Data are from the PR077/10 study whose authors may be contacted at <fcontreras@bellvitgehospital.cat>. Fernando Contreras. Bellvitge University Hospital-IDIBELL. The Clinical Research Ethics Committee of Bellvitge (CEIC). Data from the study is available upon request because of confidentiality restrictions. Interested readers can access data contacting with the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of Bellvitge (CEIC) at <presidenciaceic@bellvitgehospital.cat>.

Introduction {#sec004}
============

Counterfactual thinking (CFT) is a specific type of conditional reasoning manifested as an almost automatic mental representation of alternatives to past events, especially triggered by negative occurrences \[[@pone.0178860.ref001]\]. These thoughts take the form of "if only" conditional propositions and have an impact on how individuals find meaning in the events that affect them \[[@pone.0178860.ref002]\]. For instance, in the fictional scenario where John has failed an important test, he might automatically generate a counterfactual thought like *If I had studied harder*, *I could have passed the test*.

As far as the function of CFT is concerned, it seems to play an important role in supporting adaptive behaviour by enabling us to learn from past experiences \[[@pone.0178860.ref003]\], by modulating emotional states \[[@pone.0178860.ref004]\], promoting creativity \[[@pone.0178860.ref005]\] and supporting future planning and prediction \[[@pone.0178860.ref006]\]. CFT also seems to be related to specific cognitive biases such as the hindsight bias---enhancing memory distortions that contribute to suboptimal decision-making \[[@pone.0178860.ref007]\]---and to Theory of Mind (ToM) deficits involved in the development of false belief \[[@pone.0178860.ref008]\].

Thus, although it may sometimes lead to bias, CFT coordinates daily behaviour via course correction, goal cognition, behavioural regulation and performance improvement \[[@pone.0178860.ref003]\]. For this reason, in 2008, authorities in this field such as Epstude and Roese proposed a functional theory of CFT based on the content-specific pathway concept originally framed in Gollwitzer and Moskowitz's research on how goals influence actions \[[@pone.0178860.ref003],[@pone.0178860.ref009]\]. According to this theory, CFT would promote behavioural change following a regulatory sequence divided into three links or steps: following John's fictional scenario, (1) the recognition of a problem that automatically activates the generation of CFT (*I should have studied harder*, Step 1); (2) the activation of behavioural intentions for future similar problems/scenarios (*next time*, *I will study harder*, Step 2); (3) the implementation of corrective behaviours in similar future scenarios (*actually studying harder for the next test*, Step 3). Indeed, previous research has already documented the occurrence of these three steps in the general population \[[@pone.0178860.ref006],[@pone.0178860.ref010],[@pone.0178860.ref011]\].

Cognitive impairment has been endorsed as a core feature of schizophrenia in a growing body of studies. This impairment affects several cognitive domains (with a magnitude of moderate to severe) \[[@pone.0178860.ref012],[@pone.0178860.ref013]\], and is already present in the early stages of the disorder \[[@pone.0178860.ref014]--[@pone.0178860.ref016]\]. In addition, cognitive deficits appear to be independent of the severity of positive symptoms and are only mildly correlated with the severity of negative symptoms \[[@pone.0178860.ref017]\]. All of which suggests that cognitive deficits in schizophrenia have a different underlying pathological process than those underlying the clinical symptoms of the disorder \[[@pone.0178860.ref018]\].

Bearing in mind that schizophrenia involves, at least in part, prefrontal cortex dysfunction \[[@pone.0178860.ref019],[@pone.0178860.ref020]\], and that this cognitive deficit has been strongly related to real-world functioning in the disorder \[[@pone.0178860.ref021],[@pone.0178860.ref022]\], it is not surprising that research on the study of CFT in schizophrenia has increased significantly in recent years. Accordingly, in keeping with the content-specific pathway of CFT, research to date has found global disruption in counterfactual reasoning in Step 1 and Step 2 of the regulatory sequence. Interestingly, the implementation of corrective behaviours (Step 3) appears to be intact in these patients \[[@pone.0178860.ref023]\]. With regard to these findings, however, it should be noted that although deficits in CFT activation (Step 1) have been widely reported not only in patients with schizophrenia \[[@pone.0178860.ref024]--[@pone.0178860.ref026]\] but in their unaffected first-degree relatives \[[@pone.0178860.ref027]\], research into the activation of behavioural intentions (Step 2) is still scarce \[[@pone.0178860.ref028]\].

Specifically, findings concerning the activation of behavioural intentions (Step 2) in schizophrenia are currently based on a single study carried out by Roese et al. in 2008, in which the facilitator effect of CFT on the activation of behavioural intentions was tested with a semantic priming task developed by these authors using reaction time (RT) as the dependent variable \[[@pone.0178860.ref028]\]. Fifteen patients with schizophrenia and 13 healthy subjects performed 45 trials where they had to give a yes/no answer to a declaration of intention (i.e., the intention to carry out a specific action in the future). Each trial presented a negative event that was judged using a within-subject sequential priming paradigm in one of three ways: a counterfactual ("should have"), a neutral control (a word-counting judgement) or a no-judgement baseline. Results showed that whereas the healthy controls responded faster to counterfactual judgements relative to control judgements, the patients with schizophrenia's RT did not vary across the different primes---i.e., the CFT trial did not facilitate the activation of behavioural intentions compared with the neutral control trial. The authors concluded that the link between CFT and the generation of behavioural intentions was broken in schizophrenia, stating that "counterfactuals did not activate intentions in patients with schizophrenia (p. 2)" and suggesting that rehabilitation strategies designed to normalize CFT could not have any benefit for these patients.

Roese et al's study \[[@pone.0178860.ref028]\] would benefit from replication and extension. With this objective in mind, the present study modified the semantic priming task and evaluating the largest sample of patients with schizophrenia and healthy control subjects to date. We hypothesized that both study groups would commit fewer errors and would response faster when confronted with a counterfactual prime than when confronted with a neutral-control prime. It was hypothesized that schizophrenia patients would perform more poorly than the healthy control subjects. If demonstrated, the latter finding suggest the possibility of targeting CFT in future treatment approaches. In addition, potential associations with variables of neurocognition, clinical status and socio-demographic characteristics were explored in the study.

Method {#sec005}
======

Participants {#sec006}
------------

Seventy-four participants (37 patients with schizophrenia and 37 healthy control subjects) all fluent in Spanish and aged between 19 and 68 were included in the study after an initial inclusion interview in which mental and personality disorders were assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I) \[[@pone.0178860.ref029]\] and Axis II Personality Disorders (SCID-II) \[[@pone.0178860.ref030]\]. The Clinical Research Ethics Committee of Bellvitge University Hospital (CEIC) approved all study procedures, and all subjects gave written informed consent before inclusion.

All patients with schizophrenia were recruited from the outpatient service of the Psychiatry Department of Bellvitge University Hospital, met DSM-IV-TR criteria \[[@pone.0178860.ref031]\] and had not undergone electroconvulsive therapy in the last six months. Patients with a diagnosis of bipolar, schizoaffective, delusional or other Axis I disorders were excluded. Healthy control participants were recruited from hospital employees; exclusion criteria were a previous history of personal or family psychiatric illness (Axis I and Axis II).

Participants were excluded if they had a history of substance use disorder as defined according to DSM-IV-TR \[[@pone.0178860.ref031]\] (with the only exception being nicotine dependence), head trauma involving loss of consciousness, neurological disease or medical illness that could affect brain function, or an estimated Intelligence Quotient (IQ) below 70. A one-to-one matching procedure was employed to match the control group with the schizophrenia patients by sex, age and educational level.

Measures and procedure {#sec007}
----------------------

Participants attended individual testing sessions lasting an average of four hours. Clinical rating scales, socio-demographic characteristics and cognitive tests were administered by experienced psychiatrists and neuropsychologists.

Socio-demographic and clinical variables were recorded using an in-house standardized medical history. Symptoms and severity of illness were assessed with the Spanish version of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) \[[@pone.0178860.ref032],[@pone.0178860.ref033]\] and the Clinical Global Impression-Schizophrenia Scale (CGI-SCH) \[[@pone.0178860.ref034]\]. Level of functioning was assessed using the Global Assessment of Functioning scale (GAF) \[[@pone.0178860.ref035]\]. Pharmacological treatment was recorded, and antipsychotic (AP) daily dose equivalents of chlorpromazine were calculated \[[@pone.0178860.ref036]\].

The Spanish version of the vocabulary subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale III battery (WAIS-III) was used to calculate an estimated IQ \[[@pone.0178860.ref037]\]. Cognitive function was evaluated with the Spanish version of the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS) \[[@pone.0178860.ref038],[@pone.0178860.ref039]\].

Experiment: Activation of behavioural intentions {#sec008}
------------------------------------------------

To assess whether a preceding counterfactual judgement facilitated the activation of a relevant behavioural intention judgement, an experiment was developed using an adaptation of the original sequential priming paradigm designed by Roese et al. \[[@pone.0178860.ref028]\] (see **[Fig 1](#pone.0178860.g001){ref-type="fig"}** for an overview of the procedure). Testing was implemented using desktop computers running DMDX software \[[@pone.0178860.ref040]\] and consisted of two blocks of 16 trials: first a 2-minute training block, followed by the 10-minute experiment block. The order of presentation of trials was randomized within each block across participants. In this way, all subjects completed 32 judgement trials that were structured in three stages around a hypothetical negative event: first, a description of a negative everyday event appeared on the screen (stage 1) (e.g., "I have missed the train"); two seconds later, a prime cue (stage 2) that could be a counterfactual statement (e.g., "I should have") or a neutral-control statement (a factual-neutral cue such as "It has five words") appeared. The neutral-control prime task was modified from the task used by Roese et al. (2008): while in the original experiment participants executed a word-counting judgement \[[@pone.0178860.ref028]\], in the current study the neutral-control task consisted of reading a statement, as in the counterfactual condition. This ensured that the cognitive load of the procedural work was similar in the two types of task. This stage was followed by a subsequent behavioural intention statement that was either semantically related to the action described previously or not (stage 3) (e.g., "got out of bed sooner" or "washed the car before"). Finally, participants had to press a key on the computer labelled "yes" or "no" to indicate whether the behavioural intention was related to the negative everyday event that preceded it.

