, there's plenty of evidence that they in fact _do_ (usually using them as the basis for the stereotype-based "issue" inferences alluded to above -- witness Viguerie's recent foamy-mouthed and barely-concealed racist and sexist imprecations regarding a "Pelosi/Conyers/Rangel-led Congress").
Weighting heavily on personal characteristics -- or, if I may be so bold, looking for "character" in a candidate -- suggests to me that a lot of the ways in which academics (or the mainstream media) typically think about the Presidency, and about American democracy, simply don't match onto empirical reality. Academics think of the President in terms of being a party leader -- i.e., someone elected on the basis of their promises regarding issues. The media thinks of the President in terms of being a celebrity -- i.e., someone whom we like and adore, and whom we elect because we find their narrative (Camelot, "Sunshine in America," "chopping brush on the ranch" etc.) compelling.
You, however, seem to me to suggest that we ought to think of the President more in terms of their simple ability to get shit done. And if they aren't smart enough, or don't have enough backbone, or aren't reliable enough to manage the biggest damned bureaucracy this side of the UN without putting their filthy paws into the collective till, then we shouldn't even give their resume a second glance.
Would that more voters thought your way -- perhaps we might then have a prayer of _not_ electing an incompetent boob and all of his frat-boy bully boyfriends.
Well, darling, this bitch can tell you that we will have approximately 9 presidential candidates, including Clinton, Obama, Kerry, Edwards, Bayh, Vilsack, Richardson... And two more I can't think of off the top of my head but I know are out there, biding their precious time. Oh! Joe Biden! Eight... one more.
Also, darling, I was wondering if you had seen this shit! Who in the hell works two and a half days a week in this f*ing country, expects and gives themselves a pay raise other than Congress? If I didn't think these people smoked crack before, I know they smoke crack now. Talk about application of new knowledge...
|
/* Copyright 2017 The Apollo Authors. All Rights Reserved.
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
=========================================================================*/
#pragma once
#include <memory>
#include <string>
#include <utility>
#include <vector>
#include "modules/common/math/aabox2d.h"
#include "modules/common/math/aaboxkdtree2d.h"
#include "modules/common/math/math_utils.h"
#include "modules/common/math/polygon2d.h"
#include "modules/common/math/vec2d.h"
#include "modules/map/proto/map_clear_area.pb.h"
#include "modules/map/proto/map_crosswalk.pb.h"
#include "modules/map/proto/map_id.pb.h"
#include "modules/map/proto/map_junction.pb.h"
#include "modules/map/proto/map_lane.pb.h"
#include "modules/map/proto/map_overlap.pb.h"
#include "modules/map/proto/map_parking_space.pb.h"
#include "modules/map/proto/map_pnc_junction.pb.h"
#include "modules/map/proto/map_road.pb.h"
#include "modules/map/proto/map_signal.pb.h"
#include "modules/map/proto/map_speed_bump.pb.h"
#include "modules/map/proto/map_stop_sign.pb.h"
#include "modules/map/proto/map_yield_sign.pb.h"
#include "modules/map/proto/map_rsu.pb.h"
/**
* @namespace apollo::hdmap
* @brief apollo::hdmap
*/
namespace apollo {
namespace hdmap {
template <class Object, class GeoObject>
class ObjectWithAABox {
public:
ObjectWithAABox(const apollo::common::math::AABox2d &aabox,
const Object *object, const GeoObject *geo_object,
const int id)
: aabox_(aabox), object_(object), geo_object_(geo_object), id_(id) {}
~ObjectWithAABox() {}
const apollo::common::math::AABox2d &aabox() const { return aabox_; }
double DistanceTo(const apollo::common::math::Vec2d &point) const {
return geo_object_->DistanceTo(point);
}
double DistanceSquareTo(const apollo::common::math::Vec2d &point) const {
return geo_object_->DistanceSquareTo(point);
}
const Object *object() const { return object_; }
const GeoObject *geo_object() const { return geo_object_; }
int id() const { return id_; }
private:
apollo::common::math::AABox2d aabox_;
const Object *object_;
const GeoObject *geo_object_;
int id_;
};
class LaneInfo;
class JunctionInfo;
class CrosswalkInfo;
class SignalInfo;
class StopSignInfo;
class YieldSignInfo;
class OverlapInfo;
class ClearAreaInfo;
class SpeedBumpInfo;
class RoadInfo;
class ParkingSpaceInfo;
class PNCJunctionInfo;
class RSUInfo;
class HDMapImpl;
struct LineBoundary {
std::vector<apollo::common::PointENU> line_points;
};
struct PolygonBoundary {
std::vector<apollo::common::PointENU> polygon_points;
};
enum class PolygonType {
JUNCTION_POLYGON = 0,
PARKINGSPACE_POLYGON = 1,
ROAD_HOLE_POLYGON = 2,
};
struct RoiAttribute {
PolygonType type;
Id id;
};
struct PolygonRoi {
apollo::common::math::Polygon2d polygon;
RoiAttribute attribute;
};
struct RoadRoi {
Id id;
LineBoundary left_boundary;
LineBoundary right_boundary;
std::vector<PolygonBoundary> holes_boundary;
};
using LaneSegmentBox =
ObjectWithAABox<LaneInfo, apollo::common::math::LineSegment2d>;
using LaneSegmentKDTree = apollo::common::math::AABoxKDTree2d<LaneSegmentBox>;
using OverlapInfoConstPtr = std::shared_ptr<const OverlapInfo>;
using LaneInfoConstPtr = std::shared_ptr<const LaneInfo>;
using JunctionInfoConstPtr = std::shared_ptr<const JunctionInfo>;
using SignalInfoConstPtr = std::shared_ptr<const SignalInfo>;
using CrosswalkInfoConstPtr = std::shared_ptr<const CrosswalkInfo>;
using StopSignInfoConstPtr = std::shared_ptr<const StopSignInfo>;
using YieldSignInfoConstPtr = std::shared_ptr<const YieldSignInfo>;
using ClearAreaInfoConstPtr = std::shared_ptr<const ClearAreaInfo>;
using SpeedBumpInfoConstPtr = std::shared_ptr<const SpeedBumpInfo>;
using RoadInfoConstPtr = std::shared_ptr<const RoadInfo>;
using ParkingSpaceInfoConstPtr = std::shared_ptr<const ParkingSpaceInfo>;
using RoadROIBoundaryPtr = std::shared_ptr<RoadROIBoundary>;
using PolygonRoiPtr = std::shared_ptr<PolygonRoi>;
using RoadRoiPtr = std::shared_ptr<RoadRoi>;
using PNCJunctionInfoConstPtr = std::shared_ptr<const PNCJunctionInfo>;
using RSUInfoConstPtr = std::shared_ptr<const RSUInfo>;
class LaneInfo {
public:
explicit LaneInfo(const Lane &lane);
const Id &id() const { return lane_.id(); }
const Id &road_id() const { return road_id_; }
const Id §ion_id() const { return section_id_; }
const Lane &lane() const { return lane_; }
const std::vector<apollo::common::math::Vec2d> &points() const {
return points_;
}
const std::vector<apollo::common::math::Vec2d> &unit_directions() const {
