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Download Effective Daylighting With High Performance Facades Book PDF
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Effective Daylighting with High-Performance Facades
Author : Kyle Konis,Stephen Selkowitz
Summary : The book explores advanced building-facade daylighting design practices based on diverse energy and human-factor performance metrics. It also defines effective daylighting by rethinking the simplified approach to glazing and facade systems to incorporate the local climate and the needs of building occupants as critical drivers of building performance, design solutions and technological innovation. It discusses state-of-the-art approaches in the context of simulation-based design workflows, innovative technologies and real project case studies, all targeting low and net-zero energy solutions that enhance occupant comfort. Readers benefit from a comprehensive approach that improves the feedback loop between design intent and performance in use. The book is intended for architects, lighting designers, facade engineers, manufacturers and building owners/operators, as well as advanced students.
Modern Construction Handbook
Author : Andrew Watts
Summary : Owing to regular revision, the Modern Construction Handbook has become a classic in advanced building construction literature, not least because of its clear structure covering the chapters "Material", "Wall", "Roof", "Structure", "Environment", and "Applications". For the fifth edition, a large part of the 3D presentations has been redrawn, all six chapters have been revised and updated. New standards have been established for this handbook, which is a basic resource for many architectural study courses, by adding more component details, new examples with a focus on sustainability and energy consumption, and a major update on finite element analysis (FEA) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD).
Material Balance
Author : Ingrid Paoletti
Sustainable Facades
Author : Ajla Aksamija
Summary : Practical information on designing sustainable,energy-efficient building facades As energy and other natural resources are being depleted, it hasbecome clear that technologies and strategies that allow us tomaintain our satisfaction with interior environments whileconsuming less of these resources are major objectives ofcontemporary facade design. Sustainable Facades focuses onthe strategies and approaches for designing sustainable,high-performance building facades, and provides technical guidancefor architects and designers. This timely and useful guide presents strategies and technicalguidelines for designing environmentally sensitive,energy-efficient facades based on scientific principles. Itprovides climate-specific approaches for minimizing energyconsumption, analyzes the thermal behavior of different facadesystems and materials, and illustrates with case studies how theseapproaches have been implemented on architectural projects. It alsodiscusses emerging facade technologies, materials, and systems. Topics covered in this unique and indispensable guideinclude: Climate-based design approaches for high-performancefacades Characteristics of sustainable facades: energy efficiency,thermal behavior, and moisture resistance Designing for thermal comfort, lighting and glare control, andacoustic quality Emerging technologies in facade design, including smartmaterials, double-skin facades, and facades as energygenerators Case studies on building orientation and facade design,tectonic sun exposure control, external shading elements, andmore
Achieving High-Performance Federal Facilities
Author : National Research Council,Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences,Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment,Committee on High-Performance Green Federal Buildings: Strategies and Approaches for Meeting Federal Objectives
Summary : The design, construction, operation, and retrofit of buildings is evolving in response to ever-increasing knowledge about the impact of indoor environments on people and the impact of buildings on the environment. Research has shown that the quality of indoor environments can affect the health, safety, and productivity of the people who occupy them. Buildings are also resource intensive, accounting for 40 percent of primary energy use in the United States, 12 percent of water consumption, and 60 percent of all non-industrial waste. The processes for producing electricity at power plants and delivering it for use in buildings account for 40 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. federal government manages approximately 429,000 buildings of many types with a total square footage of 3.34 billion worldwide, of which about 80 percent is owned space. More than 30 individual departments and agencies are responsible for managing these buildings. The characteristics of each agency's portfolio of facilities are determined by its mission and its programs. In 2010, GSA's Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings asked the National Academies to appoint an ad hoc committee of experts to conduct a public workshop and prepare a report that identified strategies and approaches for achieving a range of objectives associated with high-performance green federal buildings. Achieving High-Performance Federal Facilities identifies examples of important initiatives taking place and available resources. The report explores how these examples could be used to help make sustainability the preferred choice at all levels of decision making. Achieving High-Performance Federal Facilities can serve as a valuable guide federal agencies with differing missions, types of facilities, and operating procedures.
Energy Efficient Buildings
Author : Eng Hwa Yap
Summary : This book discusses energy efficient buildings and the role they play in our efforts to address climate change, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by considering buildings and the construction sector's unique position along a critical path to decarbonisation from a multi-perspective and holistic viewpoint. Topics covered in the book range from daylighting, building topology comparison, building envelope design, zero energy homes in hot arid regions, life-cycle considerations and energy efficiency analysis to managing energy demand through equipment selection. Each chapter addresses an important aspect of energy efficient building and serves as a vital building block towards constructing a timely and relevant body of knowledge in energy efficient buildings.
Intelligent Envelopes for High-Performance Buildings
Author : Guedi Capeluto,Carlos Ernesto Ochoa
Summary : This book presents a series of significant methods and examples for the design of sustainable intelligent facades in a variety of contexts. Emphasis is placed on how intelligence has been applied for successful energy-saving efforts in the planning of building envelopes. Readers will find essential information on the core principles involved in designing, calculating and organizing intelligent facades according to the need for a new or retrofitted building. Not only are different materials and technologies considered, but also efficient ways to combine them according to user needs and other project-specific constraints. Illustrations, tables and graphs accompany the text, clarifying the concepts discussed. Architects, facade consultants and all those interested in and energy-saving measures and improved indoor comfort will find this book useful not only as an introduction to the subject but also as a guide to achieving more responsive building methods.
Author : Christian Schittich
Summary : The external facades of a building are more than a protective mantle, or an intelligent skin regulating temperature and light, they also determine its very appearance. By unusual choices of materials and the use of complex technology, facades have become increasingly significant in recent years. External surfaces are being perceived as an integral part of the building and are therefore being designed as such. This volume focuses on the wide-ranging aspects of facade design, from the selection and use of materials to the advanced technical possibilities now open to the architect. A wide array of carefully selected international examples show the theory in the practice. All plans, details, and large scale sections of the facades have been researched with the high degree of competence typical of the editorial staff from the review Detail. Expert authors provide the essential information needed to plan and design facades and elucidate on the latest developments in technology and materials.
Author : Ulrich Knaack,Tillmann Klein,Marcel Bilow,Thomas Auer
Summary : Introduction to building façades as revised edition Façades determine the appearance of a building. Hence, they constitute a major element in architecture. At the same time, the building's envelope has important functions to fulfil, such as lighting, weatherproofing, thermal insulation, load transfer and sound insulation. Over the past 15 years, façades have become increasingly complex – 'intelligent' facades, for instance, adapt to changing climate and lighting conditions. Newly developed materials and technologies have broadened the scope of façade functions. This book demonstrates the principles of façade construction. It systematically describes the most common types, such as post-and-beam façade, curtain wall, corridor façade or double façade, and provides guidelines for appropriate detailing. Numerous drawings made especially for the book explain the principles of different types of facades, which are then illustrated with built examples. For this second edition, all chapters were revised and all four examples in the case studies chapter were replaced by new material. The new chapter "Future Façades" offers insights into what's next.
Sustainable Built Environments
Author : Vivian Loftness,Dagmar Haase
Summary : Sustainable design is a collective process whereby the built environment achieves unprecedented levels of ecological balance through new and retrofit construction, with the goal of long-term viability and humanization of architecture. Focusing on the environmental context, sustainable design merges the natural, minimum resource conditioning solutions of the past (daylight, solar heat, and natural ventilation) with the innovative technologies of the present. The desired result is an integrated "intelligent" system that supports individual control with expert negotiation for resource consciousness. International experts in the field address the fundamental questions of sustainable design and landscape management: How should the sustainability of landscapes and buildings be evaluated? Which targets have to be set and which thresholds should not be exceeded? What forms of planning and governance structures exist and to what extent do they further the goals of sustainability? Gathering 30 peer-reviewed entries from the Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology, Sustainable Built Environments provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary coverage of these issues and other aspects of sustainable building and landscape design.
Intelligent Skins
Author : Michael Wigginton,Jude Harris
Summary : Looking to the future, Intelligent Skins sets out the principles for the design of the intelligent building envelope. It highlights an exciting new approach to the area, where the fabric of the building responds to external changes and internal demands. The prime objective is to control internal environments through a responsive building fabric rather than by energy consuming building services systems. The authors examine the potential for integral intelligence within the fabric of the building and explore the evolution of information technology and smart materials which have allowed a whole new category of design principles to be created.
