Stunting death: affect, attraction and authenticity in Rated-R superhero cinema

2018 Fall.Includes bibliographical references.Stunt work is an ever-present and typically overlooked aspect of film production. The labor goes unseen by design; traditionally, Hollywood studio hierarchies regarded a good stunt performer as one who altogether eluded audience detection. The early star system's stunt performers did not see their names splashed across film industry magazines as happens today. Even contemporarily, studios and surrounding paratextual discourse systematically de-emphasize the stunt even in cases where certain stunt performers become, as Lauren Steimer put it, "hypervisible." The trick works perhaps too well, as Steimer remains one of few scholars to studies stunts. Several of these few have called for stunt work's theoretical and generic expansion. The impetus for doing so is a fundamentally ethical one. How can a society view and engage with entertainment while being unaware of those who willingly risk injury and death to imbue films with authentic action? Stunt scholarship thus far has focused primarily on stunt worker's history—from their origins as human flies, bridge-jumpers and other daredevils to feckless circus clowns and all these characters' eventual absorption into Hollywood sets. Scholars also discuss ways in which stunt work complicates traditional understandings of film diegesis. I further articulate the stunt's relationship with diegetic narrative, tracing its functions through the cinema of attractions, avant-garde spectatorship, documentary space and other story-breaking constructs. In doing so, I hope to heed one particular scholarly call to evaluate this ubiquitous brand of labor within the brightly colored, ultra-violent and action-driven world of R-Rated superhero films. Fox studios recently produced two Deadpool (2016, 2018) films and Logan (2017). Critics hailed them as groundbreaking achievements within a genre that has typically eschewed not only fourth-wall-breaking humor, but gratuitous blood and gore. Something in the characters of Wade Wilson and old man Logan reflects common perceptions of stunt people. They must surely leap back up after any injury, much like the rapidly healing antiheroes they play in these films. Industry dialectic encourages a kind of spectatorship that does not linger on the stunt body's ethereal appearance on-screen. In removing attention from the stunt, such coverage tacitly preserves audience immersion in narrative while distracting attentions from the pain and sacrifice comprising the stunt performer's career. Since these performers give filmgoers authentic-looking affective thrills, I argue for a closer look at what is not meant to be seen

Formation of a Millennial Cafe Ministry in Ogden, Utah: An Economically Viable Model

Problem Connecting and retaining millennials within established church structure has proven difficult in my context. I have a genuine desire for community and purpose within millennial groups, yet the majority remain removed from traditional church programming and events. A growing disenfranchisement with current church framework has caused many millennials to disengage or seek purpose elsewhere. Method Press Together was formed as a new millennial friendly approach to ministry in Ogden, UT. This raw cold-pressed juicery serves the healthiest organic options from its retail location while providing a space for fellowship, ministry and employment. This uses millenial focus groups and financial data to evaluate millennial engagement and the economic viability of Press Together. The Results Millennials were attracted to Press Together models. They would not hesitate to engage with and recommend Press Together. Most desired additional space for fellowship beyond space offered at the Ogden, Utah location. The production and sale of organic cold-pressed juice products is laborious and expensive. Retail sales alone did not validate an economically viable model given the cost of denominational waga scales and benefits. However, Press Together\u27s non-profit status provided a foundation for philanthropic efforts showing promise for an economically viable model. Conclusions Press Together represents a modern approach to ministry that resonates with millennials. For Press Together to reach its full potential, visionary leadership and skilled management are essential to sustain economic viability and realize ministry potential. With proper oversight and leadership, Press Together represents relevant millennial church planting model that can be strategically reproduced in affluent areas around the world