return unit_directions_;
}
double Heading(const double s) const;
double Curvature(const double s) const;
const std::vector<double> &headings() const { return headings_; }
const std::vector<apollo::common::math::LineSegment2d> &segments() const {
return segments_;
}
const std::vector<double> &accumulate_s() const { return accumulated_s_; }
const std::vector<OverlapInfoConstPtr> &overlaps() const { return overlaps_; }
const std::vector<OverlapInfoConstPtr> &cross_lanes() const {
return cross_lanes_;
}
const std::vector<OverlapInfoConstPtr> &signals() const { return signals_; }
const std::vector<OverlapInfoConstPtr> &yield_signs() const {
return yield_signs_;
}
const std::vector<OverlapInfoConstPtr> &stop_signs() const {
return stop_signs_;
}
const std::vector<OverlapInfoConstPtr> &crosswalks() const {
return crosswalks_;
}
const std::vector<OverlapInfoConstPtr> &junctions() const {
return junctions_;
}
const std::vector<OverlapInfoConstPtr> &clear_areas() const {
return clear_areas_;
}
const std::vector<OverlapInfoConstPtr> &speed_bumps() const {
return speed_bumps_;
}
const std::vector<OverlapInfoConstPtr> &parking_spaces() const {
return parking_spaces_;
}
const std::vector<OverlapInfoConstPtr> &pnc_junctions() const {
return pnc_junctions_;
}
double total_length() const { return total_length_; }
using SampledWidth = std::pair<double, double>;
const std::vector<SampledWidth> &sampled_left_width() const {
return sampled_left_width_;
}
const std::vector<SampledWidth> &sampled_right_width() const {
return sampled_right_width_;
}
void GetWidth(const double s, double *left_width, double *right_width) const;
double GetWidth(const double s) const;
double GetEffectiveWidth(const double s) const;
const std::vector<SampledWidth> &sampled_left_road_width() const {
return sampled_left_road_width_;
}
const std::vector<SampledWidth> &sampled_right_road_width() const {
return sampled_right_road_width_;
}
void GetRoadWidth(const double s, double *left_width,
double *right_width) const;
double GetRoadWidth(const double s) const;
bool IsOnLane(const apollo::common::math::Vec2d &point) const;
bool IsOnLane(const apollo::common::math::Box2d &box) const;
apollo::common::PointENU GetSmoothPoint(double s) const;
double DistanceTo(const apollo::common::math::Vec2d &point) const;
double DistanceTo(const apollo::common::math::Vec2d &point,
apollo::common::math::Vec2d *map_point, double *s_offset,
int *s_offset_index) const;
apollo::common::PointENU GetNearestPoint(
const apollo::common::math::Vec2d &point, double *distance) const;
bool GetProjection(const apollo::common::math::Vec2d &point,
double *accumulate_s, double *lateral) const;
private:
friend class HDMapImpl;
friend class RoadInfo;
void Init();
void PostProcess(const HDMapImpl &map_instance);
void UpdateOverlaps(const HDMapImpl &map_instance);
double GetWidthFromSample(const std::vector<LaneInfo::SampledWidth> &samples,
const double s) const;
void CreateKDTree();
void set_road_id(const Id &road_id) { road_id_ = road_id; }
void set_section_id(const Id §ion_id) { section_id_ = section_id; }
private:
const Lane &lane_;
std::vector<apollo::common::math::Vec2d> points_;
std::vector<apollo::common::math::Vec2d> unit_directions_;
std::vector<double> headings_;
std::vector<apollo::common::math::LineSegment2d> segments_;
std::vector<double> accumulated_s_;
std::vector<std::string> overlap_ids_;
std::vector<OverlapInfoConstPtr> overlaps_;
std::vector<OverlapInfoConstPtr> cross_lanes_;
std::vector<OverlapInfoConstPtr> signals_;
std::vector<OverlapInfoConstPtr> yield_signs_;
std::vector<OverlapInfoConstPtr> stop_signs_;
std::vector<OverlapInfoConstPtr> crosswalks_;
std::vector<OverlapInfoConstPtr> junctions_;
std::vector<OverlapInfoConstPtr> clear_areas_;
std::vector<OverlapInfoConstPtr> speed_bumps_;
std::vector<OverlapInfoConstPtr> parking_spaces_;
std::vector<OverlapInfoConstPtr> pnc_junctions_;
double total_length_ = 0.0;
std::vector<SampledWidth> sampled_left_width_;
std::vector<SampledWidth> sampled_right_width_;
std::vector<SampledWidth> sampled_left_road_width_;
std::vector<SampledWidth> sampled_right_road_width_;
std::vector<LaneSegmentBox> segment_box_list_;
std::unique_ptr<LaneSegmentKDTree> lane_segment_kdtree_;
Id road_id_;
Id section_id_;
};
class JunctionInfo {
public:
explicit JunctionInfo(const Junction &junction);
const Id &id() const { return junction_.id(); }
const Junction &junction() const { return junction_; }
const apollo::common::math::Polygon2d &polygon() const { return polygon_; }
const std::vector<Id> &OverlapStopSignIds() const {
return overlap_stop_sign_ids_;
}
private:
friend class HDMapImpl;
void Init();
void PostProcess(const HDMapImpl &map_instance);
void UpdateOverlaps(const HDMapImpl &map_instance);
private:
const Junction &junction_;
apollo::common::math::Polygon2d polygon_;
std::vector<Id> overlap_stop_sign_ids_;
std::vector<Id> overlap_ids_;
};
using JunctionPolygonBox =
ObjectWithAABox<JunctionInfo, apollo::common::math::Polygon2d>;
using JunctionPolygonKDTree =
apollo::common::math::AABoxKDTree2d<JunctionPolygonBox>;
class SignalInfo {
public:
explicit SignalInfo(const Signal &signal);
const Id &id() const { return signal_.id(); }
const Signal &signal() const { return signal_; }
const std::vector<apollo::common::math::LineSegment2d> &segments() const {
return segments_;
}
private:
void Init();
private:
const Signal &signal_;
std::vector<apollo::common::math::LineSegment2d> segments_;
};
using SignalSegmentBox =
ObjectWithAABox<SignalInfo, apollo::common::math::LineSegment2d>;
using SignalSegmentKDTree =
apollo::common::math::AABoxKDTree2d<SignalSegmentBox>;
class CrosswalkInfo {
public:
explicit CrosswalkInfo(const Crosswalk &crosswalk);
const Id &id() const { return crosswalk_.id(); }
const Crosswalk &crosswalk() const { return crosswalk_; }
const apollo::common::math::Polygon2d &polygon() const { return polygon_; }
private:
void Init();
private:
const Crosswalk &crosswalk_;
apollo::common::math::Polygon2d polygon_;
};
using CrosswalkPolygonBox =
ObjectWithAABox<CrosswalkInfo, apollo::common::math::Polygon2d>;
using CrosswalkPolygonKDTree =
apollo::common::math::AABoxKDTree2d<CrosswalkPolygonBox>;
class StopSignInfo {
public:
explicit StopSignInfo(const StopSign &stop_sign);
const Id &id() const { return stop_sign_.id(); }
const StopSign &stop_sign() const { return stop_sign_; }
const std::vector<apollo::common::math::LineSegment2d> &segments() const {
return segments_;
}
const std::vector<Id> &OverlapLaneIds() const { return overlap_lane_ids_; }
const std::vector<Id> &OverlapJunctionIds() const {
return overlap_junction_ids_;
}
private:
