title: Production function

text: The inputs to the production function are commonly termed factors of production and may represent primary factors, which are stocks. Classically, the primary factors of production were land, labour and capital. Primary factors do not become part of the output product, nor are the primary factors, themselves, transformed in the production process. The production function, as a theoretical construct, may be abstracting away from the secondary factors and intermediate products consumed in a production process. The production function is not a full model of the production process: it deliberately abstracts from inherent aspects of physical production processes that some would argue are essential, including error, entropy or waste, and the consumption of energy or the co-production of pollution. Moreover, production functions do not ordinarily model the business processes, either, ignoring the role of strategic and operational business management. (For a primer on the fundamental elements of microeconomic production theory, see production theory basics).


title: Production function

text: The production function is central to the marginalist focus of neoclassical economics, its definition of efficiency as allocative efficiency, its analysis of how market prices can govern the achievement of allocative efficiency in a decentralized economy, and an analysis of the distribution of income, which attributes factor income to the marginal product of factor input.


title: Production function

text: formula_3 are the quantities of factor inputs (such as capital, labour, land or raw materials). For formula_4 it must be formula_5 since we cannot produce anything without inputs.


title: Production function

text: If formula_2 is a scalar, then this form does not encompass joint production, which is a production process that has multiple co-products. On the other hand, if formula_7 maps from formula_8 to formula_9 then it is a joint production function expressing the determination of formula_10 different types of output based on the joint usage of the specified quantities of the formula_11 inputs.


title: Production function

text: where formula_13 are parameters that are determined empirically. Linear functions imply that inputs are perfect substitutes in production.


title: Production function

text: The Leontief production function applies to situations in which inputs must be used in fixed proportions; starting from those proportions, if usage of one input is increased without another being increased, the output will not change. This production function is given by


title: Production function

text: Other forms include the constant elasticity of substitution production function (CES), which is a generalized form of the Cobb–Douglas function, and the quadratic production function. The best form of the equation to use and the values of the parameters (formula_17) vary from company to company and industry to industry. In the short run, production function at least one of the formula_18's (inputs) is fixed. In the long run, all factor inputs are variable at the discretion of management.


title: Production function

text: Moysan and Senouci (2016) provide an analytical formula for all 2-input, neoclassical production functions.


title: Production function

text: Any of these equations can be plotted on a graph. A typical (quadratic) production function is shown in the following diagram under the assumption of a single variable input (or fixed ratios of inputs so they can be treated as a single variable). All points above the production function are unobtainable with current technology, all points below are technically feasible, and all points on the function show the maximum quantity of output obtainable at the specified level of usage of the input. From point A to point C, the firm is experiencing positive but decreasing marginal returns to the variable input. As additional units of the input are employed, output increases but at a decreasing rate. Point B is the point beyond which there are diminishing average returns, as shown by the declining slope of the average physical product curve (APP) beyond point Y. Point B is just tangent to the steepest ray from the origin hence the average physical product is at a maximum. Beyond point B, mathematical necessity requires that the marginal curve must be below the average curve (See production theory basics for further explanation and Sickles and Zelenyuk (2019) for more extensive discussions of various production functions, their generalizations and estimations).


title: Production function

text: To simplify the interpretation of a production function, it is common to divide its range into 3 stages. In Stage 1 (from the origin to point B) the variable input is being used with increasing output per unit, the latter reaching a maximum at point B (since the average physical product is at its maximum at that point). Because the output per unit of the variable input is improving throughout stage 1, a price-taking firm will always operate beyond this stage.


title: Production function

text: In Stage 2, output increases at a decreasing rate, and the average and marginal physical product both decline. However, the average product of fixed inputs (not shown) is still rising, because output is rising while fixed input usage is constant. In this stage, the employment of additional variable inputs increases the output per unit of fixed input but decreases the output per unit of the variable input. The optimum input/output combination for the price-taking firm will be in stage 2, although a firm facing a downward-sloped demand curve might find it most profitable to operate in Stage 2.