Race, criminal embeddedness, and the American Dream

The most dominant cultural theme in the United States, one that impacts political, social, and personal aspects of individual lives, is the American Dream. In the race toward the American Dream, individuals\u27 starting positions significantly influence where they finish. Stratification researchers have consistently found that race, social class, and family background have an impact on the economic, educational, and social statuses that individuals reach in adulthood. In addition to background factors, many major life events that individuals experience serve to limit or enhance their ability to achieve various economic and social goals. One major life event that is infrequently studied is contact with the criminal justice system. In his recent work on criminal embeddedness Hagan (1993) argues that contact with the criminal justice system has a snowballing effect in that each additional arrest, conviction, and year spent in prison decreases life chances. The formal sanctioning of individuals by the state serves to trap or enmesh individuals in the criminal justice system. Criminologists employing a life-course approach are coming to view criminal embeddedness as a major life event that may affect adult positions in society. Using data from a study of 4,445 males convicted in federal courts, I examine the adult consequences of criminal embeddedness. Specifically, I study the effects of age of onset, number of prior arrests, total time incarcerated, early arrest, and early incarceration on adult financial well-being, occupational stability and community involvement, while controlling for individual background variables, educational attainment, and age. Overall, results provide strong support for Hagan\u27s concept of criminal embeddedness. Contact with the criminal justice system appears to have a strong, deleterious effect on individuals\u27 financial well-being and occupational stability when using continuous and age-graded measures of criminal embeddedness. For community involvement, I find that the measures of criminal embeddedness are less important as predictors. Results also demonstrate that race, educational attainment, and age are significant predictors of financial well-being. Blacks appear to face a sizable disadvantage compared to whites in their quest for financial and occupational stability. Regardless of race, younger, less educated individuals have significantly lower levels of financial well-being, job stability, and community involvement than older and more educated individuals. Despite the vast monetary resources involved, America\u27s imprisonment binge has had only minimal effects on crime and victimization rates. Most studies show that the unprecedented growth of the criminal justice enterprise has done little to deter individuals from committing future criminal acts. In this study, I focus on the effects of criminal embeddedness on non-criminal adult outcomes. I find that contact with the criminal justice system has a consistent depressing effect on the adult lives of individuals, especially their opportunities for financial well-being and occupational stability

Biological aspects of the biopulping fungus Ceriporiopsis subvermispora

The specific activity of four isolates of C. subvermispora media was found to be quite variable. Growth on PDA was the fastest compared to other common nutrient media. Cardinal temperatures for growth were optimum at 30°C, minimum at 15°C and maximum at 35°C. Macroscopic characteristics of mycelial mats, in relation to aerial hyphae production, were also found to differ among different media. Induction of fruiting was successful with two of the isolates when grown in petri dishes containing 1% malt extract agar. Basidiocarp production on Pinus banksiana boards was found to be very effective. Spore germination at 72% was highest with CZ-3 as was spore production. Single spore isolations and interfertility tests illustrated that C. subvermispora showed a tetrapolar incompatibility system and not a bipolar system as previously thought. The production of extracellular polyphenol oxidase in agar based media was found to be dependant on the type of media used

The Effectiveness of Deceptive Tactics in Phishing

Phishing, or the attempt of criminals to obtain sensitive information through a variety of techniques, is still a serious problem for IT managers and Internet consumers. With over 57 million Americans exposed to phishing in 2005, a reported 5% of recipients were victimized. Some believe that one percent of all email is phishing-related, and estimates of financial losses vary from 100 million to 1 billion dollars (US) a year (Goth, 2005). Our research examines the properties in a phishing email that may or may not influence the users to give out personal and sensitive information. For this field experiment we use students to test the effect that certain types of content have on the phishing process. The study outcomes suggest that user’s do not pay attention to the sender’s domain in a phishing email but do respond to personalized messages and messages that demand an immediate response

Robotic Manufacturing System for Unattended Machining and Inspection of Graphite Bipolar Flow Field Plates for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

A single robot-based manufacturing system for unattended machining and inspection of graphite bipolar flow field plates for proton exchange membrane fuel cells is designed and integrated for demonstration and validation. Unlike most robotic manufacturing systems where an industrial robot is used for tending an automated tool such as a computer numerical control machine, in the present system the industrial robot performs all manufacturing operations, including machining the flow fields on both sides of the plates, changing the tools, handling the plates, vacuuming the plates and the workholding device of graphite dust, flipping the plates, air blowing them and performing machine vision inspection for quality control. The toolpath for robotic machining the flow fields and the manifolds are generated offline using Roboguide simulation software. The manufacturing system uses an integrated machine vision inspection process as a diagnostic tool for in-line checking the presence of machined features and in-line verification of feature dimensions. Besides the considerably lower capital cost compared to other automated manufacturing systems resulted from the elimination of the automated machine tool, the proposed robotic cell has the advantage of better managing the abrasive graphite dust resulted in the manufacturing process. The limitations of the proposed robotic cell are assessed and recommendations for further development are considered. The manufacturing system is demonstrated as part of a larger endeavour of bringing to readiness advanced manufacturing technologies for renewable energy devices and responds the high priority needs identified by the U.S. Department of Energy for fuel cells manufacturing research and development