friend class HDMapImpl;
void init();
void PostProcess(const HDMapImpl &map_instance);
void UpdateOverlaps(const HDMapImpl &map_instance);
private:
const StopSign &stop_sign_;
std::vector<apollo::common::math::LineSegment2d> segments_;
std::vector<Id> overlap_lane_ids_;
std::vector<Id> overlap_junction_ids_;
std::vector<Id> overlap_ids_;
};
using StopSignSegmentBox =
ObjectWithAABox<StopSignInfo, apollo::common::math::LineSegment2d>;
using StopSignSegmentKDTree =
apollo::common::math::AABoxKDTree2d<StopSignSegmentBox>;
class YieldSignInfo {
public:
explicit YieldSignInfo(const YieldSign &yield_sign);
const Id &id() const { return yield_sign_.id(); }
const YieldSign &yield_sign() const { return yield_sign_; }
const std::vector<apollo::common::math::LineSegment2d> &segments() const {
return segments_;
}
private:
void Init();
private:
const YieldSign &yield_sign_;
std::vector<apollo::common::math::LineSegment2d> segments_;
};
using YieldSignSegmentBox =
ObjectWithAABox<YieldSignInfo, apollo::common::math::LineSegment2d>;
using YieldSignSegmentKDTree =
apollo::common::math::AABoxKDTree2d<YieldSignSegmentBox>;
class ClearAreaInfo {
public:
explicit ClearAreaInfo(const ClearArea &clear_area);
const Id &id() const { return clear_area_.id(); }
const ClearArea &clear_area() const { return clear_area_; }
const apollo::common::math::Polygon2d &polygon() const { return polygon_; }
private:
void Init();
private:
const ClearArea &clear_area_;
apollo::common::math::Polygon2d polygon_;
};
using ClearAreaPolygonBox =
ObjectWithAABox<ClearAreaInfo, apollo::common::math::Polygon2d>;
using ClearAreaPolygonKDTree =
apollo::common::math::AABoxKDTree2d<ClearAreaPolygonBox>;
class SpeedBumpInfo {
public:
explicit SpeedBumpInfo(const SpeedBump &speed_bump);
const Id &id() const { return speed_bump_.id(); }
const SpeedBump &speed_bump() const { return speed_bump_; }
const std::vector<apollo::common::math::LineSegment2d> &segments() const {
return segments_;
}
private:
void Init();
private:
const SpeedBump &speed_bump_;
std::vector<apollo::common::math::LineSegment2d> segments_;
};
using SpeedBumpSegmentBox =
ObjectWithAABox<SpeedBumpInfo, apollo::common::math::LineSegment2d>;
using SpeedBumpSegmentKDTree =
apollo::common::math::AABoxKDTree2d<SpeedBumpSegmentBox>;
class OverlapInfo {
public:
explicit OverlapInfo(const Overlap &overlap);
const Id &id() const { return overlap_.id(); }
const Overlap &overlap() const { return overlap_; }
const ObjectOverlapInfo *GetObjectOverlapInfo(const Id &id) const;
private:
const Overlap &overlap_;
};
class RoadInfo {
public:
explicit RoadInfo(const Road &road);
const Id &id() const { return road_.id(); }
const Road &road() const { return road_; }
const std::vector<RoadSection> §ions() const { return sections_; }
const Id &junction_id() const { return road_.junction_id(); }
bool has_junction_id() const { return road_.has_junction_id(); }
const std::vector<RoadBoundary> &GetBoundaries() const;
apollo::hdmap::Road_Type type() const { return road_.type(); }
private:
Road road_;
std::vector<RoadSection> sections_;
std::vector<RoadBoundary> road_boundaries_;
};
class ParkingSpaceInfo {
public:
explicit ParkingSpaceInfo(const ParkingSpace &parkingspace);
const Id &id() const { return parking_space_.id(); }
const ParkingSpace &parking_space() const { return parking_space_; }
const apollo::common::math::Polygon2d &polygon() const { return polygon_; }
private:
void Init();
private:
const ParkingSpace &parking_space_;
apollo::common::math::Polygon2d polygon_;
};
using ParkingSpacePolygonBox =
ObjectWithAABox<ParkingSpaceInfo, apollo::common::math::Polygon2d>;
using ParkingSpacePolygonKDTree =
apollo::common::math::AABoxKDTree2d<ParkingSpacePolygonBox>;
class PNCJunctionInfo {
public:
explicit PNCJunctionInfo(const PNCJunction &pnc_junction);
const Id &id() const { return junction_.id(); }
const PNCJunction &pnc_junction() const { return junction_; }
const apollo::common::math::Polygon2d &polygon() const { return polygon_; }
private:
void Init();
private:
const PNCJunction &junction_;
apollo::common::math::Polygon2d polygon_;
std::vector<Id> overlap_ids_;
};
using PNCJunctionPolygonBox =
ObjectWithAABox<PNCJunctionInfo, apollo::common::math::Polygon2d>;
using PNCJunctionPolygonKDTree =
apollo::common::math::AABoxKDTree2d<PNCJunctionPolygonBox>;
struct JunctionBoundary {
JunctionInfoConstPtr junction_info;
};
using JunctionBoundaryPtr = std::shared_ptr<JunctionBoundary>;
class RSUInfo {
public:
explicit RSUInfo(const RSU& rsu);
const Id& id() const {
return _rsu.id();
}
const RSU& rsu() const {
return _rsu;
}
private:
RSU _rsu;
};
} // namespace hdmap
} // namespace apollo
|
Fan Injured by Foul Ball During White Sox Win at Rays
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A small gap in the protective netting at Tropicana Field led to a fan getting hurt when she was hit by a foul ball on Friday night.
The woman was struck in the seventh inning of Chicago’s 1-0 victory. After the inning was over, the game was delayed for about 10 minutes so she could receive medical treatment. She was wheeled away on a stretcher and taken to the hospital.
The fan was sitting in box seats next to the Tampa Bay dugout on the first-base side. The ball came off the bat of Rays designated hitter Steven Souza Jr.
“It looked like it caught her right in the eye, which wasn’t a good sight,” Souza said. “I’ll be praying for her, hoping that she’s OK. She was able to talk to me, say a few things. Never a good sight to see.”
After an in-depth study last year, when several fans were hurt by broken bats and foul balls, Major League Baseball recommended the extension of safety netting at its ballparks to the ends of both dugouts and anywhere within 70 feet of home plate.
The ball went through a gap in the netting about the size of 1 1/2 baseballs behind an area designated for photographers.
The primary home plate-area screen at Tropicana Field ends at the start of the photo area. A second screen was installed this season behind the photo area. The ball got through a narrow opening.
“Totally unfortunate,” Souza said. “People are more important than that game right there. That woman’s health is way more important.”
Souza was hoping to visit the woman in the hospital. No other news about her injuries was expected Friday night.
“That’s tough,” said ace left-hander Chris Sale, who threw a two-hitter for Chicago. “Major League Baseball is trying to do what they can to protect fans, but that’s just a tough situation. I almost felt that when it happened. You feel so bad for the individual and her family, and just hope for the best.”