Author : Sandy Isenstadt
Summary : How electric light created new spaces that transformed the built environment and the perception of modern architecture. In this book, Sandy Isenstadt examines electric light as a form of architecture—as a new, uniquely modern kind of building material. Electric light was more than just a novel way of brightening a room or illuminating a streetscape; it brought with it new ways of perceiving and experiencing space itself. If modernity can be characterized by rapid, incessant change, and modernism as the creative response to such change, Isenstadt argues, then electricity—instantaneous, malleable, ubiquitous, evanescent—is modernity's medium. Isenstadt shows how the introduction of electric lighting at the end of the nineteenth century created new architectural spaces that altered and sometimes eclipsed previously existing spaces. He constructs an architectural history of these new spaces through five examples, ranging from the tangible miracle of the light switch to the immaterial and borderless gloom of the wartime blackout. He describes what it means when an ordinary person can play God by flipping a switch; when the roving cone of automobile headlights places driver and passenger at the vertex of a luminous cavity; when lighting in factories is seen to enhance productivity; when Times Square became an emblem of illuminated commercial speech; and when the absence of electric light in a blackout produced a new type of space. In this book, the first sustained examination of the spatial effects of electric lighting, Isenstadt reconceives modernism in architecture to account for the new perceptual conditions and visual habits that followed widespread electrification.
Energy Security and Sustainability
Author : Amritanshu Shukla,Atul Sharma
Summary : There has been ever increasing interest in understanding the various aspects of available resources and production, in terms of need and supply, conservation and environmental impacts and so on. From the current energy scenario, it is very clear that there are serious challenges related in achieving energy sustainability and security worldwide. The aim of this book is to present an overview of progress made towards energy sustainability addressing concerns regarding carbon emission and clean energy resources. Keeping this in mind, the book has chapters on all major energy sources which are being utilized at present, along with those having potential prospects for future.
Facade Construction Manual
Author : Thomas Herzog,Roland Krippner,Werner Lang
Summary : «Facade Construction Manual» provides a systematic survey of contemporary expertise in the application of new materials and energy-efficient technologies in facade design. It surveys the facade design requirements made by various types of buildings, as well as the most important materials, from natural stone through to synthetics, and documents a diversity of construction forms for a wide range of building types.
CO2 Capture by Reactive Absorption-Stripping
Author : Claudio Madeddu,Massimiliano Errico,Roberto Baratti
Summary : This book focuses on modelling issues and their implications for the correct design of reactive absorption–desorption systems. In addition, it addresses the case of carbon dioxide (CO2) post-combustion capture in detail. The book proposes a new perspective on these systems, and provides technological solutions with comparisons to previous treatments of the subject. The model that is proposed is subsequently validated using experimental data. In addition, the book features graphs to guide readers with immediate visualizations of the benefits of the methodology proposed. It shows a systematic procedure for the steady-state model-based design of a CO2 post-combustion capture plant that employs reactive absorption-stripping, using monoethanolamine as the solvent. It also discusses the minimization of energy consumption, both through the modification of the plant flowsheet and the set-up of the operating parameters. The book offers a unique source of information for researchers and practitioners alike, as it also includes an economic analysis of the complete plant. Further, it will be of interest to all academics and students whose work involves reactive absorption-stripping design and the modelling of reactive absorption-stripping systems.
Building Performance Simulation for Design and Operation
Author : Jan L.M. Hensen,Roberto Lamberts
Summary : When used appropriately, building performance simulation has the potential to reduce the environmental impact of the built environment, to improve indoor quality and productivity, as well as to facilitate future innovation and technological progress in construction. Since publication of the first edition of Building Performance Simulation for Design and Operation, the discussion has shifted from a focus on software features to a new agenda, which centres on the effectiveness of building performance simulation in building life cycle processes. This new edition provides a unique and comprehensive overview of building performance simulation for the complete building life cycle from conception to demolition, and from a single building to district level. It contains new chapters on building information modelling, occupant behaviour modelling, urban physics modelling, urban building energy modelling and renewable energy systems modelling. This new edition keeps the same chapter structure throughout including learning objectives, chapter summaries and assignments. Moreover, the book: • Provides unique insights into the techniques of building performance modelling and simulation and their application to performance-based design and operation of buildings and the systems which service them. • Provides readers with the essential concepts of computational support of performance-based design and operation. • Provides examples of how to use building simulation techniques for practical design, management and operation, their limitations and future direction. It is primarily intended for building and systems designers and operators, and postgraduate architectural, environmental or mechanical engineering students.
Daylighting, Architecture and Health
Author : Mohamed Boubekri
Summary : Daylighting, Architecture and Health examines the relationship between natural light in buildings and human health, considering both psychological and physiological issues and bringing together a range of research in the field. As we are becoming increasingly conscious of global warming and pushing towards energy efficiency in buildings, the book examines the question of daylighting from the perspective of the health of building occupants. It gathers and reviews all the latest and pertinent medical and architectural research related to natural light, or lack thereof, and its effect on people. * Documents medical research findings which establish a link between light quality and health * Considers design strategies for increasing daylight in buildings * Develops understanding and awareness of the importance of natural light in buildings Daylighting, Architecture and Health: Building Design Strategies is a timely and essential text for professional architects and all others concerned with the effects of daylighting on health, architecture and building design.
Powerskin Conference
Author : Thomas Auer,Ulrich Knaack,Jens Schneider
Summary : The PowerSkin Conference aims to address the role of building skinsto accomplish a carbon neutral building stock. Topics such as buildingoperation, embodied energy, energy generation and storage in context offacades, structure and environment are considered."
The Sustainable Tall Building
Author : Philip Oldfield
Summary : The Sustainable Tall Building: A Design Primer is an accessible and highly illustrated guide, which primes those involved in the design and research of tall buildings to dramatically improve their performance. Using a mixture of original research and analysis, best-practice design thinking and a detailed look at exemplar case studies, author Philip Oldfield takes the reader through the architectural ideas, engineering strategies and cutting-edge technologies that are available to the tall building design team. The book takes a global perspective, examining high-rise design in different climates, cultures and contexts. It considers common functions such as high-rise housing and offices, to more radical designs such as vertical farming and vertical cemeteries. Innovation is provided by examining not only the environmental performance of tall buildings but also their social sustainability, guiding the reader through strategies to create successful communities at height. The book starts by critically appraising the sustainability of tall building architecture past and present, before demonstrating innovative ways for future tall buildings to be designed. These include themes such as climatically responsive architecture, siting a tall building in the city, zero-carbon towers, skygardens and community spaces at height, sustainable structural systems and novel façades. In doing so, the book provides essential reading for architects, engineers, consultants, developers, researchers and students engaged with sustainable design and high-rise architecture.
High Performance Building Guidelines
Author : Andrea Woodner
Summary : High performance buildings maximize operational energy savings; improve comfort, health, & safety of occupants & visitors; & limit detrimental effects on the environment. These Guidelines provide instruction in the new methodologies that form the underpinnings of high performance buildings. They further indicate how these practices may be accommodated within existing frameworks of capital project administration & facility management. Chapters: city process; design process; site design & planning; building energy use; indoor environment; material & product selection; water mgmt.; construction admin.; commissioning; & operations & maintenance.
Proceedings of 3rd International Sustainable Buildings Symposium (ISBS 2017)
Author : Seyhan Fırat,John Kinuthia,Abid Abu-Tair
Summary : This book describes the latest advances, innovations, and applications in the field of building design, environmental engineering and sustainability as presented by leading international researchers, engineers, architects and urban planners at the 3rd International Sustainable Buildings Symposium (ISBS), held in Dubai, UAE from 15 to 17 March 2017. It covers highly diverse topics, including smart cities, sustainable building and construction design, sustainable urban planning, infrastructure development, structural resilience under natural hazards, water and waste management, energy efficiency, climate change impacts, life cycle assessment, environmental policies, and strengthening and rehabilitation of structures. The contributions amply demonstrate that sustainable building design is key to protecting and preserving natural resources, economic growth, cultural heritage and public health. The contributions were selected by means of a rigorous peer-review process and highlight many exciting ideas that will spur novel research directions and foster multidisciplinary collaboration among different specialists.
Introduction to Naval Architecture
The Best Damn IT Security Management Book Period
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What Do You Do With a Problem
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Geomorphometry
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NurtureShock
Phytonutrients in Food
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Life of My Own
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Biopolymers: Processing and Products
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From BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation
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PARIS: Raytheon takes aim at rogue drone threat
By Craig Hoyle2019-06-21T09:00:00+01:00
The need to protect key infrastructure such as airports, sports venues and military facilities from malicious intrusion or attack using drones is becoming increasingly urgent – but the good news is that a growing number of companies are offering solutions to address the threat.
"We've seen all sorts of nefarious flying," says Todd Probert, vice-president mission support and modernisation at Raytheon's Intelligence, Information and Services unit, noting that private ownership of cheap and readily available small drones has rocketed over recent years. These have been used to smuggle drugs onto prison property, and conduct anti-personnel attacks in combat zones by carrying explosives.
The issue of malicious drone use has also grabbed headlines around the world, with major disruption caused at London Gatwick and Dubai International airports since late last year.
"Just about every month we have seen incursions within an airport environment," Probert says. "We're seeing just about every airport authority raising concerns. We're trying to build that suite of tools so we can come in with the right solution at the right price point."
Raytheon is showcasing a raft of capabilities at the show that it says allow military and civilian bodies to defend sites against unmanned air systems (UAS).