![Overview of the sequential priming paradigm adapted from the original sequential priming paradigm designed by Roese et al. (2008) \[[@pone.0178860.ref028]\].](pone.0178860.g001){#pone.0178860.g001}

Once the experiment was finished, two outcomes were recorded: (1) response to complete the target task (wrong or correct) understood as the associations made by the participants between the first event and the final outcome--e.g., answering "no" when the event and the intention judgement were actually related, or vice versa, and (2) percentage gain in the reaction time (RT) to achieve a correct association or answer whether the prime was a counterfactual or a neutral-control cue. Note that RT to achieve a correct association was defined as the time gap measured in milliseconds from stage 3 and participants' response, and that percentage gain was defined as the difference between RT in the neutral-control prime and RT in the counterfactual prime divided by RT in the neutral-control cue. The decision to use percentage gain rather than raw RT scores was based on previous research findings highlighting a potential arithmetical artefact due to the effect of a general RT slowing in schizophrenia \[[@pone.0178860.ref041]\]. Specifically, the value for priming will be spuriously inflated in patients with the disorder, if they are slower to respond on both the unprimed and primed versions of the task \[[@pone.0178860.ref042]\].

Statistical analysis {#sec009}
--------------------

For descriptive analyses, absolute and relative frequencies were calculated for categorical variables. Continuous variables were assessed using the mean and standard deviation (SD) for normally distributed variables, and the median and interquartile range (IQR) for non-normally distributed variables. To detect differences between groups, Fisher's exact test and χ^2^ were used for categorical data, whereas group means were compared using two-tailed Student's T test and Wilcoxon rank sum test.

To evaluate the effect of the prime presented (counterfactual vs. neutral-control), two outcomes were examined. First, the adjusted odds ratio of a wrong association on schizophrenia patients versus healthy controls was estimated using a mixed logistic regression model. Socio-demographic and clinical variables were the potential adjusting variables tested. Secondly, the adjusted effect of being a schizophrenia patient versus a healthy control when assessing the percentage gain in the RT difference was estimated using a mixed regression model, with the same potential adjusting variables being tested. As percentage gain did not follow a normal distribution, a log transformation was performed. Normality was tested graphically by quantile plot and analytically by the Shapiro-Wilks test. For both models, a random subject effect was included to account intra-individual variability on both outcomes among all participants.

Furthermore, as the experiment included 16 repeated trials and a possible learning effect had to be considered, number of trial variable was included in the estimated models with no effect expected. In addition, as the learning effect could differ between patients and controls, the first interaction term was also evaluated. The selection of the model's variables was based on the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). Fixed effects were tested for statistical significance using the Wald test. Coefficients in the mixed regression model are presented in log scale and odds ratios in the mixed logistic model together with 95% confidence interval and p-values.

Finally, for both outcomes, a second model was estimated for the schizophrenia patients only; this was in order to explore the clinical measures included in the study. Thus, along with the aforementioned potential confounder variables, other clinical variables were included such as daily dose of AP taken (chlorpromazine equivalents) in mg/day, duration of the illness in years, and scores on the PANSS and GAF scales were tested to adjust the significance of the prime task effect. The analysis of residual and influential values did not identify any covariate pattern with a relevant impact on the goodness of fit statistics, or deviance residual, or in estimating the coefficients model. Data were managed and analyzed using R 3.2.5.

Results {#sec010}
=======

Socio-demographic characteristics are shown in **[Table 1](#pone.0178860.t001){ref-type="table"}**. There were no differences regarding sex, age, educational level or hand dominance between patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls, but a larger proportion of patients were unemployed/retired and single at enrolment. With regards to neurocognitive performance, the patients had significantly lower scores in all cognitive domains in comparison with the healthy control subjects. No statistically significantly associations were found between any of the experimental measures and neurocognitive performance in either the healthy controls or the schizophrenia patients (these analyses are presented in more detail in **[S1 Appendix](#pone.0178860.s001){ref-type="supplementary-material"}**).

10.1371/journal.pone.0178860.t001

###### Socio-demographic characteristics of the sample.

![](pone.0178860.t001){#pone.0178860.t001g}

                                  Schizophrenia Patients (n = 37)   Healthy Controls (n = 37)   p-value
  ------------------------------- --------------------------------- --------------------------- ---------------------------------------------
  Male sex, *n (%)*               23 (62.16)                        21 (56.76)                  0.813[^a^](#t001fn002){ref-type="table-fn"}
  Age (years)                     38.49 (10.20)                     40.12 (12.52)               0.542[^b^](#t001fn003){ref-type="table-fn"}
  Educational level (years)       10.62 (3.46)                      11.57 (3.11)                0.073[^c^](#t001fn004){ref-type="table-fn"}
  Employment status, *n (%)*                                                                    0.000[^d^](#t001fn005){ref-type="table-fn"}
      Employed                    13 (35.14)                        32 (86.49)
      Unemployed/ Retired         23 (62.16)                        5 (13.51)
      Student                     1 (2.70)                          0 (0.00)
  Marital status, *n (%)*                                                                       0.020[^d^](#t001fn005){ref-type="table-fn"}
          Single                  30 (81.08)                        19 (51.35)
          Married                 6 (16.22)                         15 (40.54)
          Divorced                1 (2.70)                          3 (8.11)
  Hand Dominance (right), *(%)*   94.59                             97.30                       1.000[^d^](#t001fn005){ref-type="table-fn"}
  Estimated IQ                    97.57 (11.34)                     112.03 (8.93)               0.000[^b^](#t001fn003){ref-type="table-fn"}

*Note*. Values presented as means (standard deviation) unless specified otherwise.

^a^ χ^2^ test

^b^ T-test

^c^ Wilcoxon rank sum test

^d^ Fisher's Exact Test.

In terms of clinical characteristics, the patients exhibited mild levels of symptoms on the PANSS: total score = 74.24 (SD = 16.08), positive dimension = 13.59 (SD = 3.42), negative dimension = 22.35 (SD = 5.94) and general dimension = 38.30 (SD = 8.65).The median GAF score was 60 (IQR = 60--70), mean length of illness was 16.03 years (SD = 9.79) and the mean daily dose of AP treatment taken was 657.13 mg/day (SD = 470.17) (chlorpromazine equivalents).

Experiment: Activation of behavioural intentions {#sec011}
------------------------------------------------

Descriptive data on each prime task condition according to study group is presented in **[Table 2](#pone.0178860.t002){ref-type="table"}**.

10.1371/journal.pone.0178860.t002

###### Activation of behavioural intentions experiment.

![](pone.0178860.t002){#pone.0178860.t002g}

                                                   Counterfactual prime condition   Neutral-control prime condition
  ------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------- ---------------------------------
  Incorrect associations made, *n (%)*
      Healthy controls                             26 (4.4)                         19 (3.2)
      Schizophrenia patients                       56 (9.5)                         106 (17.9)
  RT to correct association (ms), *median (IQR)*
      Healthy controls                             1136 (855--1442)                 1235 (941--1538)
      Schizophrenia patients                       1614 (1271--2059)                1808 (1404--2371)

*Note*. In both prime conditions, the number of observations was 592. ms: milliseconds.

### Response to complete the target task (wrong or correctly): Mixed logistic regression model results {#sec012}

Results from the mixed logistic regression model are summarized in **[Table 3](#pone.0178860.t003){ref-type="table"}**.

10.1371/journal.pone.0178860.t003

###### Mixed effects logistic regression using right/wrong answer as the dependent variable.

![](pone.0178860.t003){#pone.0178860.t003g}

                                 Entire sample model[^a^](#t003fn002){ref-type="table-fn"} (n = 74)   Schizophrenia patients model[^b^](#t003fn003){ref-type="table-fn"} (n = 37)
  ------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- ------ -------------- ----------
  Constant                       0.03                                                                 0.02 to 0.07                                                                  \<0.0001   0.17   0.08 to 0.36   \<0.0001
  HC vs. SCZ                     3.89                                                                 1.99 to 7.58                                                                  \<0.0001   ---
  NC vs. CFT                     0.58                                                                 0.42 to 0.79                                                                  0.001      0.41   0.40 to 0.43   \<0.0001
  Number of trial                0.96                                                                 0.93 to 0.99                                                                  0.027      0.95   0.49 to 1.84   0.008
  Age (centered)                 1.01                                                                 0.98 to 1.04                                                                  0.468      1.02   0.52 to 2.02   0.654
  Sex, male                      1.49                                                                 0.75 to 2.95                                                                  0.250      1.29   0.94 to 1.78   0.615
  Educational level (centered)   0.93                                                                 0.84 to 1.03                                                                  0.183      0.92   0.89 to 0.95   0.273

OR: odds ratio; SCZ: schizophrenia patients; HC: healthy controls; NC: neutral-control prime condition; CFT: counterfactual prime condition.

^a^ 2368 observations in 74 clusters.

^b^ 1188 observations in 37 clusters.

For the *entire sample model*, the odds of responding incorrectly were significantly higher (1.7 times) when a neutral-control prime was presented. Among patients, the odds were 3.9 times higher than among controls after controlling for age, sex and education level. Moreover, a learning effect was found, i.e., for each new trial presented, the odds of making a wrong association were 4% lower. No significant interaction effect was found between type of prime task, study group or number of trials presented.