Sale (3-0), from nearby Lakeland, struck out nine for his best start to a season since going 5-0 in 2014. He retired 16 straight between singles by Desmond Jennings in the second and Steve Pearce in the seventh.
Melky Cabrera hit an RBI single against Alex Colome (1-1) with two out in the ninth. Chicago has won eight of 10 for its best start since 1982.
Jake Odorizzi gave up four hits in seven innings for Tampa Bay, which has lost five of six.
Tampa Bay lost second baseman Logan Forsythe and center fielder Kevin Kiermaier to injuries following a fourth-inning collision in shallow right-center field.
Kiermaier ran into Forsythe just after the infielder caught Avisail Garcia’s pop fly with two on and two outs.
Kiermaier appeared dazed as he sat in the outfield after the play, but was able to walk off the field without assistance.
The team said Kiermaier has a head bruise and underwent concussion protocols.
“More of it hit around my jaw,” Kiermaier said. “We’ll see how I feel tomorrow morning. I’m not dizzy or have any of the symptoms.”
Forsythe has a bruised left hip and lower leg. He was limping as he headed toward the dugout.
“I think it could have been a lot worse,” said Forsythe, who is day to day.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rays: RHP Alex Cobb (Tommy John surgery) threw 20 fastballs in his second session halfway up a bullpen mound. “Better than last time,” said Cobb, who could return before the season ends. … RHP Chase Whitley (Tommy John surgery) threw 25 fastballs halfway up a mound during his second session.
LAKELAND LEGENDS
Sale and Pearce both attended Lakeland High School. Pearce singled in three at-bats and is 4 for 12 overall against the left-hander.
CATCHING CLASS
Rays catcher Hank Conger did early throwing work with coach Jamie Nelson. Opposing runners have been successful on their last 44 stolen base attempts against Conger, including five by Cleveland on Thursday.
“Support more than anything,” said Rays manager Kevin Cash, a former catcher. “It’s just one of those things that’s sticking out because we’re going to play a lot of close ballgames. He’s continuing to make adjustments, improvements.”
The last time Conger threw out a runner on a steal attempt was J.B. Shuck of the White Sox on May 29 while with Houston.
ROLLING ON
Chicago SS Jimmy Rollins played in his 2,200th major league game at shortstop and is 18 games from tying White Sox great Luke Appling for seventh place on the career list.
|
In February of this year, Brendan Steinhauser of FreedomWorks posted his thoughts on the tea party movement’s past, present and future. Part of his post concerned the ‘mainstreaming’ of what was formerly presented as a populist movement. The third rail of his ‘vision’ for FreedomWorks was this:
Third, the movement must institutionalize itself in the culture and politics. The movement must re-invigorate the conservative/libertarian movement by utilizing the resources of free market think tanks, intellectuals, advocacy groups, books, magazines, websites, online networks and funding sources. The movement should take advantage of the existing infrastructure of conservative/libertarian politics and spread these resources throughout the movement so that millions more Americans will be exposed to the ideas of F.A. Hayek, National Review, the Cato Institute, the Hoover Institution, etc..
One might assume from that paragraph that FreedomWorks’ intention was to limit itself to the United States. Not so. Yesterday, Allen McDuffee’s ThinkTanked blog reported the attendance of US tea partiers in London at the Resource Bank Institute sponsored by the TaxPayers’ Alliance, a Grover Norquist clone based in London as reported in the Guardian.
Today’s conference will be attended by Americans who have lobbied in the US to overturn Barack Obama’s healthcare plan and maintain tax breaks for the rich. Several of the groups have close links to the billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch, prominent tormentors of the Obama administration.
From Allen:
The Guardian also lists the lobbying groups that are involved, many of which most Americans would not consider lobbying organization, but nonetheless includes: The Cato Institute, FreedomWorks, Americans for Prosperity, Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, Krieble Foundation, Heritage Foundation. Some won’t be surprising and others will garner some level of protest.
Of the groups Allen listed, only one protested: Cato Institute. Their response to Allen, in part:
…a couple of corrections on your story. First, we receive less than 5 percent of our annual operating budget from Koch interests, not “tens of millions of dollars.” Second, as a non-profit organization, we have provided no financial support to the Tea Party movement. The only “backing” we’ve given to the Tea Party movement might be the policy papers publicly available on our website advocating limited government.
Well, just to be clear, “tens of millions” is not an inaccurate figure. From 1998-2005, Koch charities funded Cato to the tune of about $13 million. Since then, the bulk of their donations have gone to the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, but only after Cato was securely set as a leading libertarian think tank. Koch charities have also given FreedomWorks nearly the same amount in that same time frame, when it was still known as Citizens for a Sound Economy. (Summary)
Similarly, Scaife charities funded the Heritage Foundation, who is also listed as a “gold sponsor” of the Resource Bank Europe, described thus:
Modelled after the Resource Bank organized every year by the Heritage Foundation in the United States and the Liberty Forum organized by Atlas Economic Research Foundation, Resource Bank Europe – the largest annual congress of free market think-tanks in Europe – gathers today representatives from dozens of European and American think tanks, academics, policy experts, elected officials and other parties interested in the debate over strategies and problems posed to the European free economies and interested in the future of individual liberty in Europe.
Despite Cato’s denial, the Guardian followed up with an article today confirming FreedomWorks’ involvement in the tea party presence in London this week.
Terry Kibbe, a consultant at Freedom Works, which claims to convene 800,000 activists, told the Guardian she wants to help mobilise otherwise cerebral political institutions in the UK and Europe by helping them create grassroots activist wings. Behind the Tea Party movement are a series of well-financed and well-established rightwing lobby groups who pay for TV adverts, campaign materials and supply training for local grassroots chapters. “We have been working to identify groups in Europe that would be amenable to becoming more activist-based, thinktanks that could start activist wings,” said Kibbe. “We have worked with the Taxpayers’ Alliance, in Austria and in Italy, and we want to do more.”
Here’s some background on Terry Kibbe:
Married to Matt Kibbe, President of FreedomWorks
Former employee of Unisys Corporation and EDS before going to work for Koch Industries in 1997 as manager of systems excellence for Koch’s public affairs department (SourceWatch)
From Koch Industries she jumped to Christopher Cox’s office as his administrative assistant
Founded the Consumers Rights League, an astroturf organization fronting for the credit card industry.
So FreedomWorks sees itself as the global grassroots organizer for conservative libertarian causes, does it? I wonder how that squares with their tax-exempt purpose. When Brendan Steinhauser writes this…
Finally, the movement should seek to take over the most conservative of the two major parties: the Republican Party. The movement should do this from the ground up, precinct by precinct, county by county – in every county in America.
…I wonder if the real thinking is to take over the world, precinct by precinct, democracy by democracy. It’s clear they’re meddling overseas with the intent to instill more climate change deniers in Europe, defeat net neutrality on a global basis and install oil barons as the New World Order.
Something really has to change, and soon. There are some power plays going on here which are not healthy for any country, county, precinct or democracy.
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Tuesday, August 9, 2011
VERIZON WORKERS CONTINUE STRIKE
45,000 Verizon employees, or about 25% of the company’s workforce, continued their strike on Monday after the company failed to reach an agreement with labor unions, Bloomberg reported. It is the first strike in 11 years at Verizon and it could end up affecting customers waiting for new phone and web installations or phone support, though Verizon has 40,000 other employees on hand.
The Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers don’t want to pay monthly premiums on health benefits, but Verizon isn’t quite willing to spend more money on the unions as customers continue to opt for wireless service and internet entertainment in place of phone lines and cable TV. “It is clear that some of the existing contract provisions, negotiated initially when Verizon was under far less competitive pressure, are not in line with the economic realities of business today,” Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam said Sunday. “In fact, under these contracts, benefit costs have risen consistently even as the wireline business has shrunk.” “We’re looking to bring our union more in line with what the rest of the workers pay,” Verizon spokesperson Rich Young said, noting that a majority of Verizon’s employees pay part of their health insurance premiums. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers manager Bill Huber sees it differently. “These aren’t negotiations, they’re an insult,” he said. “This is a clear attack on our unions.”
It should be noted that Verizon reported revenues of over $27.5 billion last quarter, with a majority of that revenue coming from the wireless division.
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[Comparison of measuring energy expenditure with indirect calorimetry and traditional estimation of energy expenditure in patients in intensive care unit].
To compare measurement of energy expenditure (MEE) by indirect calorimetry (IC) with traditional estimation of energy expenditure (EEE), to provide a basis for energy supplementary for critically ill patients. Using self-controlled study,the energy expenditure of 57 intensive care unit (ICU) patients was measured by IC. Meanwhile, EEE was also calculated using the following equations : Harris-Benedict (HB), HB×factor , or 104.6 kJ/kg. Body weight were calculated using actual body weight (ABW) or ideal body weight (IBW). If body mass index (BMI)<18.4 kg/m(2) it was considered as underweight , and the IBW was selected from the IBW table. The potential adequacy of estimated energy was assayed by ratio of EEE/MEE. There was significant difference in MEE by IC and EEE by HB, HB×factor and 104.6 kJ/kg [(6 335 ± 1 004) kJ, (9 125 ± 1 795) kJ, (7 188 ± 1 029) kJ vs. (7 753 ± 1 439) kJ ,P<0.05 or P<0.01]. There was significant difference between EEE by HB×factor and 104.6 kJ/kg (P<0.01) , and EEE by 104.6 kJ/kg×ABW , and the latter was closer to MEE. Underfeeding would occur in most ICU patients if HB equation was used [100% (4/4) in underweight patients and 73.59% (39/53) in normal weight (BMI 18.5-23.9 kg/m(2))]. EEE as calculated by 104.6 kJ/kg×IBW was reasonable in the underweight patients 100% ( 4/4 ), but EEE in the patients with normal weight by using HB×factor or 104.6 kJ/kg×ABW resulted in significant underfeeding [39.62% (21/53) and 43.39% (23/53)] or overfeeding [24.53% (13/53) and 13.22% (7/53)]. EEE derived from the equations was extremely inaccurate and may result in significant underfeeding or overfeeding in individuals. On the basis of this study we would recommend IC for measuring energy expenditure in ICU patients. Otherwise , the equations of 104.6 kJ/kg×IBW in underweight and 104.6 kJ/kg×ABW in normal weight patients may be reasonable.
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Kimball Brace of Election Data Services in Virginia said he projects that Oregon should gain another seat with about 140,000 people to spare. That’s relatively close, but not as close to the margin as it is for some states.
“There are still some potential changes coming that could impact Oregon,” he said. These include population changes caused by a disaster or an economic shock — or big differences in what the Census Bureau turns up when it attempts to count the entire population in 2020.
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Modern Warfare 4 will be next gen hints CV
The online CV of an Infinity Ward programmer suggests the developer’s next game will be on next gen consoles, as rumours also emerge of a new Wolfenstein game and THQ’s 1666.
Will Modern Warfare 4 be a Xbox 720 launch title?
Despite how much most people tend to lie on their CV they’ve actually become one of the most reliable sources for new game information over the years, and it looks like they’ve struck gold again in terms of Infinity Ward’s next plans.As discovered by famous internet sleuth Superannuation, writing on website Kotaku , an Infinity Ward lead engineer and project leader is boasting on his online CV that he’s working on an ’Unannounced Title’.
Not only that but the game is listed for XB2 (presumably the next generation Xbox console), PS3, PC DX11 and ‘TBA’. Or at least it was until he quickly changed the details when he realised the whole Internet was looking at his job history.Apart from some other talk about DX11 experience – high end PC technology that is also thought to be the basis of the Xbox 720 – that’s all the facts on the CV, but it’s not much of a stretch to assume the ‘unannounced title’ is a Call Of Duty title. Although it’s a complete guess as to whether it’d be Modern Warfare 4 or a new sub-brand.What’s less of a guess is that Infinity Ward’s next game, whatever it is, will be out next year. Not only do they always release a new Call Of Duty every other year but the fact that the new game is on both Xbox 720 and PlayStation 3 suggests exactly the sort of multigenerational title you’d expect for a new console’s launch year.There is an outside chance that fellow Call Of Duty developer Slegehammer could be working on a game of their own for next year, and that Infinity Ward’s next won’t be until 2014 – but there’s been very little else to suggest that so far.Elsewhere in the same column Superannuation references a plausible sounding rumour we’ve never heard before, that Swedish developer Machinegames – which was formed by most of the top talent from Chronicles Of Riddick developer Starbreeze Studios – is working on a new Wolfenstein game.Finally, there’s some additional info on the mysterious THQ game that revolves around the number 1666. Previously this was taken to be a reference to the Great Fire of London, but one of THQ’s newly registered web addresses is 1666amsterdam.com
Since nothing of any special interest happened in Amsterdam that year the speculation now is that it’s a house number, and a reference to Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan. Although that still doesn’t give any real clue as to what the game is about.
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TORONTO — Roy Rana selected a team of players from all over the world to tip off Canada’s quest for a FIBA World Cup berth.
Canada’s men’s basketball roster, announced Friday morning, includes NBA free agent Joel Anthony, Former NBA No. 1 draft pick Anthony Bennett, former Carleton standouts Phil and Thomas Scrubb, and Marc Trasolini, who plays professionally in Japan.
"Having the opportunity to represent your country is something most players only dream of. But to have the chance to do it at home, in front of friends, family and fellow Canadians is an honour we treasure," said Rana, whose team will open training camp Monday in Halifax. "All the athletes in our pool have and are continuing to make a tremendous effort to be part of this journey."
Canada will open World Cup qualifying versus the Bahamas on Nov. 24 in Halifax. They’ll then travel to face the Dominican Republic on Nov. 27 in Santiago de los Caballeros.
The depth of Canada’s program will be tested because of the unique challenge FIBA’s new qualifying format poses. With the lack of player availability at this time of the year, countries hardest hit are ones whose stars are tied up with NBA and NCAA duty. Canada has 11 players in the NBA.