Larger threats can be engaged from range using the company's Patriot air-defence missile system, and the company announced at the show that it is also equipping its Stinger surface-to-air missile with a new proximity fuze to enable counter-UAS firings. To be delivered to the US Army from later this year, the enhancement is "an affordable and effective way to defeat the growing number of enemy UAS targets in the skies above the battlefield," Raytheon says.
The US Army, meanwhile, has declared initial operational capability with its Howler system, which combines Raytheon's KuRFS surveillance radar and tube-launched Coyote air vehicle to perform a "hard kill" capability against unmanned systems.
Using such equipment is not an option in an airport environment, however, so the US company is showcasing the ability to engage small drones using high-energy laser and high-power microwave systems. Both have already been demonstrated during trials with the US Army, and a 10kg (22lb) laser-equipped dune buggy-sized vehicle forms part of a simulation-based demonstrator at its indoor exhibit.
The suite of capabilities on display includes a radar for initial detection, after which an optical sensor is used to positively identify the threat, with their activities co-ordinated using Raytheon's Windshear technology. Depending on the environmental conditions, the laser or microwave weapons can destroy the UAS, or jamming equipment used to disable its operations.
"It is silent, instantaneous, and it doesn't miss," says business development manager Evan Hunt. The system could be ready for operational deployment within the next year, he adds.
Speaking to FlightGlobal at the show, Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems president Roy Azevedo says: "This is an area where we utilise the breadth of the whole company, because we firmly believe that the counter-UAS solution is a layered solution – the customers may want to take the prosecution using different methods."
The company is already delivering on its counter-UAS vision, says Probert, who notes: "We are delivering systems in less than the $1 million range for basic jamming capability. But those systems can get complex very quickly when you start to layer in various defences and effectors to that."
Source: Flight Daily News
Delta jet slides off taxiway in winter weather
A Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 slid off a taxiway at Kansas City International airport during bad weather on 17 January, leading the airport to temporarily cease operations due to deteriorating winter conditions.
Daher sees modest dip in TBM and Kodiak deliveries during 'tough' 2019
Daher saw flat sales in 2019, with deliveries of its Kodiak and TBM single-engined aircraft families slipping slightly, following what it calls a "tough year in the entry-level business aviation market".
Spirit adds Oakland to Fort Lauderdale route
Spirit Airlines in April will add nonstop daily flights between Oakland International airport and its headquarters hub in Fort Lauderdale amid its plans to expand its network and Airbus fleet in 2020. The ultra-low-cost carrier on 16 January announced the new seasonal route to complement its year-round ...
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Tag Archives: Quentin Tarantino
Face Off: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) and Mindhunter (2019)
Each Motion State Face Off pits two films, franchises, or television series against each another for no reason other than because we can.
The second season of Netflix's Mindhunter is the best single season of television the streaming giant has ever produced. I'd entertain an argument for the best series overall being something else — Stranger Things, Narcos — though with a five-season plan Mindhunter might someday change that. And the show's not without problems, of course. Still, pound-for-pound, on a season-by-season basis, the second chunk of the David Fincher-led serial killer show is the most finely-tuned and commanding character study you're going to find. Fincher's cold camera has never been more sinister than in the first three episodes of this season, and that mood is carried throughout. It's almost a disappointment when a larger-than-life figure like Charles Manson, babbling and bombastic, intrudes on the otherwise grim and brooding proceedings.
Much of what makes the show so compelling, of course, is that the verifiable truth — some would call it "historical accuracy" — is often one and the same with the most disturbing shit ever undertaken by a multiple murderer in America. Mindhunter makes plenty of stuff up, with Holden Ford, Bill Tench and Wendy Carr serving as fictional versions of actual investigators; a huge subplot of the second season involving Tench's son was (likely) pulled from an actual San Francisco case in 1971, but didn't have anything to do with the real people on which the show is based. Yet the depictions of the killers and their crimes are horrifyingly accurate, and the sadistic evil you really wish was fabricated is often the tragic truth.
Continue reading Face Off: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) and Mindhunter (2019) →
Austin ButlerBrad PittChristopher BackusDamon HerrimanDavid FincherfeaturedLeonardo DiCaprioMindhunterOnce Upon a Time in HollywoodQuentin Tarantino
True Romance (1993)
July 11, 2019 hangmantitan	Leave a comment
Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is out this month, and it seems like a culmination of sorts for the film fanatic writer-director. Each of his movies toes the line between self-awareness and immersive cinema, continually winking at the camera and yet lost in a world of its own, packed to the brim with pop culture references but still stylish enough to become a pop culture reference. Tarantino, who worked at a video store as a kid and has been devouring several movies a day ever since, has few rivals when it comes to an encyclopedic knowledge of the art form. To see Once Upon a Time in Hollywood framed around film and television sets in 1950s L.A. is quite the prospect, because that encyclopedic knowledge serves as more than a wink or a reference.
That explicit love of movies, to be fair, is a place that several Tarantino films have ventured before, though never carrying such importance as it must likely carry in Hollywood. The primary one is Inglourious Basterds, which uses the state of German cinema as both a unique backdrop for a World War II adventure and, eventually, as a major climactic catharsis that achieves nothing less than the rewriting of history. Christoph Waltz and Brad Pitt steal top billing (and, in Waltz's case, the Oscar) as The Bad Guy and The Good Guy. But Basterds becomes a truly great film for the inclusion of Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent), theater owner and Lady Vengeance Incarnate, and Frederick Zoller (Daniel Bruhl), young Nazi-turned-propaganda-film-star. These characters are opposed in every way except their love of film, which both brings them together and kills them in the end. Theirs may technically be the subplot, but Tarantino's passion for cinema sings loudest when his characters share in that passion.
Continue reading True Romance (1993) →
Brad PittChristian SlaterChristoph WaltzDaniel BruhlDeath ProofDiane KrugerEli RothEmilio EstevezfeaturedInglourious BasterdsKurt RussellMelanie LaurentOnce Upon a Time in HollywoodPatricia ArquettePatton OswaltPulp FictionQuentin TarantinoSaul RubinekSylvester GrothTony ScottTrue Romance
Free Fire (2016)
August 25, 2017 hangmantitan	1 Comment
This article first appeared as a part of the Brattle Film Notes commentary series, presented by the Brattle Theatre in Boston, MA, for a special screening of Free Fire. Slight edits have been made from the original posting.
Prolific director Ben Wheatley followed up 2015's High-Rise with Free Fire, another film about the disintegration of a boxed-in mini-society. Both efforts are similar in this sense, observing a group of strangers forced into close quarters, casting us as the voyeuristic witnesses on a direct descent away from normalcy. Both films begin methodically, High-Rise introducing a futuristic all-inclusive living complex and Free Fire peeping in on an arms deal in an abandoned warehouse. And both can only ever end one way: in chaos, loud and bloody.
But it's still remarkable how different these two films are, despite the apparent similarities and the fact that both were crafted by Wheatley (with co-writer Amy Jump) in the span of a single year. Free Fire justifies itself in the approach, heavily drawing on Reservoir Dogs-era Tarantino to convey vital information through seemingly innocuous dialogue as much as visual staging. Words do all the work here, with snippets of conversation managing to develop characters and propel the narrative at the same time. The arms deal brings buyers, sellers, intermediaries, muscle-for-hire and assassins-for-hire into a confined space, but before the guns come out it's dialogue that each party attempts to weaponize.
Continue reading Free Fire (2016) →
Amy JumpBen WheatleyfeaturedFree FireHigh-RiseQuentin TarantinoReservoir DogsSnowpiercerTom Hiddleston
Academy Awards, Featured
June 20, 2017 hangmantitan	1 Comment
I recently watched Edgar Wright's Hot Fuzz for the zillionth time. This was partly to assuage my excitement for Baby Driver, Wright's latest, and partly because the discovery of a commentary track by Wright and his buddy Quentin Tarantino was too good to pass up. Usually commentary tracks feel slight, strained, straight-up unnecessary; Wright and Tarantino have a casual chat that's nearly as bonkers as Hot Fuzz itself. The pair share a vast encyclopedic knowledge of film and music, and throughout the course of the commentary they discuss nearly 200 films — basically everything besides Hot Fuzz — and if you're thinking someone should write out that list, well, yeah: reddit.
Their knowledge is enviable, yes, but it's not nearly as enviable as the fact that both writer/directors manage to make movies that are unlike any other movie you've ever seen. Baby Driver, it should be stated at the outset, is unlike any other movie you've ever seen. Wright, like Tarantino, has fresh ideas that swing for the narrative fences, and like Tarantino he also has the prowess to actually achieve his vision. This time around the vision is something people are calling a "car chase musical", which seems only half-accurate because it doesn't quite do Baby Driver justice.