For the *schizophrenia patients model*, the odds of responding incorrectly were significantly higher (2.4 times) when a neutral-control prime was presented after controlling for age, sex and educational level. Additionally, a learning effect was observed, i.e., for each new trial presented, the odds of making a wrong association were 5% lower. No significant interaction effect was found between type of prime task, study group or number of trials presented. No clinical potential confounder variables presented a significant association, nor improved the model performance.

### Percentage gain in the reaction time difference: General linear mixed model results {#sec013}

Results from the general linear mixed model regarding percentage gain in the RT difference are presented in **[Table 4](#pone.0178860.t004){ref-type="table"}**.

10.1371/journal.pone.0178860.t004

###### General linear mixed regression model using percentage gain difference to a right answer as the dependent variable.

![](pone.0178860.t004){#pone.0178860.t004g}

                                 Entire sample model[^a^](#t004fn002){ref-type="table-fn"} (n = 74)   Schizophrenia patients model[^b^](#t004fn003){ref-type="table-fn"} (n = 37)
  ------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- ------- --------------- -------
  Constant                       4.50                                                                 4.48 to 4.60                                                                  \<0.0001   4.50    4.41 to 4.60    0.000
  HC vs. SCZ                     -0.04                                                                -0.09 to 0.00                                                                 0.070      ---
  Number of trial                -0.00                                                                -0.01 to 0.00                                                                 0.354      -0.01   -0.01 to 0.00   0.170
  Age (centered)                 0.00                                                                 -0.00 to 0.004                                                                0.082      0.01    -0.00 to 0.01   0.143
  Sex, male                      0.01                                                                 -0.04 to 0.06                                                                 0.758      0.03    -0.05 to 0.11   0.451
  Educational level (centered)   0.00                                                                 -0.00 to 0.01                                                                 0.167      0.01    -0.01 to 0.01   0.761

*Note*. Family Gamma using log as link function. SCZ: schizophrenia patients; HC: healthy controls; NC: neutral-control prime task; CFT: counterfactual prime task.

^a^ 994 observations in 74 clusters.

^b^ 444 observations in 37 clusters.

As noted above, percentage gain was measured by dividing the raw reaction time difference by the reaction time to a correct answer under a neutral-control prime. However, to calculate this it was necessary that in each trial the subject answered correctly in both prime conditions. Hence, if a subject answered correctly under the counterfactual prime but not under the neutral-control prime, or vice versa, the percentage gain was considered as missing. Consequently, taking in account that the percentage of trials presenting a correct response in both prime conditions was 76% among schizophrenia patients and of 93% among controls, the final available sample for the percentage gain model consisted of 994 trials over 1184 potential trials (16 trials in each prime in each group of study).

After adjusting for age, sex and educational level no significant difference between patients and controls was in percentage gain. It should be noted that the expected percentage gain difference in an average participant corresponds to the log of the model\'s intercept. The percentage gain of a random participant, independently of the study group, was 8%--i.e., the RT when a counterfactual prime was presented was 8% lower in relation to the RT when a neutral-control prime was presented. Accordingly, percentage gain of a random patient was 9% after adjusting for age, sex and educational level in the *schizophrenia patients model*. None of the clinical potential confounder variables assessed presented a significant association.

Finally, for both models, no learning effect was found in this measure across trials in either group.

Discussion {#sec014}
==========

The present study focused on the activation of behavioural intentions facilitated by CFT--the capacity of inferring how an event might have unfolded differently in response to real-world experiences \[[@pone.0178860.ref043]\]--in the largest sample of patients with schizophrenia and healthy control subjects examined to date. In schizophrenia, it has been proposed that this specific counterfactual skill is disabled \[[@pone.0178860.ref028]\]. However, these results come from a single study with some methodological concerns; therefore, the present study was designed to re-evaluate these previous findings, using a larger sample and an improved priming paradigm. In addition, potential associations with variables of neurocognition, clinical status and socio-demographic characteristics were explored. Several results were found that merit discussion.

In the first place, it was found that both the patients and the controls made fewer errors and performed faster in the counterfactual semantic priming condition than in the neutral-control priming condition. Hence, the present results support our main hypothesis that patients with schizophrenia would show a counterfactual semantic facilitation, as healthy controls do. Accordingly, as well as confirming previous research in healthy subjects \[[@pone.0178860.ref006]\], the present study does not support the claim that activation of behavioural intentions facilitated by CFT is disabled in schizophrenia. In fact, as evidenced by a fall in the odds of answering incorrectly (i.e., response to complete the target task variable), the patients with schizophrenia in this study were capable of learning from experience as the experiment progressed.

One possible explanation for the difference between our findings and those of Roese et al. \[[@pone.0178860.ref028]\] might be that the sample used in our study (37 patients and 37 controls) was larger than the one used in their study (15 patients and 13 controls). Another explanation might be related to the adaptation made to the original experiment involving changes to the neutral-control prime condition. In Roese et al.'s \[[@pone.0178860.ref028]\] control condition the participants executed a word-counting judgement which represented a task with significant cognitive demands, and was not comparable to the counterfactual condition task which consisted only of reading a statement. To rectify this problem, in the present experiment the neutral-control condition was modified so that it consisted simply of reading a statement focused on a factual cue rather than executing a cognitive task. The level of difficulty was more similar to that of the counterfactual trial, and the design additionally ensured that participants did not know a priori whether the third message was related to the first event until it appeared on the computer screen.

Secondly, although to our knowledge this is the first time that the potential associations between CFT facilitation of behavioural intentions and clinical, socio-demographic or cognitive measures have been explored, these analyses did not reveal evidence of significant associations with any of these variables. Indeed, the relationship between low and high order cognitive processes is controversial. For instance, whether social cognition and basic cognitive processes are associated is a question not yet adequately answered \[[@pone.0178860.ref044]--[@pone.0178860.ref045]\]. Thus, similarly, the debate about the observed counterfactual disruption in schizophrenia is the result of a pervasive cognitive impairment or is dependent on a specific deficit in a certain cognitive domain can still be considered to be open. Further research using other neuropsychological measures, for instance, instruments assessing domains of social cognition, might be of interest.

The present study has some limitations that should be acknowledged. Although the sample used was larger than in the one previous study \[[@pone.0178860.ref028]\], the number of participants remained relatively small. This may have resulted in a lack of statistical power and a type II error, raising the possibility that the study was not able to detect actual differences between groups. Secondly, in order to avoid a potential effect of greater cognitive deterioration in clinical and neurocognitive measures among older schizophrenic patients, healthy subjects were matched by age, sex and educational level, and all analyses were adjusted for these same variables. Thirdly, the study sample did not meet the criteria for stability as defined by Andreasen et al. (2005) \[[@pone.0178860.ref046]\], although the mean total PANSS score was 74.24 (SD = 16.08) which indicates a relatively low level of current symptoms. Finally, two issues about the experimental design have to be considered: first, this experiment was designed without a baseline (no judgement) condition and second, although the instruction for the participants was to only read the statements, the neutral-control (factual) cues presented (for instance, "it has 5 words") might be counterintuitive for the participants. Further research including these considerations could help to achieve a clearer assessment of the effect of CFT on behavioural intentions activation.

Conclusions {#sec015}
===========

In summary, the findings of this study suggest that patients with schizophrenia preserve their capacity to generate intentions as a precursor to behavioural implementation once CFT is activated. These findings indicate that, in spite of the conclusions of previous research, Step 2 of the CFT content-specific pathway is actually not broken in the disorder. Therefore, in the light of previous studies demonstrating the feasibility of cognitive bias modification programs in the psychotic population \[[@pone.0178860.ref047]--[@pone.0178860.ref049]\], the present findings may be of interest since from the perspective of targeting counterfactual reasoning deficits in future treatment approaches in order to improve these patients' reasoning and functional outcome. If, patients with schizophrenia can produce behavioural intentions facilitated by counterfactual judgements, they may also benefit from a specifically cognitive rehabilitation treatment focused on the understanding of negative experiences and the activation of the corresponding corrective intentions. This might help them to regulate and improve their behaviours as well as their future functioning. Further confirmatory studies are needed in order to corroborate the present results.

Supporting information {#sec016}
======================

###### Neurocognitive performance and its association with results from the experiment.

(PDF)

######

Click here for additional data file.

The authors thank all the study participants as well as the staff of the Psychiatry Department.

[^1]: **Competing Interests:**The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

[^2]: **Conceptualization:** FC AA BB.**Data curation:** AA CT.**Formal analysis:** CT.**Funding acquisition:** FC JMM AA.**Investigation:** FC AA CT BB AC JMM.**Methodology:** FC AA BB.**Project administration:** FC AA JMM.**Resources:** FC AA CT BB AC JMM.**Software:** BB.**Supervision:** FC AA JMM.**Validation:** FC AA CT BB AC JMM.**Writing -- original draft:** FC AA CT BB AC JMM.**Writing -- review & editing:** FC AA CT BB AC JMM.


MarketingSherpa Video Archive

Old Dog, New Tricks: How Dell designed an email with old technology to launch a new product

Dave Sierk, Dell

At MarketingSherpa Email Summit 2014, marketers took the stage to tell their success stories in leveraging the latest in email technology, such as mobile and responsive design.

Dave Sierk, Consumer and Small Business Strategist, Dell, took a different route and designed a more engaging email for a new product campaign using "old" technology: GIFs.

The new product featured in the campaign, the Dell XPS 12 Convertible Ultrabook, can convert into a tablet. Illustrating its functionality, however, goes a bit beyond catchy copy.

In his Email Summit 2014 presentation, Sierk dove into how the animated GIF showcased the value of the product much more effectively. The email saw a 109% increase in revenue compared to benchmark data from the previous year.