title: Production function

text: In Stage 3, too much variable input is being used relative to the available fixed inputs: variable inputs are over-utilized in the sense that their presence on the margin obstructs the production process rather than enhancing it. The output per unit of both the fixed and the variable input declines throughout this stage. At the boundary between stage 2 and stage 3, the highest possible output is being obtained from the fixed input.


title: Production function

text: By definition, in the long run the firm can change its scale of operations by adjusting the level of inputs that are fixed in the short run, thereby shifting the production function upward as plotted against the variable input. If fixed inputs are lumpy, adjustments to the scale of operations may be more significant than what is required to merely balance production capacity with demand. For example, you may only need to increase production by million units per year to keep up with demand, but the production equipment upgrades that are available may involve increasing productive capacity by 2 million units per year.


title: Production function

text: If a firm is operating at a profit-maximizing level in stage one, it might, in the long run, choose to reduce its scale of operations (by selling capital equipment). By reducing the amount of fixed capital inputs, the production function will shift down. The beginning of stage 2 shifts from B1 to B2. The (unchanged) profit-maximizing output level will now be in stage 2.


title: Production function

text: There are two special classes of production functions that are often analyzed. The production function formula_19 is said to be homogeneous of degree formula_20, if given any positive constant formula_10, formula_22. If formula_23, the function exhibits increasing returns to scale, and it exhibits decreasing returns to scale if formula_24. If it is homogeneous of degree formula_25, it exhibits constant returns to scale. The presence of increasing returns means that a one percent increase in the usage levels of all inputs would result in a greater than one percent increase in output; the presence of decreasing returns means that it would result in a less than one percent increase in output. Constant returns to scale is the in-between case. In the Cobb–Douglas production function referred to above, returns to scale are increasing if formula_26, decreasing if formula_27, and constant if formula_28.


title: Production function

text: If a production function is homogeneous of degree one, it is sometimes called "linearly homogeneous". A linearly homogeneous production function with inputs capital and labour has the properties that the marginal and average physical products of both capital and labour can be expressed as functions of the capital-labour ratio alone. Moreover, in this case, if each input is paid at a rate equal to its marginal product, the firm's revenues will be exactly exhausted and there will be no excess economic profit.


title: Production function

text: Homothetic functions are functions whose marginal technical rate of substitution (the slope of the isoquant, a curve drawn through the set of points in say labour-capital space at which the same quantity of output is produced for varying combinations of the inputs) is homogeneous of degree zero. Due to this, along rays coming from the origin, the slopes of the isoquants will be the same. Homothetic functions are of the form formula_29 where formula_30 is a monotonically increasing function (the derivative of formula_30 is positive (formula_32)), and the function formula_33 is a homogeneous function of any degree.


title: Production function

text: In macroeconomics, aggregate production functions for whole nations are sometimes constructed. In theory, they are the summation of all the production functions of individual producers; however there are methodological problems associated with aggregate production functions, and economists have debated extensively whether the concept is valid.


title: Production function

text: During the 1950s, '60s, and '70s there was a lively debate about the theoretical soundness of production functions (see the Capital controversy). Although the criticism was directed primarily at aggregate production functions, microeconomic production functions were also put under scrutiny. The debate began in 1953 when Joan Robinson criticized the way the factor input capital was measured and how the notion of factor proportions had distracted economists. She wrote:


title: Production function

text: "The production function has been a powerful instrument of miseducation. The student of economic theory is taught to write formula_34 where formula_35 is a quantity of labor, formula_36 a quantity of capital and formula_2 a rate of output of commodities. [They] are instructed to assume all workers alike, and to measure formula_35 in man-hours of labor; [they] are told something about the index-number problem in choosing a unit of output; and then [they] are hurried on to the next question, in the hope that [they] will forget to ask in what units K is measured. Before [they] ever do ask, [they] have become a professor, and so sloppy habits of thought are handed on from one generation to the next".


title: Production function

text: According to the argument, it is impossible to conceive of capital in such a way that its quantity is independent of the rates of interest and wages. The problem is that this independence is a precondition of constructing an isoquant. Further, the slope of the isoquant helps determine relative factor prices, but the curve cannot be constructed (and its slope measured) unless the prices are known beforehand.