Continue reading Baby Driver (2017) →
Baby DriverBullittEdgar WrightfeaturedGone in 60 SecondsHeatHot FuzzJamie FoxxJohn HammKevin SpaceyLily JamesPoint BreakQuentin TarantinoReservoir DogsScott Pilgrim vs. the WorldThe DriverThe French ConnectionThe Italian JobWalter Hill
January 4, 2016 Evan Jones	3 Comments
Rather than going out and partying or hanging out with friends as most teenagers do on Friday nights, I instead chose to have an existential nightmare by watching the latest film from writer/director Charlie Kaufman: Anomalisa.
You may recognize Kaufman as the writer of such films as Spike Jonze's Adaptation. and Being John Malkovich. Kaufman also wrote the much beloved Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and directed the incredibly complex and possibly genius film Synecdoche, New York. If you're interested in reading some more thoughts on Kaufman's works, there's a wonderful writer series here on Motion State. To say the least, in this very impressive filmography Charlie Kaufman has built for himself, Anomalisa stands out as both incredibly unique and right at home.
Anomalisa is about a man named Michael Stone, played by David Thewlis. Michael is a corporate spokesperson known for writing books on customer service. Many people look up to Michael and the way he is able to look at the world, but beneath that exterior, he is actually struggling deeply with problems in his personal life and what he deems "psychological problems". When people talk, Michael simply hears the same bland voice over and over. One evening in his hotel room, Michael is practicing delivering a speech he is scheduled to give the next day and attempting to infuse it with the sincerity that he obviously lacks. Just outside, he hears the voice of a beautiful young woman named Lisa, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh. Michael is instantly mesmerized by her and is determined to make Lisa a part of his life.
Continue reading Anomalisa (2015) →
Adaptation.AnomalisaBeing John MalkovichCharlie KaufmanDavid ThewlisDuke JohnsonEternal Sunshine of the Spotless MindJennifer Jason LeighMoral OrelQuentin TarantinoSpike JonzeSynecdoche New YorkTom Noonan
December 25, 2015 hangmantitan	5 Comments
Hey — it's Christmas! Let's go to the movies. Slug some hot chocolate, throw on your wool hat, follow the colored lights strung from tree to tree on the citywide commons to the movie theater or the cinema or the multiplex or whatever you call it in your neck of the woods. I'll get the tickets, you get the popcorn. What do you want to see? It's Christmas, remember, so we need something that will encourage our merriment and warm up our capacity for joy. That disqualifies The Revenant. What about Star Wars for the fifth time? What do you mean you saw it again this morning? Why didn't you invite me? Whatever, just go get the popcorn.
Here we go: a new Tarantino movie. One would think that a brand spankin' new flick from Tarantino would, if nothing else, be entertaining. It's Tarantino. This is the diabolical purveyor of histrionic, action-packed jaunts that bleed style and ooze cool, of movies that have banging soundtracks and automatically generate an Academy Award for Christoph Waltz. This is the director that champions violence in film as fun, responding to the masses that claim violence in film is a potentially toxic influence on viewers with a beautifully composed shot of red blood spewing out of a newly-severed neck. Take that! The violence-is-bad point always reminds me of part of the testimony of famed censorship bogeyman William Gaines during the 1954 hearings on the validity of the violent comic books he produced: "Do we think our children are so evil, so simpleminded, that it takes a story of murder to set them to murder, a story of robbery to set them to robbery?" I picture Tarantino saying that, only with a lot more gesticulation and overeagerness and a lot of "alright, you know, okay?" and a lot of averted glances.
Continue reading The Hateful Eight (2015) →
Big EyesChristoph WaltzDjango UnchainedInglourious BasterdsJennifer Jason LeighKill BillKurt RussellMartin ScorsesePaul Thomas AndersonPlanet of the ApesPulp FictionQuentin TarantinoReservoir DogsSamuel L. JacksonSteven SpielbergThe Hateful EightTim BurtonWalton GogginsWes AndersonWilliam Gaines
Film & TV News: December 23
December 23, 2015 Motion State Staff	Leave a comment
The latest Force Awakens box office numbers put the Star Wars episode at $610.8 million, blasting past previous record-holders in pretty much every category. Avatar's global box-office haul is certainly in sight. More importantly, The Force Awakens is a pretty fantastic movie.
Speaking of Avatar, James Cameron has made a series of optimistic-sounding comments about the future of the franchise and the release of the first sequel around Christmas 2017. Cameron is planning a trilogy of sequels and is taking his time developing the world of Pandora, which in my book is a good thing.
Inherent Vice's Katherine Waterston will lead Ridley Scott's Prometheus sequel Alien: Covenant, which will reportedly bring back Michael Fassbender's android David and potentially Noomi Rapace's Shaw as well. Here's hoping the writing is more akin to the sparse Alien than to the convoluted Prometheus.
Continue reading Film & TV News: December 23 →
Alien: CovenantBatman ReturnsBlack MirrorConcussionDaddy's HomeDavid O. RussellErnest Saves ChristmasIdris ElbaIt's a Wonderful LifeJoyKatherine WaterstonLutherNoomi RapacePoint BreakQuentin TarantinoStar Wars: Episode VII - The Force AwakensThe Danish GirlThe Hateful EightThe Ref
Ivan's Childhood (1962)
December 20, 2015 Evan Jones	Leave a comment
No one is expected to be great at something at their first attempt. Especially not in the arts. When parents buy their child a violin, it's almost a guarantee that they will spend the next month or so plugging their ears at the cacophonous sounds they will be hearing at least an hour a day. Filmmakers are not exempt of this concept. We've seen the first films of the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese, and they're not very good. Even the master Stanley Kubrick notoriously hated his first film Fear and Desire, going so far as to buy all prints of the film so no one could see it. However, every once in a while, we get someone who seems to have a complete understanding of their art in their first foray into it, like when Mozart first sat down at a piano and began placing notes on a ledger line. This is the case with the great Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky and his debut feature-film Ivan's Childhood.
Ivan's Childhood, sometimes known as My Name is Ivan, was made in 1962 and is a tale of a boy named Ivan who is used as a scout during World War II. It follows Ivan's war-torn youth and the lives of the people around him as they all have to deal with the conditions this event puts them in. It is based on the short story "Ivan" by Vladimir Bogomolov. The film was, as previously mentioned, Andrei Tarkovsky's first, astoundingly so. To get to the point, Ivan's Childhood is a very beautiful film and although when it comes to Tarkovsky's sadly small filmography, works like Stalker, Solaris, and Andrei Rublev are usually given the most significant attention (deservedly so, may I add), I believe Ivan's Childhood is just as worthy of this praise and attention.
Continue reading Ivan's Childhood (1962) →
Andrei RublevAndrei TarkovskyEvgeny ZharikovFear and DesireIvan's ChildhoodMartin ScorseseNikolai BurlyalevQuentin TarantinoSolarisStalkerStanley KubrickVladimir Bogomolov
Film & TV News: October 13
October 13, 2015 Motion State Staff	Leave a comment
Both the New York Film Festival and the New York Comic Con concluded this weekend. From the former, I'd like to give a sarcastic shout-out to the idiot who talks through the Closing Night premiere and is inevitably seated right next to me; from the latter, I'd like to give an actual shout-out to the girl dressed as Harley Quinn that I saw zipping through Grand Central. Nice mallet.
Quentin Tarantino is cutting two versions of The Hateful Eight (rather than, you know, eight versions), one for 70mm and one for the rest of the peons to check out in digital. I really cannot for the life of me think of a good reason for this, other than because he's Tarantino.
Jeff Goldblum, Bryan Cranston, Bob Balaban and Edward Norton will be voicing a pack of dogs for Wes Anderson's next stop-motion animation film. Even if you're not a huge Wes fan, that's a pretty top-tier voice cast.
Continue reading Film & TV News: October 13 →
Beasts of No NationBlack MassBob BalabanBridge of SpiesBryan CranstonCary Joji FukunagaCoen BrothersCrimson PeakDon CheadleEdward NortonFargoHail Caesar!Jeff GoldblumMiles AheadQuentin TarantinoRoomSicarioThe Hateful EightThe LeftoversThe MartianThe WalkThe Walking DeadTrue DetectiveWes Anderson
Film & TV News: August 17
August 17, 2015 Motion State Staff	Leave a comment
The D23 Expo was jam-packed with Disney goodies, primarily from Star Wars properties The Force Awakens and Rogue One. And a Star Wars theme park where I can go sit in a Mos Eisley cantina and listen to Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes live? Take my money!
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales officially reinserts Orlando Bloom into the franchise, reminding everyone of the existence of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Orlando Bloom.
A Furiosa spinoff from Mad Max: Fury Road is still on the table, but no word on whether Charlize Theron (who had a hell of a time on the set of Fury Road) would be willing to return. Doesn't seem worth it without Charlize, does it?