Name Position Height Hometown Current Club Joel Anthony Centre 6’9″ Montreal, QC Free Agent Anthony Bennett Forward 6’8″ Toronto, ON Northern Arizona Suns (G-League) Grandy Glaze Centre 6’7″ Toronto, ON St. John’s Edge (NBL of Can) Olivier Hanlan Guard 6’4″ Aylmer, QC Austin Spurs (G-League) Brady Heslip Guard 6’2″ Burlington, ON Trabzonspor (Turkey) Kaza Kajami-Keane Guard 6’1″ Ajax, ON Raptors 905 (G-League) Owen Klassen Centre 6’10” Kingston, ON PAOK (Greece) Dyshawn Pierre Forward 6’6″ Whitby, ON Banco di Srd (Italy) Xavier Rathan-Mayes Guard 6’3″ Scarborough, ON Westchester Knicks (G-League) Phil Scrubb Guard 6’3″ Richmond, B.C. Fraport SKY (Germany) Thomas Scrubb Forward 6’6″ Richmond, B.C. Scandone AV (Italy) Marc Trasolini Centre 6’9″ Vancouver, B.C. Hokkaido L. (Japan)
Americas qualifying features 16 teams competing for seven World Cup spots, in a home and away format.
Canada’s games will be streamed live on DAZN, who announced a five-year partnership they announced Friday.
The deal will see DAZN broadcast every Canadian team at FIBA men’s and women’s tournaments, as well as FIBA’s showcase events, next year’s Women’s FIBA World Cup in 2018, and the Men’s FIBA World Cup.
Canada’s second series of games are Feb. 22 in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Feb. 25 in the Bahamas. Canada will host the third series of games, June 29 against the Dominican Republic, and July 2 vs. the U.S. Virgin Islands.
FIBA’s new qualifying format sees 80 countries battle over a two-year period for the World Cup, Aug. 31-Sept. 15, 2019 in China.
Canada’s men’s team is currently ranked eighth in the Americas and 25th globally.
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In 1980, the disco group Kool & the Gang declared to the whole world, “Celebrate good times, come on!” Their hit, “Celebration”, is a jovial, infectious song, pleading to the listener to simply let go and have some fun.
Celebrations are great.
Got a job promotion? Great! Invite some friends over for a BBQ.
Graduated college? Awesome! Go to a nice restaurant with the family.
Managed to do your laundry without losing any socks? Holy Cow! Go for a round of beers with your buddies.
But for some reason there’s one landscape where celebrations aren’t as universally accepted. It’s a place where, if you do a good thing, you’re expected to maintain a stern, stoic expression.
I am, of course, referring to the stigma attached to athletes celebrating individual achievements and efforts.
“Act Like You’ve Been There Before”
It’s everybody’s go-to expression when an athlete goes off on an elaborate celebration. There’s a code that exists in sports where it’s impolite to show up your opponent. Athletes must have a respect for one another and throughout the game the athletes must remember that mutual respect and act accordingly.
*Teen boy loses virginity*
*Smiles*
*Cries a little*
*Kisses girlfriend*
*Sports fan kicks down door*
"ACT LIKE YOU'VE BEEN THERE BEFORE!" — DL (@davelozo) October 15, 2015
It’s a cute idea in theory but when you have a bunch of individuals playing emotionally charged games for large sums of money in front of tens of thousands of energized fans, you’re going to get some emotion coming from the players whether you like it or not. When someone scores a big goal or hits a big home run, they’re indubitably going to have a surge of adrenaline pumping through them and they’ll usually let it show. It’s not to show up or taunt the opposition; it’s a natural reaction to an event that was cool.
The energetic/heat-of-the-moment celebration is one of two examples of types of celebrations you’ll see. The other example is the pre-planned, well-choreographed celebration.
These are just as permissible. For entertainers (because, y’know, that’s what athletes are) to just bottle up their personality and to play sports like robots is to take away a fun aspect of the game for the fans. Fans WANT to see the creativity of their favourite stars. They want to see that their favourite team is actually having fun while playing.
But, for some reason, many are still opposed to celebrations. They call these kinds of celebrations “classless” and “disrespectful to the game” (as if the game is some holy, spiritual vessel that must not be tarnished).
The Newest Outrage
About a week and a half ago, Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista hit a go-ahead 3 run home run in the American League Divisional Series in a heated seventh inning.
Bautista did 2 things that are generally frowned upon in the MLB: he admired his home run and he flipped his bat.
For some reason, these two actions are the most disrespectful thing a baseball player can really do in a game. The perceived disrespect is that by admiring their own work, they’re hurting the pitcher’s feeling and that’s a no-no (apparently). I guess in an ideal baseball league, every home run is followed up by a head-down, hard sprint around the bases, just like Adam Rosales.
Bautista’s bat flip was straight up awesome. It was a massive exclamation mark following the equally massive home run he had just hit. Most people didn’t even have a problem with this particular reaction. It was an awesome moment and he acted accordingly.
But Sam Dyson, the pitcher whose pitch Bautista just launched into outer space, had this to say about Bautista’s celebration:
“Jose (Bautista) needs to calm that down, just kind of respect the game a little more.” -Sam Dyson
As I stated earlier, there’s a notion that actually exists that these sports deserve, nay demand, actual respect. As if it’s something more than a game for owners and athletes to get rich off of and for the paying customer to get excited about.
Bautista’s flip was excused by many for it being such a big moment but under ordinary circumstances, it would probably be condemned by analysts and fans alike. Brawls routinely get started after a player admires their home run. You might even see the same player get beaned by a pitch in his next at bat because of his haughtiness. But what’s the point of restricting a player from expressing his unbridled enthusiasm for the sport? There’s no sense in having “respect” for the game when you don’t allow anybody to display their passion for the game.
NFL’s Celebration Controversies
If you call the alarm over baseball celebrations laughable, then you can call the anger over football celebrations absurd.
In football there is an intricate set of rules put in place in order to prevent players from having any fun celebrating touchdowns. In 2006, the league instituted a 15 yard penalty for any player who goes down to the ground or uses a prop (including the football) during a touchdown celebration. The reason for the rule, well, ummm, I suppose your guess is as good as mine.
Growing up a Cincinnati Bengals fan, I was fortunate to watch Chad Johnson (no, not that Chad Johnson) dominate the league, all while pulling his creative shtick. His touchdown celebrations were reason enough to watch Bengals games back in the day and he scarcely disappointed. It was a treat watching every week, waiting to see how he’d make us laugh this time.
But the league made sure we wouldn’t see anymore creativity coming after touchdowns. Many now refer to the National Football League as the No Fun League because of their harsh stance against the players expressing themselves.
The anti-celebration rule was at its most disappointing when Kansas City Chiefs safety Husain Abdullah was penalized for praying after scoring a touchdown. The referees misinterpreted what Abdullah was doing. Praying, you see, is permitted after scoring touchdowns, but the officials thought Abdullah’s positioning in Muslim prayer deserved a penalty flag.
Hockey’s Own Problems
It seems that baseball’s main issue is dealing with the emotional celebrations while football deals mainly with the pre-planned, elaborate celebrations.
Hockey kind of deals with a bit of both of these.
Alex Ovechkin received major backlash after his infamous “hot stick” goal celebration back in 2009.
Tomas Hertl was harshly criticized for celebrating with great exuberance after scoring a beautiful goal a couple of years back.
PK Subban’s actions were also brought into question after his enthusiastic reaction to this overtime game winning goal in a regular season game.