title: Production function

text: As a result of the criticism on their weak theoretical grounds, it has been claimed that empirical results firmly support the use of neoclassical "well behaved" aggregate production functions. Nevertheless, Anwar Shaikh has demonstrated that they also have no empirical relevance, as long as the alleged good fit comes from an accounting identity, not from any underlying laws of production/distribution.


title: Production function

text: Natural resources are usually absent in production functions. When Robert Solow and Joseph Stiglitz attempted to develop a more realistic production function by including natural resources, they did it in a manner economist Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen criticized as a "conjuring trick": Solow and Stiglitz had failed to take into account the laws of thermodynamics, since their variant allowed man-made capital to be a complete substitute for natural resources. Neither Solow nor Stiglitz reacted to Georgescu-Roegen's criticism, despite an invitation to do so in the September 1997 issue of the journal "Ecological Economics".


title: Production function

text: Georgescu-Roegen can be understood as criticizing Solow and Stiglitz's approach to mathematically modelling factors of production. We will use the example of energy to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of the two approaches in question.


title: Production function

text: Robert Solow and Joseph Stiglitz describe an approach to modelling energy as a factor of production which assumes the following:


title: Production function

text: This approach yields an energy-dependent production function given as formula_41. However, as discussed in more-recent work, this approach does not accurately model the mechanism by which energy affects production processes. Consider the following cases which support the revision of the assumptions made by this model:


title: Production function

text: This model has also been shown to predict a 28% decrease in output for a 99% decrease in energy, which further supports the revision of this model's assumptions. Note that, while inappropriate for energy, an "independent" modelling approach may be appropriate for modelling other natural resources such as land.


title: Production function

text: The "independent" energy-dependent production function can be revised by considering energy-dependent labor and capital input functions formula_46, formula_47. This approach yields an energy-dependent production function given generally as formula_48. Details related to the derivation of a specific functional form of this production function as well as empirical support for this form of the production function are discussed in more-recently published work. Note that similar arguments could be used to develop more-realistic production functions which consider other depletable natural resources beyond energy:


title: Production function

text: The theory of the production function depicts the relation between physical outputs of a production process and physical inputs, i.e. factors of production. The practical application of production functions is obtained by valuing the physical outputs and inputs by their prices. The economic value of physical outputs minus the economic value of physical inputs is the income generated by the production process. By keeping the prices fixed between two periods under review we get the income change generated by a change of the production function. This is the principle how the production function is made a practical concept, i.e. measureable and understandable in practical situations.


title: 1900s (decade)

text: The 1900s (pronounced "nineteen-hundreds") was a decade that began on January 1, 1900, and ended on December 31, 1909. The Edwardian era (1901–1910) covers a similar span of time. The term "nineteen-hundreds" is sometimes also used to mean the entire century from January 1, 1900 to December 31, 1999 (the years beginning with "19").


title: 1900s (decade)

text: The decade saw the widespread application of the internal combustion engine including mass production of the automobile, as well as the introduction of the typewriter. The "Wright Flyer" performed the first recorded controlled, powered, sustained heavier than air flight on December 17, 1903. Reginald Fessenden of East Bolton, Quebec, Canada made what appeared to be the first audio radio broadcasts of entertainment and music ever made to a general audience.


title: 1900s (decade)

text: First-wave feminism saw progress, with universities being opened for women in Japan, Bulgaria, Cuba, Russia, and Peru. In 1906, Finland granted women the right to vote, the first European country to do so. The foundation of the Women's Social and Political Union by Emmeline Pankhurst in 1903 led to the rise of the Suffragettes in Great Britain and Ireland. Cuba, Bulgaria, and Norway became independent. The First Moroccan and Bosnian crises led to worsened tensions in Europe that would ultimately lead to the First World War in the next decade.