"We were blown away when we got the results back and saw this incredible lift in revenue. We typically see good engagement rates from a click standpoint, but low revenue and conversion numbers," Sierk explained.

Watch Sierk's full presentation for more on the best time to send emails, using video content in emails, and the importance of testing email messaging.

The views and opinions expressed in the articles of this website are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect in any way the views of MarketingSherpa, its affiliates, or its employees.


Recently I was corresponding with a friend about music, something I don’t believe I’ve written about in this space.

While I don’t consider myself an expert in anything, I know even less about music than about most things. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy it and that it doesn’t play a role in my life but just that I’m not naturally musical.

In our discussion, it unfolds that my friend prefers music that is original and noticeably unconventional. He likes “risky” music.

For me, on the other hand, it is a matter of resonance and is contingent on the words (sometimes as little as a single, searing phrase) that imprint on me as a mirror of my own feelings or experiences (real or imagined).

How am I going to spend my weekend? Happily watching a bunch of movies at the second annual OUT @ the Movies Fest in Winston-Salem.

You still have time to get a ticket for the opening night film Baby Steps, which will be preceded by the short Noam tonight at 7:30 at the UNCSA ACE Theatre Complex, for the affordable price of $8.00 then join filmmakers and festival pass holders at the Celebrity Reception at The Old Fourth Street Filling Station at 9:30.

By all means, check out the festival schedule. There’s something for everyone. I saw Out to Win (screening Saturday at 12:30 p.m.) at GAZE International LGBT Film Festival in Dublin and was quite taken with it. Even though I’m not a huge sports fan, this is an important, human story that transcends sports in any narrow sense. I also saw Naz & Maalik at GAZE (screening Sunday at noon), and think it is a story whose moment has come in an international, political sense because it speaks to the under-represented experience gay men who are Muslim.

My latest documentary short Queer Knitter in the Queen City is showing out of competition Sunday afternoon at 5 at a/perture cinema before the feature Upstairs Inferno, and it’s out of competition because I am honored to be a juror at the festival.

Check the schedule carefully because there are several venues for the festival.

Tonight’s screening and the daytime screenings Saturday, November 14th are at the UNCSA ACE Theatre Complex. Tomorrow evening’s screening of PACKED IN A TRUNK: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson is at Calem College’s Hanes Auditorium. Screenings on Sunday, November 15th will be at a/perture cinema.

There’s not much to say about the latest Bond picture. In terms of the Daniel Craig chapter of the movie franchise, Casino Royale is still the best, Skyfall comes in second place (elevated by the strength of the final act), Spectre ranks third, and Quantum of Solace is still a frightful mess.

I admire certain sequences of Spectre, appreciate the deepening backstory written for James Bond, and enjoy some of the performers, especially Léa Seydoux, who dazzled me in Blue is the Warmest Color but seems (I have to say it) too young for Daniel Craig here.

I liked both Bridge of Spies and Steve Jobs much more than I expected.

In the case of Bridge of Spies, I often experience Steven Spielberg’s work as too sentimental or otherwise manipulative and (sorry) find Tom Hanks over-exposed to the point I’ve become weary of him. For this film, too, the preview trailers seemed boring to me.


A 33 years old man died a few days ago after an electronic party in a lake near Talca, Chile. The man who was suppossedly drunk at that moment decided to warm up the body and enjoy a momment of joy and happiness by swimming in the artificial lake.He later suffered from some kind of stomachal cramp and was not able to keep himself over the water.The body was recovered 1 or 2 days after.In this video recorded by to party assistants you can hear 2 assholes recording as they shout "Hey! everybody!!, there's an asshole drowning, somebody rescue him!... Ohhh dude, he has no friends, dude he's going to die, somebody call the coastguards... ok let's keep drinking."Related notice


Our Guarantee

You will love your experience & purchases at CoolThings Australia or we will pay for their return and you will receive your choice of full credit, refund or replacement.

We guarantee that your shopping experience will be seamless and stress free. At CoolThings Australia we believe 100% in helping YOU be the coolest gift giver. We believe your time is valuable and we guarantee you will never have to waste it by you having to following up and worrying about whether things are happening or not.

When you send your order in before 12:00 Noon Monday to Friday and all your products are in stock you’ll get your order dispatched on the same day or we’ll refund you TWICE the amount you paid for delivery. This of course excludes public holidays.

RETURNS PROCESS:

You’ll find there are absolutely no nasty forms to fill in whatsoever because forms are NOT cool at all. You simply email returns@coolthings.com.au within 90 days, include your order number and what product you wish to return and we’ll send you your returns information.

Once we receive your products back, you will receive a full store credit replacement or refund via your original payment method less shipping fees for the product you purchased within 7 days. Please note: replacement items will be sent via standard shipping.

All change of mind returns for items paid for by Afterpay or Zippay that you require a refund for can only be refunded via a store credit.

All returns due to change of mind are at the cost of the customer and are not able to be returned using our free reply paid service, refund will be for the product price only (excludes the original postage paid)

All returns must be returned via our reply paid service and must contain all original packaging; instruction sheets and be in original just out-of-the-box condition. Fragile products must be packaged in the same way that they were packaged to you; products returned and damaged by insufficient packaging will not be accepted for refund. (Imagine the freight company treating your package like a football)

So what’s Not Covered by the 90 Day Guarantee?

“90 day guarantee” excludes items that specifically mention that they are not covered; this may include large items that have been shipped direct from the manufacturer’s warehouse. You are still covered by the standard 12 month manufacturer’s warranty or in the unlikely event that the product is faulty on arrival.

“90 day guarantee” excludes products shipped out of Australia.

What about Faulty Products?

Products that are faulty on arrival can be exchanged or refunded with coolthings.com.au, within 90 days. All products, unless otherwise noted, are sold with the full warranty of the manufacturer. The warranty period and service varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. Faulty on arrival products that are returned for a refund are refunded the full purchase price including delivery costs.

Returns take approximately 7 days to process from the date of receipt of returned products (exceptions to this may occur from time to time). Unless otherwise specified, the benefits conferred by warranties set out herein are additional to all other conditions, warranties, guarantees, rights and remedies expressed or implied by the Trade Practices Act.

Order Cancellation

If you wish to cancel a confirmed order to CoolThings.com.au, please contact one of our friendly customer service staff immediately. At CoolThings Australia we process orders quickly, so please contact our customer service team as soon as possible if you want to make changes.

Return of Bulk Discounted Products:

Product sold at a bulk discount can only be returned if there is a manufacturer fault or they do not work as advertised. Change of mind returns will only be considered if products have been untouched. Returned product will be at the cost of the customer.

Custom Products:

Custom made to order product cannot be returned unless they are faulty.


In industrialized countries, lung cancer is one of the main causes of death from all cancer deaths. Lung cancer mostly affects those aged 40 to 70 years. Smoking is one risk factor in lung cancer and 80% of lung cancer cases occur in smokers. Exposure to certain chemicals in the workplace is also clearly associated with the development of lung cancer.

Figures for the incidence of lung was increased in workers exposed to some form of nickel, chromium, and asbestos. Asbestos is widely used for the manufacture of roof (tile) and insulation, asbestos cement, brake linings, electrical devices, and fire-resistant materials and packing materials. Asbestos is the common name of a group of natural silicates which will split into flexible fibers. Exposure can come from natural sources and industrial usage. There are two types of fiber flcksibel, krisotil and krosidolit. Krisotil (3MgO.2SiO, .2 H2O) is a very important role in world trade and 90% of which is composed of asbestos. Krosidolit (blue asbestos), composed of rod-shaped fibers are short and more dangerous than krisotil fiber.

System disease due to exposure to asbestos exposure include asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesotheliomas. Other cancers associated with exposure to asbestos is a cancer of the larynx, esophagus, stomach, colon-rectum, and possibly pancreatic cancer.

Asbestosis is pulmonary fibrosis that develops slowly from inhaling high concentrations of asbestos dust or due to long exposure. Its severity depends on the time span between awitan (initial) exposure and its intensity, then advanced asbestosis is often associated with lung cancer, especially among smokers.

Pleural mesotheliomas is a rare type of cancer. Increased incidence of mesotheliomas associated with the inhalation of asbestos fibers in the working environment. Although initially symptoms slightly, mesotheliomas can be cured if successfully diagnosed. The time between exposure to asbestos and the appearance of first signs of tumors ranging from 20 to 50 years, especially mesotheliomas. The increase in the incidence of mesotheliomas numbers also appear in the population who, although not exposed in occupational, stay home with asbestos workers or living near a strong source of asbestos emissions Although asbestos is no longer used as an insulator, this substance is still in the spotlight because of the danger that comes from building divider using asbestos.


Shop FotoBella

Search This Blog

Friday, March 24, 2017

It's Game On with Bo Bunny

Hello FotoBella Friends! It's Game On! today with Bo Bunny and FotoBella! I've been playing with the new I Want It All Bundle with Bo Bunny's Game On! collection. Anyone out there have kids playing team sports? Game On! combines common team sports themes so that it can be used in a variety of ways.

My layout features one popular team sport, Soccer! My youngest daughter started playing soccer when she was two. A very informal team that basically gets the kids running the field and learning the basic concepts. Man do I have some cute photos from that!

Mind you at 2 years old, this is not an organized game or team and they didn't have uniforms. But they got to kick the ball and make goals all the same!

I used one of the jerseys from the Noteworthy package to add journaling.

And added some fun journaling to the soccer print page!