In each case the same points were brought up: you have to respect the game, you have to respect your opponents, and you have to act like you’ve been there before. Any signs of personality or excitement are frowned upon, it seems. Yahoo!’s Puck Daddy even tried to ban the slang term “celly” from hockey’s vernacular when talking about a goal celebration, the word itself not being good enough for the league.
Goal celebrations are honestly awesome. The excitement of Patrick Kane dropping to one knee after a sweet goal is palpable. Or how about a funky dance by Jordin Tootoo after his goal last week? It’s just something for fans to love and appreciate.
https://twitter.com/myregularface/status/657344475623247872
Last season, PK Subban skated an approximate 519 feet while celebrating goals last season. Alex Ovechkin skated an extra 1,679 feet after his tallies in excitement. When star players get excited after scoring it electrifies the arena and their teammates. It’s a necessary part of the game.
It’s important to be able to see the passion and excitement that players have when they do something truly special. It’s unimaginable putting restrictions on something that doesn’t even have an effect on the game. Some kind of “respect” is mandatory around all of these leagues but at what cost? Why take away an actually fun and harmless aspect of these sports?
It’s especially disheartening when you consider how recent this kind of criticism is.
Why is Teemu Selanne allowed to celebrate like this but Artem Anisimov was ripped apart after he basically did the same thing.
Why was Theo Fleury allowed to skate the distance of the ice after his goal but Nail Yakupov was called arrogant and an idiot for doing the same?
Imagine the outcry that would start for no reason nowadays if somebody celebrated a goal like David “Tiger” Williams used to.
Imagine the brawls that would begin if a baseball player called a home run before his at bat, a la Babe Ruth. But the Babe’s arrogance is now the stuff of legends as opposed to a showboating, cocky ballplayer.
The stigma behind athletes celebrating is absolutely ludicrous and hearing people get genuinely upset about it is upsetting. Sports are meant to excite, entertain, and inspire but unwritten codes and some apparent need for “respect of the game” prevent part of that process.
I think it’d be best if we all take the advice from Kool & the Gang.
Celebrate good times.
Come on.
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Q:
Item Assignment Not Supported in Dask
What are the ways we can have perform item assignment in Dask Arrays? Even a very simple item assignment like: a[0] = 2
does not work.
A:
Correct. This is the first limitation noted in the documentation.
In general, workflows that involve for loops and direct assignment of individual elements are hard to parallelize. Dask array does not make this attempt.
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If you’ve been following the statements of Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini, this won’t come as much of a surprise. During an earnings call Tuesday, Aetna signaled it would likely exit more Obamacare exchanges in 2018. From Reuters:
“We continue to evaluate our footprint with a view towards significantly reducing our exposure to individual commercial products in 2018,” Aetna Chief Financial Officer Shawn Guertin said during a conference call. In an interview, Guertin explained that the company is making decisions about the three remaining states where it sells these plans based on the current situation. Aetna, which has 255,000 customers in individual plans that comply with Obamacare, said customer medical costs were high and recorded a $110 million premium deficiency reserve in the first quarter for future losses.
Aetna announced last month that it was pulling out of the exchange in Iowa. “Earlier today we informed the appropriate federal and state regulators that Aetna will not participate in the Iowa individual public exchange for 2018 as a result of financial risk and an uncertain outlook for the marketplace,” and Aetna spokesman said at the time.
In February, Aetna’s CEO, Mark Bertolini, said Obamacare was in a “death spiral.” He also predicted, “that in ’18 we’ll see a lot of markets without any coverage at all.” At the time, Bertolini said Aetna hadn’t made final decisions about its participation in remaining markets.
Last week, Anthem insurance, which operates Blue Cross plans in 14 states, said it would move ahead with plans for 2018, but warned it could drop out in some areas or raise prices dramatically depending on what the Trump administration did in the meantime.
The concern is over cost-sharing rules which obligate insurers to reduce the cost of co-payments and deductibles for enrollees near the bottom of the income scale. The government reimburses insurers for those costs directly. However, Congress has never appropriated money for those payments and it’s possible the administration could cut them off. If it did, insurers like Anthem would still have to reduce costs for enrollees even though it wasn’t being reimbursed for the expense of doing so. Anthem’s CEO warned last week that making up for those costs through premiums (rather than directly from the government) would require a 20% price hike next year.
The Trump administration has reportedly promised to continue making the payments for now, but Democrats in Congress worry that the administration could change its mind at any time and have been trying to add money for the payments into a budget bill. But at this moment, it appears the Trump administration is cooperating to keep the law going another year.
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--TEST--
Bug #75193 segfault in collator_convert_object_to_string
--SKIPIF--
<?php if( !extension_loaded( 'intl' ) ) print 'skip'; ?>
--FILE--
<?php
$a = new \Collator('en_US');
$b = [new stdclass, new stdclass];
var_dump($a->sort($b));
?>
--EXPECT--
bool(true)
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The Unmarried Woman
The Unmarried Woman () is a 1917 German silent drama film, directed by Rudolf Del Zopp and starring Hanne Brinkmann and Reinhold Schünzel.
Cast
Hanne Brinkmann
Reinhold Schünzel
Kitty Johns
Harry Waghalter
References
Bibliography
Bock, Hans-Michael & Bergfelder, Tim. The Concise CineGraph. Encyclopedia of German Cinema. Berghahn Books, 2009.
External links
Category:1917 films
Category:German films
Category:Films of the German Empire
Category:German silent feature films
Category:Films directed by Rudolf Del Zopp
Category:German black-and-white films
Category:1910s drama films
Category:German drama films
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Q:
Embedding Custom font in aspx StyleSheet.css
I am trying to embed my new fonts with the StyleSheet.css as
@font-face {
src:url(../Font/HelveticaNeueLTStd-Lt.otf);
font-family: "HelveticaNeueLight";
font-style: normal;
}
.helveticaclass{
color: Red;
font-size:12px;
font-family: "HelveticaNeueLight";
}
And apply to the lable as
<asp:Label ID="Label1" runat="server" Text="My Custom Text Helvetica font" EnableTheming="false" class="helveticaclass" ></asp:Label>
And my style Sheet located in
Root
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CSS
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StyleSheet.css
And the Font is located in
Root
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Font
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HelveticaNeueLTStd-Lt.otf
But I'm unable to apply the font
Any solution or suggestion higly appreciated
Thanks in advance
A:
You may take a look at this article which explains how to do cross browser font embedding.
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Wildlife trade will not come to an end until Indonesia’s legal system imposes heavy sentences with a deterrent effect on people who illegally hunt or trade animals, an activist has said.
Osmantri, coordinator of the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Wildlife Crime Team in Riau, said tough penalties for wildlife poaching in Indonesia were few and far between, which had led to a rapid loss of species in the country.
Meanwhile, he praised the Rengat District Court, which sentenced two Sumatran tiger skin traders to four years in prison and ordered them to pay Rp 60 million (US$4,572) in fines, in a trial on Friday.
“This is the first illegal tiger skin trading case brought to justice in Riau this year. The court’s verdict meets the expectations of many people. It’s a great achievement. Hopefully, this will have a deterrent effect on other wildlife crime perpetrators,” said Osmantri.
He said few judges imposed heavy sentences for wildlife crimes in Sumatra, especially in Riau. “I hope this can serve as reference for court judges across Indonesia.”