title: 1900s (decade)

text: Wars of this decade included the Philippine–American War, the Second Boer War, the Thousand Days' War, the Anglo-Somali War, the Kuwaiti–Rashidi war, the Saudi–Rashidi War, the Russo-Japanese War, and the Honduran-Nicaraguan War. The Scramble for Africa continued, with the Orange Free State, South African Republic, Ashanti Empire, Aro Confederacy, Sokoto Caliphate and Kano Emirate being conquered by the British Empire, alongside the French Empire conquering Borno, the German Empire conquering the Adamawa Emirate, and the Portuguese Empire conquering the Ovambo. Atrocities in the Congo Free State were committed by private companies and the "Force Publique", with a resultant population decline of 1 to 15 million. The Herero and Namaqua genocide saw 24,000 to 100,000 Hereros and 10,000 Namaqua killed by German colonial forces. The Adana massacre of 1909 saw up to 30,000 mainly Armenian civilians being massacred by local Ottoman Muslims.


title: 1900s (decade)

text: Failed uprisings and revolutions that took place included the Boxer Rebellion, the Bailundo revolt, the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising, the 1904 Sasun uprising, the Uruguayan Revolution of 1904, an uprising in French Madagascar, the Russian Revolution of 1905, the Argentine Revolution of 1905, the Persian Constitutional Revolution, the Maji Maji Rebellion, and the 1907 Romanian Peasants' revolt. A more successful revolution took place in the Ottoman Empire, where the Young Turks movement restored the Ottoman constitution of 1876, establishing the Second Constitutional Era.


title: 1900s (decade)

text: Major disasters in this decade included the Chinese famine of 1907, the 1908 Messina earthquake, the San Francisco earthquake and fire and the Great Baltimore Fire. The first huge success of American cinema, as well as the largest experimental achievement to this point, was the 1903 film "The Great Train Robbery", directed by Edwin S. Porter, while the world's first feature film, "The Story of the Kelly Gang", was released on 26 December 1906 in Melbourne, Australia. Popular books of this decade included "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" (1902) and "Anne of Green Gables" (1908), which sold 45 million and 50 million copies respectively. Popular songs of this decade include "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and "What Are They Doing in Heaven?", which have been featured in 42 and 16 hymnals respectively.


title: 1900s (decade)

text: During the decade, the world population increased from 1.60 to 1.75 billion, with approximately 580 million births and 450 million deaths in total.


title: 1900s (decade)

text: There are several main varieties of how individual years of the decade are pronounced. Using 1906 as an example, they are "nineteen-oh-six", "nineteen-six", and "nineteen-aught-six". Which variety is most prominent depends somewhat on global region and generation. "Nineteen-oh-six" is the most common; "nineteen-six" is less common. In American English, "nineteen-aught-six" is also recognized but not much used.


title: 1900s (decade)

text: The best selling books of the decade were "Anne of Green Gables" (1908) and "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" (1902), which sold 50 million and 45 million copies respectively. Serbian writers used the Belgrade literary style, an Ekavian writing form which set basis for the later standardization of the Serbian language. Theodor Herzl, the founder of political Zionism, published "The Old New Land" in 1902, outlining Herzl's vision for a Jewish state in the Land of Israel.


title: 1900s (decade)

text: Below are the best-selling books in the United States of each year, as determined by "Publishers Weekly".


title: 1900s (decade)

text: Popular songs of the 1900s include "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and "What Are They Doing in Heaven?", which have been featured in 42 and 16 hymnals respectively.


title: Injury

text: An injury is any physiological damage to living tissue caused by immediate physical stress. An injury can occur intentionally or unintentionally and may be caused by blunt trauma, penetrating trauma, burning, toxic exposure, asphyxiation, or overexertion. Injuries can occur in any part of the body, and different symptoms are associated with different injuries.


title: Injury

text: Treatment of a major injury is typically carried out by a health professional and varies greatly depending on the nature of the injury. Traffic collisions are the most common cause of accidental injury and injury-related death among humans. Injuries are distinct from chronic conditions, psychological trauma, infections, or medical procedures, though injury can be a contributing factor to any of these.


title: Injury

text: Several major health organizations have established systems for the classification and description of human injuries.