Lucky for me, I had a stash of thickers that came in handy. The Varsity black & white thickers were a perfect match to this collection. If I'm being honest...I've had these thickers for quite a few years and not even sure if they are still for sale!? A trip to Michaels may not disappoint. However, the same look could be replicated by shadowing white lettering either with a die cut machine or just creating a black background with cardstock and white thickers. That's the beauty of crafting, getting creative to get the result you want!

Hope you enjoyed my project today and if you're in need of some team sport scrapbooking supplies, FotoBella.com is the place to shop and add Bo Bunny's Game On! collection to your shopping cart!


[Sacral recurrence of rectal carcinoma].
The records and operation reports of 101 patients (52 male, 49 female) with locally recurrent rectal cancer treated between 1980 and 1994 were reviewed. 72% of these patients were symptomatic at the time of diagnosis. 51 patients were operated on with curative intent (16 with IORT), whereas 26 underwent palliative surgical resection. Multivisceral resection was performed in 62.3%. In 24 patients with recurrent tumors (11 with exploratory celiotomy) no major surgical resection was considered indicated. The operative mortality rate was 1.1%. 48 complications occurred in 32 patients with exploratory celiotomy resulting in a 36.3% morbidity rate. In the curative group partial or complete pain relief was achieved in 81%, whereas 75% of those in the palliative group had pain control. The median survival was 24 months for the curative group and 17 months for the group with microscopic or gros residual disease (p < 0.05). Initial inoperability resulted in a median life expectancy of 7 months. The 5-year survival was 13.5% for the group with surgical resection and 21% for patients with curative resection (n = 51). Actuarial 5-year survival for patients who received IORT (n = 16) was 27%, compared with 17% for those (n = 35) who did not (p > 0.05) and respective local tumor control were 50% and 34% (p > 0.05). We conclude that radical resection of tumor recurrence in the pelvis can be performed with acceptable mortality and morbidity, palliates local complaints and offers excellent local control and survival in patients who can undergo complete resections with negative margins.


I'm with you, Gremlin, (and several others who've said basically the same). I don't think there is a connection of WWII and our current gaming interests, nor current politics for that matter.

According to the survey, I'm pre-boomer age (1941)but love adventure games and don't play the shoot em up games. I loved to shoot a cap pistol as a child, but now enjoy the quiet mental work out of problem solving an adventure game. I hate it when I have to resort to a walk through in order to proceed. And yes, I love to read, much more now than I did as a child.

Originally posted by The Haze: Since I have no compunctions about stealing other people's ideas, I feel you may all have combined to produce a topic for my advanced Senior classes next year. This will bear some contemplation, but if you hear loud groans from Southeast Michigan next Spring, you will all be at least partly to blame.

_________________________
"Once you give up integrity, the rest is easy." Anonymous


For better or worse, the rotation is set for the Division Series

“We’ve been planning this for a while. It didn’t take a genius to see how we planned it,” Baker said on Tuesday. “What you see is what it is right now.”

Judging by the current rotation — it’s Johnny Cueto, Bronson Arroyo and Mat Latos for the first three games.

Would they use four starters?

If they decide to go with four starters, you have to imagine that Homer Bailey will be waiting in the wings to take that start.

So…what about the decision to start Arroyo in game two, rather than Latos? Bizarre, no? You all know that I’m an unabashed member of the Bronson Arroyo Fan Club, but I don’t see any legitimate reason to start Arroyo over Latos. If they only go with three starters, wouldn’t you rather have Cueto and Latos pitching two games each (if the series goes five)?

I imagine Dusty’s reasoning has something to do with “splitting up the hard throwers.” Perhaps it has something to do with Arroyo’s post-season experience (ignore the post-season ERA of 6.04, please). Heck, they probably have a bunch of other reasons too, reasons to which I’m not privy. On the surface, however, it seems awfully strange.

One can only hope that Dusty re-thinks the rotation for the NLCS (assuming the Reds get there). I want Cueto and Latos being the two hammers at the top of the rotation, getting two starts per series, if necessary. I don’t think that’s too outlandish a request. After all, Cueto and Latos are the two best starters on the team, right?

115 thoughts on “For better or worse, the rotation is set for the Division Series”

Comment navigation

I don’t get that. Wouldn’t you rather “risk” Bronson on the mound with the series tied 1-1, rather than have to count on Latos to win with the series down 0-2? … Granted, if Cueto wins Game 1, this is all out the window anyway and Game 3 is truly the pivotal game as referenced, but if not, I’d like to take the best step toward not falling behind 0-2 in the first place …

Game 2 would be Sunday? That would keep Latos on his fifth day, for what that’s worth. I would expect Arroyo could handle an extra day or two off a little better than the less veteran-y Latos………..Anyway, whatever works, count me in.

By the way, they should probably release the actual times for all series tonight, unless the Yankees and Orioles need a tiebreaker tomorrow. I hope they don’t wait to see who wins the wild card games before releasing game times. But, with the Yankees potentially involved, you know they’ll want to show their games in primetime as much as possible, so who knows?

All that matters now is that someone produce Cueto and Arroyo’s splits vs. the Giants this year and/or career, especially at AT&T. You know they’ll see Cain and Lincecum in the first two games as part of that “home-field advantage” in the NLDS. And it means that with the way this team is hitting now, there’s another fairly decent chance of getting no-hit in the playoffs.

All that matters now is that someone produce Cueto and Arroyo’s splits vs. the Giants this year and/or career, especially at AT&T. You know they’ll see Cain and Lincecum in the first two games as part of that “home-field advantage” in the NLDS. And it means that with the way this team is hitting now, there’s another fairly decent chance of getting no-hit in the playoffs.

Lincecum has an ERA over 5 and probably won’t even be in the Giants rotation for the playoffs. They’ll see Cain and Bumgarner in the first 2 games.

Eh, this is just one of those things I’ve given up worrying about. It’s the same thing as never having Votto/Bruce hitting back to back. It was always gonna be this way. Win, and the various parameters of this decision don’t matter.

Talk about assuming things you have no way of knowing…they acquired Latos to pitch big games and every 5th day—who told you that, Walt Jocketty?

Jocketty has referred to Latos many times since the trade as a co-ace or a 1-2 punch with Johnny Cueto and a guy to help the Reds in the playoffs. Listening to interviews was key.

Bryan Price and the Reds have always been concerned about overworking young pitching which makes it unlikely that Latos is a candidate to pitch on 3 days rest. If he can’t pitch on 3 days rest there’s not necessarily a big advantage to using him in game 2. Watch the Reds and you’ll notice trends sometimes.

What makes no sense is to say that (a) you want Latos pitching game 3 and not Arroyo if they are down 0-2, and at the same time (b) based on that you don’t want Latos pitching game 2 and Arroyo game 3.What?Is Latos somehow going to be different in game 3 than game 2?Will Arroyo be different in game 2 or game 3?

Every playoff game is a big game.To say you are saving Latos for game 3 because it’s pivotal, whereas game 2 isn’t pivotal, is just a fallacy.

A lot of these issues are obviously a matter of personal opinion, but the Reds have a made a decision whether you like it or not. I say I’m fine with Latos pitching game 3 and there’s logic to it if you consider the options. If you’re blindly set on another opinion, oh well.

Eh, this is just one of those things I’ve given up worrying about.It’s the same thing as never having Votto/Bruce hitting back to back.It was always gonna be this way.Win, and the various parameters of this decision don’t matter.

It’s Dustyball.He should write a book.

Let Bryan Price contribute to the chapter on managing pitchers. He must play a big role in this decision, which I keep pointing out.

@redsfanman: I’m sure there exists logic, but logic isn’t “the big game pitcher will pitch well in game 3 but not in game 2, and you don’t want the other guy pitching in game 3 because he’s not a big game pitcher, so pitch him in game 2.”

@redsfanman: I’m sure there exists logic, but logic isn’t “the big game pitcher will pitch well in game 3 but not in game 2, and you don’t want the other guy pitching in game 3 because he’s not a big game pitcher, so pitch him in game 2.”

The logic is that they’ve labeled Cueto and Latos as co-aces and have worked out a way so that one of them will start game 1 of the NLDS, the other will pitch the home opener for the NLDS (game 3), and one pitches game 1 of the NLCS (Cueto if the NLDS goes 3 or 4 games, Latos if the NLDS goes 5 games). Bronson Arroyo will pitch in San Francisco, where it’s tougher to give up homeruns. Don’t like it? Too bad.

I’m just wondering what’s all the fuss is about? Their not going to pitch Latos or Arroyo on three day rest anyway. By some of the comments here it’s a forgone conclusion that Arroyo will lose, so if that’s the case what does it matter if he loses game 2 or 3. Dusty gets the most credit as manager for knowing & relating to his players, & putting them it the best position to succeed. Let him & his coaches manage. We’regetting bent out of shape & the first pitch hasn’t been thrown yet.

Some people like fuss and are determined to disprove Dusty and his coaches. I agree they’re not going to pitch Latos or Arroyo on three days rest, but people want them to do that anyway (with Latos), and for the rotation to be planned accordingly (pitching Latos in game 2). You’ll notice that most evaluations of Dusty’s rotation are worst case scenarios. You’d think the Reds have already lost the 2012 NLDS from the outlook of fans.

Big News tonight –
Mark Sheldon reported that Dusty Baker confirmed that Homer Bailey is scheduled to pitch game 4 of the NLDS.

On the flip side, say they win the first two in S.F., then you have a chance to drop the hammer with Latos at home in Game three. Also, you don’t have to worry about throwing Arroyo at GASP, where he has a greater chance of giving up home runs. From that standpoint, I’d rather do whatever is necessary to make sure Arroyo and Bailey don’t start at home. Latos and Cueto can start anywhere. But since winning on the road is key in the playoffs, I like the idea of Arroyo and Cueto starting in S.F. Arroyo is a lot tougher if he isn’t going to be giving up homers.