Continue reading Film & TV News: August 17 →
Blunt TalkBryan CranstonBurntCharlize TheronDavid SimonFredHitman: Agent 47Orlando BloomPatrick StewartQuentin TarantinoRyan GoslingShow Me A HeroStayThe Hateful EightThe Man From U.N.C.L.E.Trumbo


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Deputy Speaker Dolma Tsering Teykhang Congratulates Speaker Kevin McCarthy
Dharamshala: Deputy Speaker Dolma Tsering Teykhang, on behalf of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile and Tibetans worldwide, congratulated the Honourable Kevin McCarthy, on being elected as the 55th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
Deputy Speaker wrote, "On behalf of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile and Tibetans worldwide, I would like to congratulate you on being elected as the 55th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives."
"We express our deepest and profound gratitude to the people and the government of the United States for the support and assistance given to the Tibetans and the just cause of Tibet."
"I hope and believe that you will continue to render support to our cause and people under your leadership."
"Once again I extend my heartfelt congratulations to you. I wish you all the very best for all your future endeavours and great success in fulfilling the aspirations of your people."


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Humanities › Literature
6 Tips for Writing Children's Plays and Scripts
Let Your Inner Child Onto the Page
Richard Lewisohn/Getty Images
Basics & Advice
Play & Drama Reviews
Wade Bradford
Theater Expert
M.A., Literature, California State University - Northridge
B.A., Creative Writing, California State University - Northridge
Wade Bradford, M.A., is an award-winning playwright and theater director. He wrote and directed seven productions for Yorba Linda Civic Light Opera's youth theater.
This is a near-and-dear subject for me. Over the past ten years, I have written many plays for children. I highly recommend this emotionally rewarding writing experience. To start you on your journey into youth theatre writing, I humbly offer the following advice:
Write What You Love
This is true for any genre, whether it's poetry, prose, or drama. A writer should create characters he cares about, plots that captivate him, and resolutions that move him. A playwright should be his own harshest critic and his own biggest fan. So, remember, choose topics and issues that generate passion within you. That way, your enthusiasm will cross over to your audience.
Write What Kids Love
Sadly, if you love the politics of 18th century Europe or doing your income tax, or talking about home equity loans, that passion may not translate into the realm of Kid-dom. Make sure that your play connects with children; In some cases that might mean to add a dash of fantasy, or to unleash your comic side. Think of how J.M. Barrie's classic musical, Peter Pan delighted a generation of children with its magic and mayhem. However, a children's play can take place in the "real world" too, with down to earth characters. Anne of Green Gables and A Christmas Story are excellent examples of this.
There is a popular demand for youth theater plays. High schools, elementary schools, drama clubs, and community theaters are constantly looking for new material. Publishers are anxious to find scripts that have compelling characters, clever dialogue, and easy-to-create sets.
Ask yourself: Do you want to sell your play? Or produce it yourself? Where would you like your play to be performed? At a school? Church? Regional theater? Broadway? All of them are possibilities, though some are easier goals than others. Check out the Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market. They list over 50 publishers and producers.
Also, contact the artistic director of your local playhouse. They might be looking for a new show for kids!
Know Your Cast
There are two types of children's plays. Some scripts are written to be performed by children. These are plays that are bought by publishers and then sold to schools and drama clubs.
Boys often shy away from drama. To increase your chances of success, create plays with a large number of female characters. Plays with an abundance of male leads don't sell as well. Also, avoid extremely controversial topics such as suicide, drugs, violence, or sexuality.
If you create a children's show to be performed by adults, your best market will be theaters that cater to families. Create plays with a small, energetic cast, and a minimal number of props and set pieces. Make it as easy for the troupe to stage your production.
A playwright's vocabulary should depend on the anticipated age of the audience. For example, if you want to create a play to be viewed by fourth graders, research age-appropriate vocabulary and spelling lists. This is not to say that you should completely avoid more sophisticated words. On the contrary, when a student hears a new word in the context of a story, she can increase her lexicon. (That's a fancy word for one's personal vocabulary.)
Play adaptations of Alice in Wonderland are a good example of writing that speaks to children using words they can understand. Yet the dialogue sporadically incorporates elevated language without losing its connection with the young audience.
Offer Lessons, but Don't Preach
Give your audience a positive, inspirational experience complete with a subtle yet uplifting message.
The play adaptation of The Little Princess an excellent example of how important lessons can be infused into a script. As the main character travels from one whimsical planet to the next, the audience learns the value of trust, imagination, and friendship. The messages subtly unfold.
If the script becomes too preachy, it may feel as though you are talking down to your audience. Do not forget; children are very perceptive (and often brutally honest). If your script generates laughter and thunderous applause, then you will have connected with one of the most demanding yet appreciative crowds on the planet: an audience filled with kids.
Bradford, Wade. "6 Tips for Writing Children's Plays and Scripts." ThoughtCo, Aug. 28, 2020, thoughtco.com/tips-for-writing-childrens-plays-2713635. Bradford, Wade. (2020, August 28). 6 Tips for Writing Children's Plays and Scripts. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/tips-for-writing-childrens-plays-2713635 Bradford, Wade. "6 Tips for Writing Children's Plays and Scripts." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/tips-for-writing-childrens-plays-2713635 (accessed January 30, 2023).
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Episode 5 | An In Depth Discussion On Police Brutality and The State Of America
June 7, 2020 • 39 min
In this episode we cover: The real meaning of "defund the police" and reimagining the police force, police brutality as a human rights issue rather than a political issue, why not to use the term "people of color" to address black people, police using violence against peaceful protestors, the lack of coverage of black women being brutalized and murdered in the media, how to help besides protesting, the harm behind staying silent, i...
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The most notorious mass murder in Ohio's history happened on the night of April 21, 2016 in rural Pike County. Four crime scenes, thirty-two gunshot wounds, eight members of the Rhoden family left dead in their homes. Two years later a local family of four, the Wagners, are arrested and charged with the crimes. As the Wagners await four back-to-back capital murder trials, the KT Studios team revisits Pike County to examine: crime-scene forensics, upcoming legal proceedings, and the ties that bind the victims and the accused. As events unfold and new crimes are uncovered, what will it mean for all involved? What will it mean for Pike County?
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The significance of the C-reactive protein to albumin ratio as a marker for predicting survival and monitoring chemotherapeutic effectiveness in patients with unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer
Masatsune Shibutani1,
Kiyoshi Maeda1,
Hisashi Nagahara1,
Yasuhito Iseki1,
Kosei Hirakawa1 &
Masaichi Ohira1
Inflammation has been reported to play an important role in cancer progression and various inflammatory markers have been reported to be useful prognostic markers. The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the significance of the C-reactive protein to albumin (CRP/ALB) ratio in colorectal cancer patients who received palliative chemotherapy. We performed a retrospective review of 99 patients who underwent palliative chemotherapy for unresectable colorectal cancer between 2005 and 2010. The cutoff value of the CRP/ALB ratio was determined based on a receiver operating characteristics curve analysis. The relationship between the CRP/ALB ratio and survival was assessed. The cutoff value for the CRP/ALB ratio was 0.183. The high pretreatment CRP/ALB ratio group showed significantly worse overall survival. Patients with a high pretreatment CRP/ALB ratio and in whom the CRP/ALB ratio normalized after chemotherapy tended to have better overall survival than those in whom both the pretreatment and posttreatment CRP/ALB ratios were high. The CRP/ALB ratio is a useful marker for predicting survival and monitoring chemotherapeutic effectiveness in patients with unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer.
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common causes of cancer-related death worldwide (Edwards et al. 2014). Unresectable metastasis is one of the most important prognostic factors for patients with CRC (Shibutani et al. 2015b). In spite of advances in chemotherapy, which include new cytotoxic and molecular targeted therapies, the prognosis of patients with unresectable metastatic CRC remains poor, with a median survival time of approximately 30 months (Heinemann et al. 2014; Grothey et al. 2008). The assessment of prognostic factors is therefore important for the management of unresectable metastatic CRC patients.
It is well known that there is a close relationship between inflammation and cancer progression (Mantovani et al. 2008; Balkwill and Mantovani 2001) and some inflammatory markers have been investigated as prognostic factors in CRC (Shibutani et al. 2013, 2014; McMillan et al. 2007; Maeda et al. 2015). The C-reactive protein-to-albumin (CRP/ALB) ratio has been reported to be a more accurate prognostic value in patients with various malignancies than the modified Glasgow prognostic score (mGPS) (Kinoshita et al. 2015; Xu et al. 2015), which is also calculated from the serum CRP and ALB concentration, and we previously reported on the prognostic significance of the CRP/ALB ratio in patients with CRC who underwent curative surgery (Shibutani et al. 2016). However, aside from our report, there have only been a few reports regarding the prognostic significance of the CRP/ALB ratio in patients with CRC (Ishizuka et al. 2016). Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, there are no published studies regarding the prognostic significance of the CRP/ALB ratio in patients with unresectable metastatic CRC. Therefore, we applied this marker to patients with unresectable metastatic CRC and compared the usefulness of the CRP/ALB ratio with that of other inflammatory markers for predicting and monitoring the therapeutic outcome.