In the past, Osmantri said, perpetrators of crimes against protected species in Riau had been sentenced to just one or two years in prison.
Based on WWF Riau data, only eight Sumatran tiger skin trading cases were brought to court so far. Four cases had been handled at the Rengat District Court, three at the Pekanbaru District Court and one at the Tembilahan District Court.
“At the Pekanbaru court, for instance, a wildlife crime suspect, who had sold two sheets of tiger skin was sentenced to less than one year in prison,” Osmantri lamented. (ebf).
Rengat District Court’s panel of judges sentenced two Sumatran tiger skin-trading syndicate members Herman, alias Man bin Mausin, and Adrizal Rakasiwi, alias Adri, in conclusion of their trial to four years in prison on Friday.
The court also ordered them to pay Rp 60 million (US$4,572) in fines or face an additional three-month’s imprisonment.
The sentence imposed by the panel led by Wiwin Sulistya is heavier than the previous sentence sought by prosecutors.
“We, the three members of the judges' panel, are one voice in deciding this verdict. There has been no dissenting opinion,” Wiwin said on Friday.
The presiding judge further said the two convicts were proven guilty of possessing a sheet of Sumatran tiger skin and were aiming to sell it to a buyer who lived in Jambi and was now declared a fugitive of justice.
“They had agreed the Sumatran tiger skin would be sold for Rp 150 million. A team of personnel from the Riau Police, the Riau Natural Resources Conservation Agency [BKSDA] and the Jambi BKSDA managed to apprehend both of them at Herman’s house on April 29 before their transaction with the buyer occurred,” said Wiwin.
The judge said their crime posed a serious threat to Sumatran tigers, in which according to several witnesses who presented at their trial, only around 300 tigers still could be found in their natural habitat.
“Any sentence imposed must have a deterrent effect so that other people will think twice before they commit similar crimes in the future. Only sanctions with a deterrent effect to wildlife poachers and their syndicates could save Sumatran tigers from extinction.” (ebf)
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In the end, we conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand.
We will understand only what we are taught - Baba Dioum
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Description
The photography monologues explore aspects of photography that come from within the photographer. Having the cameras, lenses etc don’t make you a good photographer any more than having an oven, pots pans and the best ingredients makes you a chef.
I've always 'wanted' to see more of the world, it's one of the reasons I became a professional photographer in the first place. But life got in the way and my dream kept being put aside. Then when my amazing brilliant mother died in 2012 with one of her dreams unfulfilled, something changed. It hit me that I'm not going to live forever and time is precious.
Overnight my 'want to travel with photography' became 'I'm going to'. I got dedicated to making it happen. I spent a year changing my income from selling my time taking photos and concentrated on teaching, writing photography courses and creating photography workshops. It's work in progress but I can see a light at the end of the tunnel.
As with most things in life, it comes from within the person and in this case that’s you.
To become good at photography (read that as ‘happy about your photography’) takes something from the photographer. First you have to ask is this something I Want to do? Or is this something I’m ‘Going’ to do? Do I want to just be better than I am now? Or Do I want to go all the way..? Find out what’s good for you and then get dedicated to making it happen.
Somewhere down the line inspirational photographers like Steve McCurry, Sebastiao Salgado, Annie Leibovitz, Ansel Adams, Chase Jarvis, Brent Stirton and thousands more all got dedication. OK you may not want to be the next Steve McCurry but whatever you want to achieve from your photography becomes much easier when you dedicate something to make it happen. And it's your call as to what that is.
What would dedication to your photography look like for you? It could be putting a couple hours a week aside to clear your head and go practise something new. It could be buying a photography course AND setting aside time to practise what you learnt.
If you’re crazy like me maybe you’ll pack in work for a year, move into a caravan in the corner of a field and spend every day for a whole year reading, practising, getting it wrong, trying again etc. OK I know I’m a bit odd and that won’t work for most people.
Choose what you want then dedicate some time and effort to take the actions required to achieve it. The hardest part is making up your mind if this is a ‘want to’ or a ‘going to’. Once beyond that question the rest suddenly becomes easy.
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This article first appeared on RotoBaller.com.
Philadelphia Eagles running back Josh Adams got one carry on Sunday, gaining two yards. He did not see a target in the passing game. Adams was running as the lead back for the Eagles for a while in the second half of this season, but he’s slowly been sliding down the depth chart, hitting rock bottom in this one. Darren Sproles and Wendell Smallwood will both be better DFS options against the Saints next week.
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Ultrastructural localization of blood group antigens in human salivary glands.
The subcellular distribution of several blood group antigens was studied in human major and minor salivary glands by means of a postembedding immunogold staining method. In each gland, antigens were detected as secretory products and as cell surface components. A, B, H and Lewis (a,b,x,y) antigens were found in mucous cells depending on the ABO and secretor status; reactivities were confined to the secretory granules. In serous and ductal cells, both the secretory granules and cell membranes were reactive, but only for H, Le-b and Le-y irrespective of the ABO and secretor status.
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Phylogeny of human intestinal bacteria that activate the dietary lignan secoisolariciresinol diglucoside.
The human intestinal microbiota is essential for the conversion of the dietary lignan secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG) via secoisolariciresinol (SECO) to the enterolignans enterodiol (ED) and enterolactone (EL). However, knowledge of the species that catalyse the underlying reactions is scant. Therefore, we focused our attention on the identification of intestinal bacteria involved in the conversion of SDG. Strains of Bacteroides distasonis, Bacteroides fragilis, Bacteroides ovatus and Clostridium cocleatum, as well as the newly isolated strain Clostridium sp. SDG-Mt85-3Db, deglycosylated SDG. Demethylation of SECO was catalysed by strains of Butyribacterium methylotrophicum, Eubacterium callanderi, Eubacterium limosum and Peptostreptococcus productus. Dehydroxylation of SECO was catalysed by strains of Clostridium scindens and Eggerthella lenta. Finally, the newly isolated strain ED-Mt61/PYG-s6 catalysed the dehydrogenation of ED to EL. The results indicate that the activation of SDG involves phylogenetically diverse bacteria, most of which are members of the dominant human intestinal microbiota.
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In many gas turbine engines, a low pressure spool includes a low pressure turbine that is connected to and drives a low pressure compressor, and a high pressure spool includes a high pressure turbine that is connected to and drives a high pressure compressor. Air is compressed by the compressors and communicated to a combustor section where air is mixed with fuel and ignited to generate a high pressure exhaust gas stream that expands through the turbines. Energy is extracted from the turbines to drive the compressors. The spools are mounted for rotation about an engine central longitudinal axis relative to an engine static structure via several bearing systems. The bearing systems are located within bearing compartments that include heat shields to protect components from the high temperatures of the exhaust gases.
The heat shields are typically comprised of sheet metal plates that are attached to the engine static structure with bolts. Due to the thinness of the plates, the bolts can potentially damage areas of the heat shield that come into contact with the head of the bolt during installation. This increases maintenance costs as the shields have to be replaced during overhaul service operations. Riveted-on nut plates are not preferred in hot sections of the engine because threads can seize and pull apart anti-rotation features on the plates requiring them to be drilled out. Another proposed solution is to use thicker mount flanges that are welded to the shields; however, this increases cost and weight.
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