title: Injury

text: Injuries may be intentional or unintentional. Intentional injuries may be acts of violence against others or self-harm against one's own person. Accidental injuries may be unforeseeable or they may be caused by negligence The most common types of unintentional injuries in order are traffic accidents, falls, drowning, burns, and accidental poisoning. Certain types of injuries are more common in developed countries or developing countries. Traffic injuries are more likely to kill pedestrians than drivers in developing countries. Scalding burns are more common in developed countries, while open-flame injuries are more common in developing countries.


title: Injury

text: As of 2021, approximately 4.4 million people are killed due to injuries each year worldwide, constituting nearly 8% of all deaths. 3.16 million of these injuries are unintentional and 1.25 million are intentional. Traffic accidents are the most common form of deadly injury, causing about one-third of injury-related deaths. One-sixth are caused by suicide, and one-tenth are caused by homicide. Tens of millions of individuals require medical treatment for nonfatal injuries each year, and injuries are responsible for about 10% of all years lived with disability. Men are twice as likely to be killed through injury than women. In 2013, 367,000 children under the age of five died from injuries, down from 766,000 in 1990.


title: Injury

text: The World Health Organization (WHO) developed the International Classification of External Causes of Injury (ICECI). Under this system, injuries are classified by mechanism of injury, objects/substances producing injury, place of occurrence, activity when injured, the role of human intent, and additional modules. These codes allow the identification of distributions of injuries in specific populations and case identification for more detailed research on causes and preventive efforts.


title: Injury

text: The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics developed the Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System (OIICS). Under this system injuries are classified by nature, part of body affected, source and secondary source, and event or exposure. The OIICS was first published in 1992 and has been updated several times since. The Orchard Sports Injury and Illness Classification System (OSIICS), previously OSICS, is used to classify injuries to enable research into specific sports injuries.


title: Injury

text: The injury severity score (ISS) is a medical score to assess trauma severity. It correlates with mortality, morbidity, and hospitalization time after trauma. It is used to define the term "major trauma" (polytrauma), recognized when the ISS is greater than 15. The AIS Committee of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine designed and updates the scale.


title: Injury

text: Traumatic injury is caused by an external object making forceful contact with the body, resulting in a wound. Major trauma is a severe traumatic injury that has the potential to cause disability or death. Serious traumatic injury most often occurs as a result of traffic collisions. Traumatic injury is the leading cause of death in people under the age of 45.


title: Injury

text: Blunt trauma injuries are caused by the forceful impact of an external object. Injuries from blunt trauma may cause internal bleeding and bruising from ruptured capillaries beneath the skin, abrasion from scraping against the superficial epidermis, lacerated tears on the skin or internal organs, or bone fractures. Crush injuries are a severe form of blunt trauma damage that apply large force to a large area over a longer period of time. Penetrating trauma injuries are caused by external objects entering the tissue of the body through the skin. Low-velocity penetration injuries are caused by sharp objects, such as stab wounds, while high-velocity penetration injuries are caused by ballistic projectiles, such as gunshot wounds or injuries caused by shell fragments. Perforated injuries result in an entry wound and an exit wound, while puncture wounds result only in an entry wound. Puncture injuries result in a cavity in the tissue.


title: Injury

text: Burn injury is caused by contact with extreme temperature, chemicals, or radiation. The effects of burns vary depending on the depth and size. Superficial or first-degree burns only affect the epidermis, causing pain for a short period of time. Superficial partial-thickness burns cause weeping blisters and require dressing. Deep partial-thickness burns are dry and less painful due to the burning away of the skin and require surgery. Full-thickness or third-degree burns affect the entire dermis and is susceptible to infection. Fourth-degree burns reach deep tissues such as muscles and bones, causing loss of the affected area.


title: Injury

text: Thermal burns are the most common type of burn, caused by contact with excessive heat, including contact with flame, contact with hot surfaces, or scalding burns caused by contact with hot water or steam. Frostbite is a type of burn caused by contact with excessive cold, causing cellular injury and deep tissue damage through the crystallization of water in the tissue. Friction burns are caused by friction with external objects, resulting in a burn and abrasion. Radiation burns are caused by exposure to ionizing radiation. Most radiation burns are sunburns caused by ultraviolet radiation or high exposure to radiation through medical treatments such as repeated radiography or radiation therapy.