Extending Ecommerce Deception Theory to Phishing

Phishing threatens the information security of Internet users and corporations. Where most research focuses on the phisher’s website, i.e., how to determine if a website is legitimate, this study examines the email that begins the phishing process. To understand why Internet consumers respond to phisher’s emails by sharing sensitive information, we draw on models of e-commerce deception to explain the efficacy of phishing strategies. To test our hypotheses, we conducted a field experiment that manipulated the content of phishing emails. Consistent with our hypotheses, we found content manipulations improved the likelihood of our subjects’ conveying sensitive information. Further, we found that cognitive processes can influence a consumer’s likelihood of being deceived. However, hypotheses about deception support mechanisms and presentation manipulations were not supported. In sum, we find support for the general theory of ecommerce deception as well as our cognitive processing explanations for phishing’s effectiveness

Dynamic Video Streaming for Nano Quadcopters

The objective of this project was to develop a system that streams real-time video from a Crazyflie 2.0 nano quadcopter. We discuss the motivation behind the project including applications to swarm robotics and computer vision research. We highlight the initial research and design goals that guided the development of the system such as hardware selection and system specifications. We detail the software and hardware subsystems that we implemented including the video-streaming board, firmware, and video-streaming user application. We examine the performance of the final system and discuss the limitations imposed by the hardware. We conclude by describing future work that will enhance the capabilities and robustness of the system

The Reliability of the Anaerobic Power Dummy Throw Test in High School Wrestlers: A Pilot Study

AP (anaerobic power) output is an important physical characteristic that is required to succeed in sports such as wrestling. The Wingate test is considered the Gold Standard for assessing AP but is not specific to the sport of wrestling. The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability of a novel field test known as the LWAPT (Lopez wrestling anaerobic power test) for the assessment of AP. The participants were male high school wrestlers (n = 10, age: 17.0 ± 0.8 yrs, mass: 70.9 ± 10.2 kgs). The participants met on one occasion in order to complete the testing protocol. The protocol initiated with the participants completing a 10-15 minute dynamic WU (warm-up) that included three practice dummy throw attempts (dummy mass = 31.75 kgs). Following the dynamic WU (≈ 5 minutes), the participants performed two trials of the LWAPT. In order to perform the LWAPT, wrestlers stood behind the wrestling dummy in a squat position with legs bent at 45-90 degrees. Next the wrestlers wrapped their arms around the waist of the dummy and on the signal “go” the wrestlers quickly exploded up, lifting the dummy by getting triple extension with the ankles, knees and hips as one would in a power clean. After the wrestler was fully extended, he turned in midair in order to drive the dummy onto its stomach on the ground, where the wrestler was on top of the back of the dummy (a common position after an opponent has been thrown). The participant then repositioned the dummy to the original position to execute another throw. The participants completed as many dummy throws as possible during the one minute trials. The LWAPT trials were separated by 15 minutes. The trial scores were 15.6 ± 2.5 and 17.2 ± 1.5 throws respectively. The interclass and intraclass reliability coefficients were r = 0.84 and ICC = 0.80. The standard error of the measure was SEm = 1.0 throws with 90% confidence limits of UL: 1.7, LL: 0.7. The mean difference between trials was 1.6 ± 1.4 throws (90% confidence limits of UL: 2.4, LL: 0.8). Bland-Altman plots suggested agreement between trials with no evidence of heteroscedasticity. The LWAPT exhibits moderate to high reliability as an assessment of AP. The inclusion of additional dummy throw trials to the assessment protocol may enhance the degree of reliability of the dummy throw test as a measure of AP