The aim of the present study is to evaluate the significance of the CRP/ALB ratio as a marker for predicting survival and monitoring chemotherapeutic effectiveness in patients with unresectable metastatic CRC.
We retrospectively reviewed a database of 99 patients who underwent palliative combination chemotherapy for unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer at the Department of Surgical Oncology of Osaka City University between 2005 and 2010.
The patient characteristics are listed in Table 1. The patient population consisted of 57 males and 42 females, with a median age of 63 years (range 27–86). Forty of the patients had metachronous unresectable cancer; 59 had synchronous unresectable cancer. Fifty-four patients had single organ metastasis and 45 patients multiple organs affected by metastases. All of the patients underwent combination chemotherapy with oxaliplatin, or irinotecan plus 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin, or a prodrug of 5-fluorouracil as a first-line chemotherapy. Regimens considered to have the same efficacy were used for all of the patients in this study (Cassidy et al. 2008; Tournigand et al. 2004; Yamada et al. 2013). Sixty-five patients received 5-fluorouracil + leucovorin + oxaliplatin (FOLFOX), 21 patients received capecitabine + oxaliplatin (CapeOX), nine patients received 5-fluorouracil + leucovorin + irinotecan (FOLFIRI) and four patients received S-1 + oxaliplatin (SOX). Sixty-nine patients underwent chemotherapy combined with molecular targeted therapy. The median follow-up period for the surviving patients was 20.8 months (range 2.6–73.2 months). Sixty-three patients died during the follow-up period.
Table 1 The patients' characteristics
Response evaluations were performed every eight weeks. A variation of approximately one week was regarded as an allowable error. All of the patients were followed up with a physical examination, blood tests (these included measurements of tumor marker levels such as carcinoembryonic antigen [CEA]), computed tomography and ultrasonography.
The pretreatment blood samples were obtained within one week before the initiation of chemotherapy; the posttreatment blood samples were obtained eight weeks after the initiation of chemotherapy. The serum CRP and ALB concentrations were measured using a chemiluminescent immunoassay (Wako, Osaka, Japan) according to the manufacturer's protocol. The differential white blood cell count was analyzed using an XE-5000 hematology analyzer (Sysmex, Kobe, Japan) based on the manufacturer's protocol. The CRP/ALB ratio was calculated from the preoperative blood samples by dividing the serum CRP level by the serum ALB level. The mGPS was defined according to the methods of a previous report (Petrelli et al. 2015), using the combination of the serum CRP and ALB levels: patients with a CRP level of <1.0 mg/dl were allocated a score of 0; those in whom the CRP and ALB levels were ≥1.0 mg/dl and ≥3.5 g/dl, respectively, were allocated a score of 1; and those in whom the CRP and ALB levels were ≥1.0 mg/dl and ALB < 3.5 g/dl, respectively, were allocated a score of 2. The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) was calculated from a blood sample by dividing the absolute neutrophil count by the absolute lymphocyte count.
The significance of the correlations between the pretreatment CRP/ALB ratio and the clinicopathological characteristics were analyzed using the χ 2 test. The duration of survival was calculated according to the Kaplan–Meier method. Differences in the survival curves were assessed using the log-rank test. A multivariate analysis was performed according to the Cox proportional hazard model. All of the statistical analyses were conducted using the SPSS software package for Windows (SPSS Japan, Tokyo, Japan). p values of <0.05 were considered to indicate statistical significance.
This research was conformed to the provisions of the Declaration of Helsinki in 1975. All patients were informed of the investigational nature of this study and provided written informed consent. This retrospective study was approved by the ethics committee of Osaka City University.
Classifications according to the pretreatment inflammatory markers
We used the CRP/ALB ratio, which was a continuous variable, as the test variable and the 24-month survival (median survival time: 24 months) as the state variable. When we investigated the cut-off value for the CRP/ALB ratio using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, we found that the appropriate cut-off value for the CRP/ALB ratio was 0.183 (sensitivity: 53.5 %; specificity: 72.1 %) (Fig. 1a). We therefore set 0.183 as the cut-off value and the patients were classified into the high-CRP/ALB ratio (n = 36) and low-CRP/ALB ratio (n = 63) groups. Using the ROC curve in the same manner, we set the cut-off value for the NLR at 3.0 (sensitivity: 65.0 %, specificity: 78.0 %) (Fig. 1b). In accordance with the findings of previous reports, the study population was classified into the patients with an mGPS of 0 or 1 and the patients with an mGPS of 2 (Sugimoto et al. 2012; Furukawa et al. 2012).
a A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of the C-reactive protein to albumin (CRP/ALB) ratio in patients with unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer. Area under the curve = 0.655; 95 % confidence interval = 0.539–0.772; p = 0.013. b A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in patients with unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer. Area under the curve = 0.701; 95 % confidence interval = 0.582–0.820; p = 0.002
The correlations between the pretreatment CRP/ALB ratio and the clinicopathological factors
The correlations between the pretreatment CRP/ALB ratio and the clinicopathological factors are shown in Table 2. The pretreatment CRP/ALB ratio had no significant relationships with any of the clinicopathological factors except for the pretreatment mGPS and NLR.
Table 2 The correlations between the pretreatment CRP/ALB ratio and the clinicopathological factors
The survival analysis based on the pretreatment inflammatory markers
The overall survival rate was significantly worse in the high pretreatment CRP/ALB ratio group than in the low pretreatment CRP/ALB ratio group (p = 0.0009) (Fig. 2a). The overall survival rate was significantly worse in patients with an mGPS of 2 than in those with an mGPS of 0 or 1 (p = 0.0450) (Fig. 2b). The overall survival rate was significantly worse in the high neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio group than in the low neutrophil to lymphocyte group (p < 0.0001) (Fig. 2c).
The Kaplan–Meier survival curves for overall survival. a The overall survival rate was significantly worse in the high-C-reactive protein to albumin (CRP/ALB) ratio group than in the low-CRP/ALB ratio group (p = 0.0009). b The overall survival rate was significantly worse in patients with a modified Glagow prognostic score (mGPS) of 2 than in those with an mGPS of 0 or 1 (p = 0.0450). c The overall survival rate was significantly worse in the high neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) group than in the low NLR group (p < 0.0001). d Kaplan–Meier survival curves for overall survival in an analysis limited to the patients with a modified Glasgow prognostic score (mGPS) of 0 or 1. The overall survival rate was significantly worse in the high-C-reactive protein to albumin (CRP/ALB) ratio group than in the low-CRP/ALB ratio group (p = 0.0048)
The prognostic factors influencing long-term survival
The correlations between overall survival and the various clinicopathological factors are shown in Table 3. According to the results of a univariate analysis, overall survival showed significant relationships with the number of organs affected by metastasis (p = 0.024), the use of a molecular targeted therapy (p = 0.001), the pretreatment CRP/ALB ratio (p = 0.001) and the pretreatment NLR (p < 0.001). A multivariate analysis indicated that the use of a molecular targeted therapy (hazard ratio 0.341; 95 % confidence interval 0.186–0.626; p = 0.001), the pretreatment CRP/ALB ratio (hazard ratio 1.866; 95 % confidence interval 1.057–3.295; p = 0.031) and the pretreatment NLR (hazard ratio 2.706; 95 % confidence interval 1.483–4.939; p = 0.001) were independent prognostic factors for overall survival.
Table 3 The correlations between overall survival and various clinicopathological factors
The survival analysis based on the pretreatment CRP/ALB ratio, limited to the patients with an mGPS of 0 or 1
We then performed a sub-analysis limited to patients with an mGPS of 0 or 1. Among these patients, the overall survival rate was significantly worse in the high-CRP/ALB ratio group than in the low-CRP/ALB ratio group (p = 0.0048) (Fig. 2d).
The correlation between the normalization of the CRP/ALB ratio at eight weeks after chemotherapy and survival
We evaluated the prognostic significance of the normalization of the CRP/ALB ratio at eight weeks after the initiation of chemotherapy. We categorized the patients into three groups according to their pretreatment and posttreatment CRP/ALB ratio values. Patients with a low pretreatment CRP/ALB ratio were categorized into group A. Patients with a high pretreatment CRP/ALB ratio and a normalized CRP/ALB ratio at eight weeks after the initiation of chemotherapy were categorized into group B. Patients with high pretreatment and posttreatment CRP/ALB ratio values were categorized into group C. The patients in group B tended to exhibit a better prognosis than those in group C (p = 0.0641) (Fig. 3).
Overall survival according to the combination of the pretreatment and posttreatment C-reactive protein to albumin (CRP/ALB) ratio values. The prognosis of the patients in group B tended to be better than that in the patients of group C (p = 0.0641)
There have been various studies on the close relationship between inflammation and cancer since the relationship was first reported by Virchow in 1863 (Mantovani et al. 2008; Balkwill and Mantovani 2001). Recently, inflammation has been widely recognized to contribute to cancer progression and various inflammatory markers, such as the NLR, CRP, GPS and mGPS have been reported to be correlated with the survival of patients with CRC (Shibutani et al. 2013, 2014; McMillan et al. 2007; Sugimoto et al. 2012; Furukawa et al. 2012).