title: Injury

text: Electrical burns are caused by contact with electricity as it enters and passes through the body. They are often deeper than other burns, affecting lower tissues as electricity penetrates the skin, and the full extent of electrical burns are often obscured. They will also cause extensive destruction of tissue at the entry and exit points. Electrical injuries in the home are often minor, while high tension power cables cause serious electrical injuries in the workplace. Lightning strikes can also cause severe electrical injuries. Fatal electrical injuries are often caused by tetanic spasm inducing respiratory arrest or interference with the heart causing cardiac arrest.


title: Injury

text: Chemical burns are caused by contact with corrosive substances such as acid or alkali. Chemical burns are rarer than most other burns, though there are many chemicals that can damage tissue. The most common chemical-related injuries are those caused by carbon monoxide, ammonia, chlorine, hydrochloric acid, and sulfuric acid. Some chemical weapons induce chemical burns, such as white phosphorus. Most chemical burns are treated with extensive application of water to remove the chemical contaminant, though some burn-inducing chemicals react with water to create more severe injuries. The ingestion of corrosive substances can cause chemical burns to the larynx and stomach.


title: Injury

text: Toxic injury is caused by the ingestion, inhalation, injection, or absorption of a toxin. This may occur through an interaction caused by a drug or the ingestion of a poison. Different toxins may cause different types of injuries, and many will cause injury to specific organs. Toxins in gases, dusts, aerosols, and smoke can be inhaled, potentially causing respiratory failure. Respiratory toxins can be released by structural fires, industrial accidents, domestic mishaps, or through chemical weapons. Some toxicants may affect other parts of the body after inhalation, such as carbon monoxide.


title: Injury

text: Asphyxia causes injury to the body from a lack of oxygen. It can be caused by drowning, inhalation of certain substances, strangulation, blockage of the airway, traumatic injury to the airway, apnea, and other means. The most immediate injury caused by asphyxia is hypoxia, which can in turn cause acute lung injury or acute respiratory distress syndrome as well as damage to the circulatory system. The most severe injury associated with asphyxiation is cerebral hypoxia and ischemia, in which the brain receives insufficient oxygen or blood, resulting in neurological damage or death. Specific injuries are associated with water inhalation, including alveolar collapse, atelectasis, intrapulmonary shunting, and ventilation perfusion mismatch. Simple asphyxia is caused by a lack of external oxygen supply. Systemic asphyxia is caused by exposure to a compound that prevents oxygen from being transported or used by the body. This can be caused by azides, carbon monoxide, cyanide, smoke inhalation, hydrogen sulfide, methemoglobinemia-inducing substances, opioids, or other systemic asphyxiants. Ventilation and oxygenation are necessary for treatment of asphyxiation, and some asphyxiants can be treated with antidotes.


title: Injury

text: Injuries of overuse or overexertion can occur when the body is strained through use, affecting the bones, muscles, ligaments, or tendons. Sports injuries are often overuse injuries such as tendinopathy. Over-extension of the ligaments and tendons can result in sprains and strains, respectively. Repetitive sedentary behaviors such as extended use of a computer or a physically repetitive occupation may cause a repetitive strain injury. Extended use of brightly lit screens may also cause eye strain.


title: Injury

text: Abdominal trauma includes injuries to the stomach, intestines, liver, pancreas, kidneys, gallbladder, and spleen. Abdominal injuries are typically caused by traffic accidents, assaults, falls, and work-related injuries, and physical examination is often unreliable in diagnosing blunt abdominal trauma. Splenic injury can cause low blood volume or blood in the peritoneal cavity. The treatment and prognosis of splenic injuries are dependent on cardiovascular stability. The gallbladder is rarely injured in blunt trauma, occurring in about 2% of blunt abdominal trauma cases. Injuries to the gallbladder are typically associated with injuries to other abdominal organs. The intestines are susceptible to injury following blunt abdominal trauma. The kidneys are protected by other structures in the abdomen, and most injuries to the kidney are a result of blunt trauma. Kidney injuries typically cause blood in the urine.