On the flip side, say they win the first two in S.F., then you have a chance to drop the hammer with Latos at home in Game three. Also, you don’t have to worry about throwing Arroyo at GASP, where he has a greater chance of giving up home runs. From that standpoint, I’d rather do whatever is necessary to make sure Arroyo and Bailey don’t start at home. Latos and Cueto can start anywhere. But since winning on the road is key in the playoffs, I like the idea of Arroyo and Cueto starting in S.F. Arroyo is a lot tougher if he isn’t going to be giving up homers.

It could very well work out for the best that way, but that big ballpark can give up lots of gap shots, too, even though it keeps balls from going over the fence. I hope it works, and I’ve been known to worry about Bronson pitching at home as well, just saying I can see dropping the Cueto-Latos “hammer” before the Reds even return home. And if we get a win in three or four games, both of those guys are then ready to start the LCS. Anyway, San Fran awaits. Good luck to us all.

I’m much more comfortable knowing there will be balls hit in the gap where Stubbs, Bruce and Heisey can run them down rather than over the fence at GASP. If the ball is in play, the Reds have the advantage, period.

I’m just wondering what’s all the fuss is about? Their not going to pitch Latos or Arroyo on three day rest anyway. By some of the comments here it’s a forgone conclusion that Arroyo will lose, so if that’s the case what does it matter if he loses game 2 or 3. Dusty gets the most credit as manager for knowing & relating to his players, & putting them it the best position to succeed. Let him & his coaches manage. We’re getting bent out of shape & the first pitch hasn’t been thrown yet.


Q:

Как в Ruby разбить целое число на триады?

Обращался к англоязычному гуглу, набирая ruby triad но он мне выдает картинки с какой-то стриптизершей.
Есть число (Integer), например 146234232.
Как из него получить строку "146 234 232"?

A:

    def comma_numbers(number, delimiter = ',')
      number.to_s.reverse.gsub(%r{([0-9]{3}(?=([0-9])))}, "\\1#{delimiter}").reverse
   end

number_to_currency(1234567890.506, locale: :fr)


---
title: TLS Egress 监控和策略配置
description: 描述如何在 TLS Egress 上配置 SNI 监控和策略。
keywords: [traffic-management,egress,telemetry,policies]
weight: 51
aliases:
  - /zh/docs/examples/advanced-gateways/egress_sni_monitoring_and_policies/
---

前面的任务[使用通配符主机配置 Egress 流量](/zh/docs/tasks/traffic-management/egress/wildcard-egress-hosts/)描述了如何为公共域 `*.wikipedia.org` 中的一组主机启用 Egress 流量，本文基于该任务，
演示如何为 TLS Egress 配置 SNI 监控和策略。

{{< boilerplate before-you-begin-egress >}}

*  [部署 Istio egress 网关](/zh/docs/tasks/traffic-management/egress/egress-gateway/#deploy-Istio-egress-gateway).

*  [开启 Envoy 的访问日志记录](/zh/docs/tasks/observability/logs/access-log/#enable-envoy-s-access-logging)

*  参考[使用通配符主机配置 Egress 流量](/zh/docs/tasks/traffic-management/egress/wildcard-egress-hosts/)任务中的[步骤](/zh/docs/tasks/traffic-management/egress/wildcard-egress-hosts/#wildcard-configuration-for-arbitrary-domains)，配置流量流向 `*.wikipedia.org`，且**启用双向 TLS**。

    {{< warning >}}
    **必须** 在你的集群上启用策略检查。请按照[启用策略检查](/zh/docs/tasks/policy-enforcement/enabling-policy/)
    中的步骤操作，以确保策略检查已启用 。
    {{< /warning >}}

## SNI 监控和访问策略{#SNI-monitoring-and-access-policies}

由于已将出口流量配置为流经 egress 网关，因此可以 **安全地** 对出口流量应用监控和访问策略检查。
本节中，您将为流向 _*.wikipedia.org_ 的出口流量定义日志条目和访问策略。

1. 创建日志记录配置：

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ kubectl apply -f @samples/sleep/telemetry/sni-logging.yaml@
    {{< /text >}}

1. 向 [https://en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org) 和 [https://de.wikipedia.org](https://de.wikipedia.org)
    发送 HTTPS 请求：

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ kubectl exec -it $SOURCE_POD -c sleep -- sh -c 'curl -s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page | grep -o "<title>.*</title>"; curl -s https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Hauptseite | grep -o "<title>.*</title>"'
    <title>Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</title>
    <title>Wikipedia – Die freie Enzyklopädie</title>
    {{< /text >}}

1. 检查 Mixer 日志。如果 Istio 部署在 `istio-system` 命名空间中，打印日志的命令为：

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ kubectl -n istio-system logs -l istio-mixer-type=telemetry -c mixer | grep 'egress-access'
    {{< /text >}}

1. 定义一个策略，该策略允许访问除 `en.wikipedia.org` 以外的所有 `*.wikipedia.org` 主机：

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ kubectl apply -f @samples/sleep/policy/sni-wikipedia.yaml@
    {{< /text >}}

1. 向处于黑名单中的 [Wikipedia in English](https://en.wikipedia.org) 发送 https 请求：

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ kubectl exec -it $SOURCE_POD -c sleep -- sh -c 'curl -v https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page'
    ...
    curl: (35) Unknown SSL protocol error in connection to en.wikipedia.org:443
    command terminated with exit code 35
    {{< /text >}}

    根据您定义的策略，对 `en.wikipedia.org` 的访问被禁止了。

1. 发送 HTTPS 请求到其它语言版本的 Wikipedia 站点，如 [https://es.wikipedia.org](https://es.wikipedia.org) 和
    [https://de.wikipedia.org](https://de.wikipedia.org)：

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ kubectl exec -it $SOURCE_POD -c sleep -- sh -c 'curl -s https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Portada | grep -o "<title>.*</title>"; curl -s https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Hauptseite | grep -o "<title>.*</title>"'
    <title>Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre</title>
    <title>Wikipedia – Die freie Enzyklopädie</title>
    {{< /text >}}

    符合预期效果，除 `en.wikipedia.org` 外的 Wikipedia 站点均可被正常访问。

### 清除监控和策略检查{#cleanup-of-monitoring-and-policy-enforcement}

{{< text bash >}}
$ kubectl delete -f @samples/sleep/telemetry/sni-logging.yaml@
$ kubectl delete -f @samples/sleep/policy/sni-wikipedia.yaml@
{{< /text >}}

## 监控 SNI 和源身份标识，并基于它们执行访问策略{#monitor-the-SNI-and-the-source-identity-and-enforce-access-policies-based-on-them}

由于您在 sidecar 代理和 egress 网关之间启用了双向 TLS，因此您可以监控访问外部服务的应用程序的[服务标识](/zh/docs/ops/deployment/architecture/#citadel)，并根据流量来源的身份标识执行访问策略。
在 Kubernetes 上的 Istio 中，源身份标识基于[服务帐户](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/configure-service-account/)。
本小节中，您将在 `sleep-us` 和 `sleep-canada` 服务账户下分别部署 `sleep-us` 和 `sleep-canada` 两个容器。
然后定义一个策略，该策略允许具有 `sleep-us` 标识的应用访问 English 和 Spanish 版本的 Wikipedia 站点，并允许具有 `sleep-canada` 身份标识的应用访问 English 和 French 版本的 Wikipedia 站点。

1. 在 `sleep-us` 和 `sleep-canada` 服务账户下分别部署 `sleep-us` 和 `sleep-canada` 两个容器：

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ sed 's/: sleep/: sleep-us/g' @samples/sleep/sleep.yaml@ | kubectl apply -f -
    $ sed 's/: sleep/: sleep-canada/g' @samples/sleep/sleep.yaml@ | kubectl apply -f -
    serviceaccount "sleep-us" created
    service "sleep-us" created
    deployment "sleep-us" created
    serviceaccount "sleep-canada" created
    service "sleep-canada" created
    deployment "sleep-canada" created
    {{< /text >}}

1. 创建日志记录配置:

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ kubectl apply -f @samples/sleep/telemetry/sni-logging.yaml@
    {{< /text >}}

1. 从 `sleep-us` 发送 HTTPS 请求至 English、German、Spanish 和 French 版本的 Wikipedia 站点：

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ kubectl exec -it $(kubectl get pod -l app=sleep-us -o jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}') -c sleep-us -- sh -c 'curl -s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page | grep -o "<title>.*</title>"; curl -s https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Hauptseite | grep -o "<title>.*</title>"; curl -s https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Portada | grep -o "<title>.*</title>"; curl -s https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Accueil_principal | grep -o "<title>.*</title>"'
    <title>Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</title>
    <title>Wikipedia – Die freie Enzyklopädie</title>
    <title>Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre</title>
    <title>Wikipédia, l'encyclopédie libre</title>
    {{< /text >}}