Inflammation induces an increase in the levels of cytokines, which play an important role in tumor proliferation, progression, invasion and metastasis, as well as in resistance to chemotherapy (Colotta et al. 2009; Coussens and Werb 2002; Heikkilä et al. 2007). Therefore, inflammatory markers are considered to reflect the momentum of cancer growth. Furthermore, the levels of systemic inflammatory markers have been reported to correlate with tumor volume (Shibutani et al. 2015b). In this way, inflammatory markers are considered to be useful for predicting and monitoring the therapeutic outcome in patients with malignancies.
The CRP/ALB ratio was primarily investigated for the purpose of predicting mortality in patients with sepsis. The CRP/ALB ratio was also applied to predicting the prognosis of patients with cancer and its usefulness has been reported in patients with various cancers, such as hepatocellular carcinoma, esophageal cancer and lung cancer (Kinoshita et al. 2015; Xu et al. 2015; Zhou et al. 2015). In previous reports, the CRP/ALB ratio was shown to have an outstanding prognostic value in comparison to other established inflammation-based prognostic markers (Kinoshita et al. 2015; Xu et al. 2015). Although the area under curve (AUC) value of the CRP/ALB ratio was lower than that of the NLR, the CRP/ALB ratio was shown to be a valuable marker and was thus found to be sufficient for predicting survival in the present study.
As Casadei Gardini reported, the serum CRP concentration alone is also significantly correlated with the survival (Casadei Gardini et al. 2016). We came to the same conclusion based on the findings in our previous study (Shibutani et al. 2015b). However, Ranzani reported that the CRP/ALB ratio was more closely correlated with survival than the CRP values alone (Ranzani et al. 2013). By combining the CRP and albumin values, which have both been reported to be independent prognostic factors for various types of cancer, the CRP/ALB ratio is believed to be a more useful marker.
The mGPS, which has been reported to be a useful prognostic marker in patients with CRC, is similar to the CRP/ALB ratio, as both results can be calculated from the serum CRP and albumin concentration. However, the majority of the patients are classified with an mGPS of 0 or 1, which is associated with a better prognosis (Sugimoto et al. 2012; Furukawa et al. 2012). In the present study, approximately 90 % of the patients were found to have an mGPS of 0 or 1. For this reason, most patients could not be classified by the mGPS. On the other hand, the patients who had an mGPS of 0 or 1 could be classified into two groups according to their CRP/ALB ratios and significant differences were observed between the two groups. It can therefore be said that the CRP/ALB ratio is a more accurate prognostic marker than the mGPS.
Moreover, the normalization of the CRP/ALB ratio at eight weeks after the initiation of chemotherapy tended to be correlated with an improvement in overall survival. Based on this result, the CRP/ALB ratio is considered to be a useful marker for monitoring the effectiveness of chemotherapy as well as for predicting survival. On the other hand, it has been reported that there is no relationship between the normalization of the NLR and survival, because the value is easily affected by chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression (Shibutani et al. 2015a). Therefore, the CRP/ALB ratio was believed to be superior to the NLR for evaluating the efficacy of chemotherapy. Although previous studies have primarily focused on the prognostic significance of the pretreatment CRP/ALB ratio, in the present study, the CRP/ALB ratio was revealed to be a useful marker for monitoring the effectiveness of chemotherapy as well as for predicting survival.
Although we set 0.183 as the CRP/ALB ratio cut-off value according to the results of the ROC analysis, other studies have used various cut-off values. Because the inflammatory markers were reported to be associated with the degree of tumor progression, such as the TNM stage (Shibutani et al. 2013; Xu et al. 2015; Ishizuka et al. 2016), the appropriate cut-off value may change according to the background characteristics of the patients.
The present study is associated with some possible limitations. First, we evaluated a relatively small number of patients and the study design was retrospective in nature. Second, comorbidities that may have affected systemic inflammation and the serum albumin concentration (such as infection, ischemia, acute coronary disease, liver cirrhosis, and nephrotic syndrome) were not taken into consideration. A large prospective study should therefore be performed to confirm our findings.
The CRP/ALB ratio is a useful marker not only for predicting survival, but also for monitoring chemotherapeutic effectiveness in patients with unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer who receive palliative chemotherapy.
ALB:
albumin
mGPS:
modified Glasgow prognostic score
FOLFOX:
5-fluorouracil + leucovorin + oxaliplatin
CapeOX:
capecitabine + oxaliplatin
FOLFIRI:
5-fluorouracil + leucovorin + irinotecan
SOX:
S-1 + oxaliplatin
CEA:
carcinoembryonic antigen
NLR:
neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio
ROC:
receiver operating characteristic
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Casadei Gardini A, Carloni S, Scarpi E, Maltoni P, Dorizzi RM, Passardi A et al (2016) Prognostic role of serum concentrations of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer: results from the ITACa trial. Oncotarget 7:10193–10202
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Heikkilä K, Ebrahim S, Lawlor DA (2007) A systematic review of the association between circulating concentrations of C reactive protein and cancer. J Epidemiol Commun Health 61:824–833
Heinemann V, von Weikersthal LF, Decker T, Kiani A, Vehling-Kaiser U, Al-Batran SE et al (2014) FOLFIRI plus cetuximab versus FOLFIRI plus bevacizumab as first-line treatment for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (FIRE-3): a randomised, open-label, phase 3 trial. Lancet Oncol 15:1065–1075
Ishizuka M, Nagata H, Takagi K, Iwasaki Y, Shibuya N, Kubota K (2016) Clinical significance of the c-reactive protein to albumin ratio for survival after surgery for colorectal cancer. Ann Surg Oncol 23:900–907
Kinoshita A, Onoda H, Imai N, Iwaku A, Oishi M, Tanaka K et al (2015) The C-reactive protein/albumin ratio, a novel inflammation-based prognostic score, predicts outcomes in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Ann Surg Oncol 22:803–810
Maeda K, Shibutani M, Otani H, Nagahara H, Ikeya T, Iseki Y et al (2015) Inflammation-based factors and prognosis in patients with colorectal cancer. World J Gastrointest Oncol 7:111–117
Mantovani A, Allavena P, Sica A, Balkwill F (2008) Cancer-related inflammation. Nature 454:436–444
McMillan DC, Crozier JE, Canna K, Angerson WJ, McArdle CS (2007) Evaluation of an inflammation-based prognostic score (GPS) in patients undergoing resection for colon and rectal cancer. Int J Colorectal Dis 22:881–886
Petrelli F, Barni S, Coinu A, Bertocchi P, Borgonovo K, Cabiddu M et al (2015) The Modified Glasgow prognostic score and survival in colorectal cancer: a pooled analysis of the literature. Rev Recent Clin Trials 10:135–141
Ranzani OT, Zampieri FG, Forte DN, Azevedo LC, Park M (2013) C-reactive protein/albumin ratio predicts 90-day mortality of septic patients. PLoS One 8:e59321
Shibutani M, Maeda K, Nagahara H, Noda E, Ohtani H, Nishiguchi Y et al (2013) A high preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio is associated with poor survival in patients with colorectal cancer. Anticancer Res 33:3291–3294
Shibutani M, Maeda K, Nagahara H, Ohtani H, Sugano K, Ikeya T et al (2014) Elevated preoperative serum C-reactive protein levels are associated with poor survival in patients with colorectal cancer. Hepatogastroenterology 61:2236–2240
Shibutani M, Maeda K, Nagahara H, Ohtani H, Sakurai K, Yamazoe A et al (2015a) Significance of markers of systemic inflammation for predicting survival and chemotherapeutic outcomes and monitoring tumor progression in patients with unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer. Anticancer Res 35:5037–5046
Shibutani M, Maeda K, Nagahara H, Noda E, Ohtani H, Nishiguchi Y, Sakurai K, Hirakawa K (2015b) Prognostic significance of the preoperative serum C-reactive protein level in patients with stage IV colorectal cancer. Surg Today 45:315–321
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Yamada Y, Takahari D, Matsumoto H, Baba H, Nakamura M, Yoshida K et al (2013) Leucovorin, fluorouracil, and oxaliplatin plus bevacizumab versus S-1 and oxaliplatin plus bevacizumab in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (SOFT): an open-label, non-inferiority, randomised phase 3 trial. Lancet Oncol 14:1278–1286
Zhou T, Zhan J, Hong S, Hu Z, Fang W, Qin T et al (2015) Ratio of C-reactive protein/albumin is an inflammatory prognostic score for predicting overall survival of patients with small-cell lung cancer. Sci Rep 5:10481
MS and KM designed the study, performed the statistical analysis and draft the manuscript. HN and YI collected the clinical data. KH designed the study and critically reviewed the manuscript. MO critically reviewed the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
This research received no specific grants from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors. We thank Brian Quinn who provided medical writing services on behalf of JMC, Ltd.