title: Injury

text: Due to its location in the body, pancreatic injury is relatively uncommon but more difficult to diagnose. Most injuries to the pancreas are caused by penetrative trauma, such as gunshot wounds and stab wounds. Pancreatic injuries occur in under 5% of blunt abdominal trauma cases. The severity of pancreatic injury depends primarily on the amount of harm caused to the pancreatic duct. The stomach is also well protected from injury due to its heavy layering, its extensive blood supply, and its position relative to the rib cage. As with pancreatic injuries, most traumatic stomach injuries are caused by penetrative trauma, and most civilian weapons do not cause long-term tissue damage to the stomach. Blunt trauma injuries to the stomach are typically caused by traffic accidents. Ingestion of corrosive substances can cause chemical burns to the stomach. Liver injury is the most common type of organ damage in cases of abdominal trauma. The liver's size and location in the body makes injury relatively common compared to other abdominal organs, and blunt trauma injury to the liver is typically treated with nonoperative management. Liver injuries are rarely serious, though most injuries to the liver are concomitant with other injuries, particularly to the spleen, ribs, pelvis, or spinal cord. The liver is also susceptible to toxic injury, with overdose of paracetamol being a common cause of liver failure.


title: Injury

text: Facial trauma may affect the eyes, nose, ears, or mouth. Nasal trauma is a common injury and the most common type of facial injury. Oral injuries are typically caused by traffic accidents or alcohol-related violence, though falls are a more common cause in young children. The primary concerns regarding oral injuries are that the airway is clear and that there are no concurrent injuries to other parts of the head or neck. Oral injuries may occur in the soft tissue of the face, the hard tissue of the mandible, or as dental trauma.


title: Injury

text: The ear is susceptible to trauma in head injuries due to its prominent location and exposed structure. Ear injuries may be internal or external. Injuries of the external ear are typically lacerations of the cartilage or the formation of a hematoma. Injuries of the middle and internal ear may include a perforated eardrum or trauma caused by extreme pressure changes. The ear is also highly sensitive to blast injury. The bones of the ear are connected to facial nerves, and ear injuries can cause paralysis of the face. Trauma to the ear can cause hearing loss.


title: Injury

text: Eye injuries often take place in the cornea, and they have the potential to permanently damage vision. Corneal abrasions are a common injury caused by contact with foreign objects. The eye can also be injured by a foreign object remaining in the cornea. Radiation damage can be caused by exposure to excessive light, often caused by welding without eye protection or being exposed to excessive ultraviolet radiation, such as sunlight. Exposure to corrosive chemicals can permanently damage the eyes, causing blindness if not sufficiently irrigated. The eye is protected from most blunt injuries by the infraorbital margin, but in some cases blunt force may cause an eye to hemorrhage or tear. Overuse of the eyes can cause eye strain, particularly when looking at brightly lit screens for an extended period.


title: Injury

text: Cardiac injuries affect the heart and blood vessels. Blunt cardiac injury in a common injury caused by blunt trauma to the heart. It can be difficult to diagnose, and it can have many effects on the heart, including contusions, ruptures, acute valvular disorders, arrhythmia, or heart failure. Penetrative trauma to the heart is typically caused by stab wounds or gunshot wounds. Accidental cardiac penetration can also occur in rare cases from a fractured sternum or rib. Stab wounds to the heart are typically survivable with medical attention, though gunshot wounds to the heart are not. The right ventricle is most susceptible to injury due to its prominent location. The two primary consequences of traumatic injury to the heart are severe hemorrhaging and fluid buildup around the heart.


title: Injury

text: Musculoskeletal injuries affect the skeleton and the muscular system. Soft tissue injuries affect the skeletal muscles, ligaments, and tendons. Ligament and tendon injuries account for half of all musculoskeletal injuries. Ligament sprains and tendon strains are common injuries that do not require intervention, but the healing process is slow. Physical therapy can be used to assist reconstruction and use of injured ligaments and tendons. Torn ligaments or tendons typically require surgery. Skeletal muscles are abundant in the body and commonly injured when engaging in athletic activity. Muscle injuries trigger an inflammatory response to facilitate healing. Blunt trauma to the muscles can cause contusions and hematomas. Excessive tensile strength can overstretch a muscle, causing a strain. Strains may present with torn muscle fibers, hemorrhaging, or fluid in the muscles. Severe muscle injuries in which a tear extends across the muscle can cause total loss of function. Penetrative trauma can cause laceration to muscles, which may take an extended time to heal. Unlike contusions and strains, lacerations are uncommon in sports injuries.