1. 检查 Mixer 日志。如果 Istio 部署在 `istio-system` 命名空间中，打印日志的命令为：

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ kubectl -n istio-system logs -l istio-mixer-type=telemetry -c mixer | grep 'egress-access'
    {"level":"info","time":"2019-01-10T17:33:55.559093Z","instance":"egress-access.instance.istio-system","connectionEvent":"open","destinationApp":"","requestedServerName":"en.wikipedia.org","source":"istio-egressgateway-with-sni-proxy","sourceNamespace":"default","sourcePrincipal":"cluster.local/ns/default/sa/sleep-us","sourceWorkload":"istio-egressgateway-with-sni-proxy"}
    {"level":"info","time":"2019-01-10T17:33:56.166227Z","instance":"egress-access.instance.istio-system","connectionEvent":"open","destinationApp":"","requestedServerName":"de.wikipedia.org","source":"istio-egressgateway-with-sni-proxy","sourceNamespace":"default","sourcePrincipal":"cluster.local/ns/default/sa/sleep-us","sourceWorkload":"istio-egressgateway-with-sni-proxy"}
    {"level":"info","time":"2019-01-10T17:33:56.779842Z","instance":"egress-access.instance.istio-system","connectionEvent":"open","destinationApp":"","requestedServerName":"es.wikipedia.org","source":"istio-egressgateway-with-sni-proxy","sourceNamespace":"default","sourcePrincipal":"cluster.local/ns/default/sa/sleep-us","sourceWorkload":"istio-egressgateway-with-sni-proxy"}
    {"level":"info","time":"2019-01-10T17:33:57.413908Z","instance":"egress-access.instance.istio-system","connectionEvent":"open","destinationApp":"","requestedServerName":"fr.wikipedia.org","source":"istio-egressgateway-with-sni-proxy","sourceNamespace":"default","sourcePrincipal":"cluster.local/ns/default/sa/sleep-us","sourceWorkload":"istio-egressgateway-with-sni-proxy"}
    {{< /text >}}

    注意 `requestedServerName` 属性，并且 `sourcePrincipal` 必须为 `cluster.local/ns/default/sa/sleep-us`。

1. 定义一个策略，允许使用服务帐户 `sleep-us` 的应用程序访问 English 和 Spanish 版本的 Wikipedia，
    允许使用服务帐户 `sleep-canada` 的应用程序访问访问 English 和 French 版本的 Wikipedia。
    如果这些应用尝试访问其他语种版本的 Wikipedia，访问将被阻止。

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ kubectl apply -f @samples/sleep/policy/sni-serviceaccount.yaml@
    {{< /text >}}

1. 再次从 `sleep-us` 发送 HTTPS 请求到 English、German、Spanish 和 French 版本的 Wikipedia：

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ kubectl exec -it $(kubectl get pod -l app=sleep-us -o jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}') -c sleep-us -- sh -c 'curl -s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page | grep -o "<title>.*</title>"; curl -s https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Hauptseite | grep -o "<title>.*</title>"; curl -s https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Portada | grep -o "<title>.*</title>"; curl -s https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Accueil_principal | grep -o "<title>.*</title>";:'
    <title>Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</title>
    <title>Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre</title>
    {{< /text >}}

    请注意，仅允许 `sleep-us` 服务帐户访问处于白名单中的 Wikipedia 站点，即 English 和 Spanish 版本的 Wikipedia。

    {{< tip >}}
    Mixer 策略组件可能需要几分钟的时间才能完成新策略的同步。如果您想在不等待同步完成的情况下快速演示新策略，请 Mixer 策略 Pod 删除：
    {{< /tip >}}

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ kubectl delete pod -n istio-system -l istio-mixer-type=policy
    {{< /text >}}

1. 再次从 `sleep-canada` 发送 HTTPS 请求到 English、German、Spanish 和 French 站点：

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ kubectl exec -it $(kubectl get pod -l app=sleep-canada -o jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}') -c sleep-canada -- sh -c 'curl -s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page | grep -o "<title>.*</title>"; curl -s https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Hauptseite | grep -o "<title>.*</title>"; curl -s https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Portada | grep -o "<title>.*</title>"; curl -s https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Accueil_principal | grep -o "<title>.*</title>";:'
    <title>Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</title>
    <title>Wikipédia, l'encyclopédie libre</title>
    {{< /text >}}

    请注意，只有 `sleep-canada` 服务帐户访问处于白名单中的 Wikipedia 站点，即 English 和 French 版本的 Wikipedia。

### 清理 SNI 及源标识的监控和策略检查{#cleanup-of-monitoring-and-policy-enforcement-of-SNI-and-source-identity}

{{< text bash >}}
$ kubectl delete service sleep-us sleep-canada
$ kubectl delete deployment sleep-us sleep-canada
$ kubectl delete serviceaccount sleep-us sleep-canada
$ kubectl delete -f @samples/sleep/telemetry/sni-logging.yaml@
$ kubectl delete -f @samples/sleep/policy/sni-serviceaccount.yaml@
{{< /text >}}

## 清除{#cleanup}

1. 执行[使用通配符主机配置 Egress 流量](/zh/docs/tasks/traffic-management/egress/wildcard-egress-hosts/)任务的[清除步骤](/zh/docs/tasks/traffic-management/egress/wildcard-egress-hosts/#cleanup-wildcard-configuration-for-arbitrary-domains)。

1. 关闭 [sleep]({{< github_tree >}}/samples/sleep) 服务:

    {{< text bash >}}
    $ kubectl delete -f @samples/sleep/sleep.yaml@
    {{< /text >}}


Receive responses from additional tutors

If you select this option, Wyzant will ask interested tutors to contact you by email if they are able to help. A maximum of five different tutors will email you and none of your personal information, including your email address, will be released.

Mills College

M.F.A. Mills College

Other

Capella University

PhD

Education

Mills College

M.F.A. Mills College (Other)

Capella University (PhD)

About Jeanne

Hi,

I love coaching people so that they can express themselves through writing. I like to connect with each of my students to find specific ways to interest them in the writing process and to make writing an enjoyable process. I enjoy variety and therefore work with students of all ages and levels. I believe learning should be engaging, and that learning can be rigorous without being rigid. I am a disciplined and fun person, and bring these attributes to my teaching.

I have a Ph.D. in Education, with an emphasis in improving performance. I am a long-time college instructor and have also worked extensively with K-12 students. I am the mother of two: a sixth-grader and a fourth-grader, so am very involved in elementary school writing at this point in time, in addition to being a first-rate teacher for pre-teens, teens, and adults.

I have found that each student has specific learning strengths coupled with specific learning styles. I work to discover these in my students and to then teach my students strategies to maximize learning in the ways that are most efficient and comfortable for them. Over time, this approach leads to students struggling less with learning the basics and, instead, being confident writers able to synthesize what they learn into original works expressing their understanding of the world.

After we get to know each other, I prefer an ongoing tutoring relationship so that we both have a chance to see the teaching/learning we do come to fruition!

If I seem like someone you would like to study with, or have your child study with, then please get in touch!!

Best wishes,Dr. J.Hi,

I love coaching people so that they can express themselves through writing. I like to connect with each of my students to find specific ways to interest them in the writing process and to make writing an enjoyable process. I enjoy variety and therefore work with students of…Read more

Approved subjects

In most cases, tutors gain approval in a subject by passing a proficiency exam. For some subject areas, like music and art, tutors submit written requests to demonstrate their proficiency to potential students. If a tutor is interested but not yet approved in a subject, the subject will appear in non-bold font. Tutors need to be approved in a subject prior to beginning lessons.

Anthropology

I hold an MFA in Dance and a Ph.D. in Education, both of which have required me to study anthropological aspects of culture from a variety of viewpoints. Related to anthropology, I have studied Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, Art and Anthropology, Dance Anthropology, Human Development, Philosophy of Religions, Chinese/Mandarin, Spanish, German, French, History and Culture. I have taught Dance History, which delves into the anthropological basis of dance, music and culture.

Ballroom Dancing

I have 2 degrees in Dance, a BA and an MFA. I also have a Ph.D in Education. In addition to my academic training I have studied ballroom dance extensively. I have taught Ballroom Dancing at the college level for over 20 years, teaching the following levels: Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced, Ballroom Dance Production, Dance Repertory, and Analysis of Folk and Ballroom Dance. I also teach a college course entitled "Teaching Movement" in which I train others to teach Ballroom dance and other movement forms. My approach is focused on social dance for all levels, and coaching performers.

Elementary (K-6th)

I have a Ph.D. in Education and a deep understanding about how children learn. This includes studies in childhood development and how the brain works to facilitate learning. I have spent the last 8 years tutoring my own children in all academic subjects at the elementary school level. I have experience with the K-6 curriculum and working with teachers on how to help children not only learn what is needed, but how to do so in a manner that that creates children who are curious and joyful learners.

Fitness

I have a BA and an MFA in dance, which required me to take college course such as anatomy, physiology, motor learning, kinesiology, injury prevention. I have an extensive background in teaching aerobics, personal fitness, general fitness, yoga, several forms of dance, and running. I have taught all ages and abilities. I hold 2 Yoga Certifications, a Ph.D. in Education, and teach college courses for those interested in learning to teach movement.

Salsa Dancing

I am a long-time teacher of Latin American Social and Folk Dance, Advanced Salsa Dance, and Salsa Production in the Dance Program at City College of San Francisco. I hold 2 degrees in Dance as well as a Ph.D. in Education. My students have performed in venues throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, and many have become dance teachers themselves.

Yoga

Yoga Qualifications: I authored and direct the Certificate of Accomplishment in Yoga Instruction at City College of San Francisco. I hold 2 yoga certifications, a Master's Degree in Dance and a Ph.D. in Education...all of which provide me with skills to teach yoga to all ages. My own practice has been consistent since 1975.

Mills College

M.F.A. Mills College

Other

Capella University

PhD

Education

Mills College

M.F.A. Mills College (Other)

Capella University (PhD)

Hourly rate

Standard Hourly Rate: $65.00

Cancellation: 24 hours notice required

Travel policy

Jeanne will travel within 5 miles of San Francisco, CA 94112.