Department of Surgical Oncology, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-4-3 Asahi-machi Abeno–Ku, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture, 545-8585, Japan
Masatsune Shibutani, Kiyoshi Maeda, Hisashi Nagahara, Yasuhito Iseki, Kosei Hirakawa & Masaichi Ohira
Masatsune Shibutani
Kiyoshi Maeda
Hisashi Nagahara
Yasuhito Iseki
Kosei Hirakawa
Masaichi Ohira
Correspondence to Masatsune Shibutani.
Shibutani, M., Maeda, K., Nagahara, H. et al. The significance of the C-reactive protein to albumin ratio as a marker for predicting survival and monitoring chemotherapeutic effectiveness in patients with unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer. SpringerPlus 5, 1798 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40064-016-3529-y
Unresectable
C-reactive protein to albumin ratio
Chemotherapeutic effectiveness


If you confirmed your attendance for the fake Facebook Event page, then you need to cancel your reservation for the event. You also should notify your friends that you have shared a bogus link with them and/or invited them to a Fake event.
If you copied the code into your browser, then you should perform a complete system scan with a good anti-virus program.
Some surveys require you to enter in your cell phone number to receive test results. If you gave the scammers your number, then you should contact your carrier immediately and dispute any bogus charges that might appear.


World Record Redfish, Tarpon, huge Jacks. See what's been biting and get fired up. Videos as well.
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The trip was fantastic and catching my first triple digit tarpon on the fly was an amazing experience. Everything was first rate as always. —JOSH C.
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If you consider yourself a fly fisherman, get down to where the giant reds are and hold on. -Peter P.
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text:
Q: How to prevent Powershell from printing warnings on the output? I am executing a PS script to display few things from Azure. But, for some cmdlets the warnings gets written to the output.
like this:
WARNING: AzureRM.Profile already loaded. Az and AzureRM modules cannot be imported in the same session or used in the same script or runbook. If you are running PowerShell i n an environment you control you can use the 'Uninstall-AzureRm' cmdlet to remove all AzureRm modules from your machine. If you are running in Azure Automation, take care th at none of your runbooks import both Az and AzureRM modules. More information can be found here: https://aka.ms/azps-migration-guide.
I have used the -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue which will prevent the errors from printing. But is there a way to avoid warnings in the output while executing the command.
P.S: I am well aware of how to get rid of the above warning. Just curious if there is any way we can keep the warnings from displaying.

A: You're trying to use -ErrorAction on a Warning, which is not an Error.
To silence Warnings, you need to use -WarningAction SilentlyContinue

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Rugby: The last hurrah for Hay?
North Otago rugby stalwart Ross Hay relaxes with his family, son Charlie (17 months) and wife Jo, on their Herbert farm yesterday. Photo by David Bruce.
North Otago chases its fourth piece of silverware in eight years when it hosts the Meads Cup final on Saturday. Clinging on to the side of the scrum, as he has in the three previous finals, will be rangy flanker Ross Hay. He tells sports editor Hayden Meikle this might be his last dance in gold.
A kind man would describe Ross Hay, at least in those moments when he walks off a rugby field, as looking like he needs a little break.
A more severe observer might say he looks like something the cat dragged in.
Hay (30), the quintessential heartland hero, will put his famously lean body through the mincer one more time when he helps North Otago chase Meads Cup glory against Wanganui on Saturday.
He will chase every loose ball and make every tackle, and after 80 minutes of uncapped exertion, he will stagger to the sideline and, with shaking hands, embrace wife Jo and 17-month-old son Charlie.
And then, that could be it.
A career that started in 1999 and has included 125 games in the gold jersey could, finally, be over.
This will be your last game, "Bones", will it not?
"Hmmm. It's highly likely, I'd say. We'll talk about that later on."
He is a man of few words but Hay's performances have always spoken loudly for the grassroots values of loyalty and commitment.
The St Kevin's College old boy was rated one of the country's elite prospects in 1995, when he was chosen in the New Zealand Under-16 squad to play Australia.
The team included a couple of handy front-rowers called Carl Hayman and Tom Willis.
Ben Blair was at first five and Orene Ai'i at fullback.
And the openside flanker who kept Hay on the bench was a mobile young Aucklander called Keven Mealamu.
If Hay's rugby career did not quite take off to the extent some of those other players' did, it is nothing to be sniffed at.
He became one of only two men (Mike Mavor is the other) to chalk up 100 first-class appearances for North Otago, he captained his province and he celebrated victories in the old third division (2002), the Meads Cup (2007) and the Lochore Cup (2009).
Hay was named Heartland Championship player of the year in 2007, and a year later toured the United States with the Heartland XV.
He actually thought he had already retired.
His desire to play this year was dimming when new coach Barry Matthews suggested the chance to challenge Southland for the Ranfurly Shield was worth a comeback.
"I wasn't really that worried about coming back," Hay said.
"If it hadn't have been for the Shield, I probably would have retired. I played that and had a couple of calls from the coach."
Hay took his family on an overseas trip and then had a "sabbatical".
In France, like Dan Carter? Or the United States, like Ali Williams?
For Hay, time off meant working the lambing beat on his Herbert farm.
The local rumour mill suggested the North Otago rugby team had seen the last of its great loose forward, but the arm was twisted and the familiar streak was soon back on Centennial Park.
"It wasn't easy coming back. I didn't mind having a run for 30 minutes but 80 minutes has been a bit of a battle."
You won't hear Hay getting too cocky but he is confident North Otago is ready to face 2008 and 2009 champion Wanganui.
"We're pretty happy. There's always stuff to work on and we probably haven't had a complete performance yet.
"But once we do click, it will take quite a good team to beat us."
Hay said Matthews had brought a direct approach to the job and was working nicely with assistant Shane Carter and Glenn Moore, the former Highlanders coach, who is helping out his former team.
Finals week will be no glamorous affair for Hay - he'll be too busy dagging and drenching sheep to get carried away.


With 12,000 people running the Brighton Marathon recently, there must have been more than a few injuries, aches and pains across our fair city in the days and weeks that followed.
One such person was Jonno Cox, a regular long-distance running DJ who'd actually picked up a soleus muscle injury (or calf muscle injury, to the non-medically trained among us) playing football a week before. He was advised by his doctor not to run, but he was determined: "I woke up that morning and thought I'd give 10k a go – but once I'd started I wanted to complete it and ended up with a time of 3 hours 49 minutes." The results are impressive when looking at the race time, but less so from the point of the suffering that followed. This is where Pedro from Aunion Therapy Studio steps in.
Pedro has been a sports massage therapist for more than a decade and is a qualified acupuncture and acupressurist. He also has 20 years professional dance experience, including 15 years managing his own performing arts company – so he knows a thing or two about the strains we can put on our bodies and more importantly, how to fix them. We thought it would be a good idea to introduce Jonno and Pedro – and monitor the situation.
In his studio on Baker Street, Pedro explained how he wanted to approach Jonno's injury in four ways: acupuncture, stretching, exercises and a sports massage to start off with. While the injury was in Jonno's right leg, Pedro wanted to apply his magic hands to both of them to create more elasticity in the muscles. A massage may sound like it should be relaxing, but a more vigorous approach is needed for muscle tissue damage as his injury was worked by Pedro's elbow.
After a good ten minutes of this massage method, the needles came out for what Pedro explained was a form of acupuncture designed to relax overactive muscles – known as 'dry needling'. As he took these mighty pins to Jonno's trigger points, I considered whether Pedro was just a sadist masquerading as a professional therapist. But he spoke so knowledgeably about the subject that it would've been one hell of a mask to wear. Jonno's concerns of looking like a porcupine were eased on hearing the news that no more than ten needles would be used and was visibly far more comfortable onced he realised there was no pain on the first few.
The acupuncture was given 15 minutes to do its thing, after which they moved onto stretching. I suspected Jonno was in for more pain here, but as Pedro manipulated Jonno's vertebrae, followed with leg cracks and neck and shoulder stretches, the initial burn was replaced by instant improvement. Likewise with the final exercises where his full legs were worked through the gluteus, Jonno's muscles were feeling measurably more loosened afterwards.
Find Pedro at Aunion Therapy Studio on 32 Baker Street, Brighton.
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This year, too many transgender people have already become the victims of gun violence in America. We need Congress to take action to stop this senseless violence and prevent hateful people from arming themselves with guns. Right now, in most states, someone convicted of a violent hate crime can still legally buy a gun.
This is unacceptable. Whether it's racism, homophobia, misogyny, transphobia, xenophobia, religious intolerance or other bias — we demand to live in a country where we can be safe to be who we are, believe in what we want and love whomever we choose. Sign our petition asking Congress to disarm hatred and keep guns out of dangerous hands.
Sign the petition to Congress: Support common-sense gun laws to keep firearms out of the hands of those likely to commit hate crimes.
Support common-sense gun laws to keep firearms out of the hands of those likely to commit hate crimes.