Your first hour with any tutor is protected by our Good Fit Guarantee: You don’t pay for tutoring unless you find a good fit!


summary: Cross-compile Go snaps using cgo

systems:
  - ubuntu-16.04-amd64
  - ubuntu-18.04-amd64

environment:
  SNAP_DIR: ../snaps/go-cgo

prepare: |
  #shellcheck source=tests/spread/tools/snapcraft-yaml.sh
  . "$TOOLS_DIR/snapcraft-yaml.sh"
  set_base "$SNAP_DIR/snap/snapcraft.yaml"

restore: |
  #shellcheck source=tests/spread/tools/snapcraft-yaml.sh
  . "$TOOLS_DIR/snapcraft-yaml.sh"
  cd "$SNAP_DIR"
  snapcraft clean
  rm -f ./*.snap
  restore_yaml "snap/snapcraft.yaml"

execute: |
  cd "$SNAP_DIR"

  snapcraft stage --target-arch=armhf

  if ! snap list go; then
    echo "The go snap from the Snap Store should have been installed."
    exit 1
  fi

  # This only works on ubuntu
  if dpkg -s golang-go; then
    echo "The go deb for the system repositories should not have been installed."
    exit 1
  fi

  file stage/bin/go-cgo | MATCH ',\s*ARM\s*,'


I didn't mine the silliness but it was just a little too shallow and the pacing was extremely off (way too much time spent on the same level killing the same couple of monsters). But it has a lot of potential so I'm happy to see an expansion.


NEW YORK
Ben Stiller and Edie Falco are teaming up for a revival of "The House of Blue Leaves" on Broadway this spring.

Producers say the actors will appear as a married couple in John Guare's black comedy at the Walter Kerr Theatre. No other details were announced Thursday.

The play will be familiar for Stiller: He made his Broadway debut in a 1986 Broadway revival of it, playing the son of a zookeeper who longs to be a songwriter. This time, the "Zoolander" star will play the zookeeper.

Falco has several Broadway credits, including "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune" and "'night, Mother." The "Sopranos" star currently can be seen in "Nurse Jackie."


=begin
Write your code for the 'Transpose' exercise in this file. Make the tests in
`transpose_test.rb` pass.

To get started with TDD, see the `README.md` file in your
`ruby/transpose` directory.
=end


Q:

SendKeys.Send ("%"); does not send "%" symbol

SendKeys.Send ("%"); does not send "%" symbol
    while (true)
    {
        string a2 = @"%%asdf%%";
        foreach (char a in a2)
        {
              SendKeys.Send(a.ToString());
        }
        System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
    }

A:

From MSDN:

The plus sign (+), caret (^), percent sign (%), tilde (~), and
  parentheses () have special meanings to SendKeys. To specify one of
  these characters, enclose it within braces ({}).

SendKeys.Send also takes a String.
So why not:
string a2 = @"{%}{%}asdf{%}{%}";
SendKeys.Send(a2);


We’re ordering more and more delivery, and restaurants aren’t designed for it. Some companies are rethinking their spaces to cope.

Grubhub. Uber Eats. DoorDash. These third-party food delivery services bring us everything from mom-and-pop pad thai to Big Macs. Third-party restaurant delivery is an estimated $13 billion business today, and some believe online food delivery in general could blossom into a $365 billion industry globally by 2030 when you roll in all aspects of the market, like groceries and pre-made meal kits.

advertisement

advertisement

But in some ways, it’s an industry that’s still in its infancy. Forget the tricky business of the “last mile” of delivering a meal–many companies are still figuring out the first few feet. Most restaurants aren’t optimized to have their food picked up; they’re designed for in-person service. Go into any restaurant today, and you’re likely to see a pile of takeout bags, cluttering the counter. Couriers clog the line beside customers. It’s an organizational mess.

“There’s congestion and chaos created by this new operating model that can’t necessarily fit into the space,” says Tim Young, cofounder and CEO of food technology company Eatsa.

[Photo: courtetsy Eatsa]

The solution, however, could be simpler than we’d think. It may just be shelves–albeit very high-tech ones that Eatsa dubs “Spots.”

So far, the same problem affects small and large restaurants alike. The core challenge is that restaurants are all designed and operated so differently. As a result, Grubhub and Uber Eats both consult with their restaurants one-on-one, offering best practices and advice to incorporate pickups into each unique space. McDonald’s, following its delivery deal with Uber Eats, has to figure out a unique spot for courier food pickups in every single location (14,000+ in the U.S.!), because there’s isn’t just a single footprint for every McDonald’s location. The company tells Fast Company there’s “no system-wide approach” to food pickup, though couriers are free to use the drive-throughs if they prefer. Such ad hoc improvisation is typical across the industry.

In June of last year, Chipotle began testing a new pickup model, for both customers who ordered ahead online and couriers, too. While you used to have to go up to the counter to pick up a remote order, Chipotle installed a plain, wooden shelving unit, placed near the front door of one NYC location, as a test. Food is bagged up, labeled by name, and placed on the shelf. To grab your order, all you have to do is walk in and, well, grab it.

[Photo: courtesy Chipotle]

The test was an immediate hit with a measurable impact on Chipotle’s delivery times–which Chipotle claims are “industry leading.”

advertisement

“The couriers really like the pickup shelves because it allows them to quickly pick up the order without waiting in lines,” a spokesperson explains. Only half a year later, Chipotle has shelves installed in 1,000 of its restaurants, and plans to retrofit all of its stores with shelves within the next six months.

Eatsa hopes to do one better. The company is known for its automated, self-serve quinoa bowl restaurants in San Francisco, and it now licenses much of its ordering and expediting technology to others in the food industry.

Its new product is a small, modular shelf dubbed the Spotlight Pickup System. It’s a minimal U-shaped shelf, powered by a digital back end that can plug into services including Grubhub or Uber Eats.

“You see the orders stacking up on the counter in your average restaurant,” says Young. “For operators, now there’s a very clear place to put them.”

As orders are completed, the shelves light up in front with the customer’s name. (This name doesn’t pop up on a traditional LCD screen, but, rather, a proprietary display technology that creates a more subtle glow that is less distracting in a restaurant atmosphere.) The shelf senses when a bag of food has been placed on it or taken off, and can even alert the manager to an order that has sat there too long, and should maybe be remade.

[Photo: courtetsy Eatsa]

“A lot of remote ordered food, operators are very worried about quality,” says Young. “Now, they have the ability to notice something has been sitting too long and do something about it.”

advertisement

Spotlight’s cleverness, however, is not just its connectivity: It’s in its flexibility.

“Each Spot is an individual piece of hardware mounted and tethered together. That means the brand that doesn’t have a lot of space and doesn’t need many can take three. The brand that is doing much higher volume and embracing these delivery services can take 10,” says Young. “And because it’s a modular, very-small-footprint unit, it can be deployed in different ways.”

As Young explains, the average service counter has about four linear feet, which is perfect for storing five or six Spot units. But Spots can also be built into a stacked cubby system. Or they can be mounted on a wall as floating shelves. Or they can be built into a full bookcase shelving unit.

Spotlight is launching with three restaurants in San Francisco, Seattle, and Chicago in the coming weeks, and the technology is now open for any restaurant to license. There’s an upfront cost for the hardware, which runs “maybe a couple thousand” depending on the size of install, according to Young. Then there’s a smaller, ongoing licensing fee.

Eatsa’s platform may be too high tech or expensive for the tight margins of the independently owned restaurant industry (my favorite taqueria still only takes cash and has tables from 1970s), but it’s easy to imagine it scaling to fast-food or fast-casual chains with their copy-and-pasted business models.

“We’re having conversations up and down the spectrum and getting, honestly, a lot of traction across the board,” Young maintains, “because everyone is trying to solve this problem.”

advertisement

If we’re really going to eat 10 times the delivery tomorrow that we do today, then restaurants may soon need to think about delivery first and dine-in second.

advertisement

advertisement

advertisement

About the author

Mark Wilson is a senior writer at Fast Company. He started Philanthroper.com, a simple way to give back every day


Molecular basis of reduced birth weight in smoking pregnant women: mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis.
In utero exposure of fetuses to tobacco is associated with reduced birth weight. We hypothesized that this may be due to the toxic effect of carbon monoxide (CO) from tobacco, which has previously been described to damage mitochondria in non-pregnant adult smokers. Maternal peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), newborn cord blood mononuclear cells (CBMCs) and placenta were collected from 30 smoking pregnant women and their newborns and classified as moderate and severe smoking groups, and compared to a cohort of 21 non-smoking controls. A biomarker for tobacco consumption (cotinine) was assessed by ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). The following parameters were measured in all tissues: mitochondrial chain complex IV [cytochrome c oxidase (COX)] activity by spectrophotometry, mitochondrial DNA levels by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, oxidative stress by spectrophotometric lipid peroxide quantification, mitochondrial mass through citrate synthase spectrophotometric activity and apoptosis by Western blot parallelly confirmed by TUNEL (terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labelling) assay in placenta. Newborns from smoking pregnant women presented reduced birth weight by 10.75 percent. Materno-fetal mitochondrial and apoptotic PBMC and CBMC parameters showed altered and correlated values regarding COX activity, mitochondrial DNA, oxidative stress and apoptosis. Placenta partially compensated this dysfunction by increasing mitochondrial number; even so ratios of oxidative stress and apoptosis were increased. A CO-induced mitotoxic and apoptotic fingerprint is present in smoking pregnant women and their newborn, with a lack of filtering effect from the placenta. Tobacco consumption correlated with a reduction in birth weight and mitochondrial and apoptotic impairment, suggesting that both could be the cause of the reduced birth weight in smoking pregnant women.


Of all of the features I would like added to the .NET Framework the top of the list is an abstraction from System.Resources.ResourceManager so that anyone could make use of Custom Resource Managers as an alternative to the .NET Framework's venerable .resx ResourceManager. It is relatively easy to add your own custom resource managers but what is more difficult is to ensure that those custom resource managers get used instead of System.Resources.ResourceManager.

So I am asking for your help. Microsoft reads and watches User Voice. In particular they pay attention to feature requests that get voted for. Please vote for Provide a ResourceManager abstraction mechanism and get this feature into the product.