title: Injury

text: Traumatic injury may cause various bone fractures depending on the amount of force, direction of the force, and width of the area affected. Pathologic fractures occur when a previous condition weakens the bone until it can be easily fractured. Stress fractures occur when the bone is overused or suffers under excessive or traumatic pressure, often during athletic activity. Hematomas occur immediately following a bone fracture, and the healing process often takes from six weeks to three months to complete, though continued use of the fractured bone will prevent healing. Articular cartilage damage may also affect function of the skeletal system, and it can cause posttraumatic osteoarthritis. Unlike most bodily structures, cartilage cannot be healed once it is damaged.


title: Injury

text: Injuries to the nervous system include brain injury, spinal cord injury, and nerve injury. Trauma to the brain causes traumatic brain injury (TBI), causing "long-term physical, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive consequences". Mild TBI, including concussion, often occurs during athletic activity, military service, or as a result of untreated epilepsy, and its effects are typically short-term. More severe injuries to the brain cause moderate TBI, which may cause confusion or lethargy, or severe TBI, which may result in a coma or a secondary brain injury. TBI is a leading cause of mortality. Approximately half of all trauma-related deaths involve TBI. Non-traumatic injuries to the brain causeacquired brain injury (ABI). This can be caused by stroke, a brain tumor, poison, infection, cerebral hypoxia, drug use, or the secondary effect of a TBI.


title: Injury

text: Injury to the spinal cord is not immediately terminal, but it is associated with concomitant injuries, lifelong medical complications, and reduction in life expectancy. It may result in complications in several major organ systems and a significant reduction in mobility or paralysis. Spinal shock causes temporary paralysis and loss of reflexes. Unlike most other injuries, damage to the peripheral nerves is not healed through cellular proliferation. Following nerve injury, the nerves undergo degeneration before regenerating, and other pathways can be strengthened or reprogrammed to make up for lost function. The most common form of peripheral nerve injury is stretching, due to their inherent elasticity. Nerve injuries may also be caused by laceration or compression.


title: Injury

text: Injuries to the pelvic area include injuries to the bladder, rectum, colon, and reproductive organs. Traumatic injury to the bladder is rare and often occurs with other injuries to the abdomen and pelvis. The bladder is protected by the peritoneum, and most cases of bladder injury are concurrent with a fracture of the pelvis. Bladder trauma typically causes hematuria, or blood in the urine. Ingestion of alcohol may cause distension of the bladder, increasing the risk of injury. A catheter may be used to extract blood from the bladder in the case of hemorrhaging, though injuries that break the peritoneum typically require surgery. The colon is rarely injured by blunt trauma, with most cases occurring from penetrative trauma through the abdomen. Rectal injury is less common than injury to the colon, though the rectum is more susceptible to injury following blunt force trauma to the pelvis.


title: Injury

text: Injuries to the male reproductive system are rarely fatal and typically treatable through grafts and reconstruction. The elastic nature of the scrotum makes it resistant to injury, accounting for 1% of traumatic injuries. Trauma to the scrotum may cause damage to the testis or the spermatic cord. Trauma to the penis can cause penile fracture, typically as a result of vigorous intercourse. Injuries to the female reproductive system are often a result of pregnancy and childbirth or sexual activity. They are rarely fatal, but they can produce a variety of complications, such as chronic discomfort, dyspareunia, infertility, or the formation of fistulas. Age can greatly affect the nature of genital injuries in women due to changes in hormone composition. Childbirth is the most common cause of genital injury to women of reproductive age. Many cultures practice female genital mutilation, which is estimated to affect over 125 million women and girls worldwide as of 2018. Tears and abrasions to the vagina are common during sexual intercourse, and these may be exacerbated in instances of non-consensual sexual activity.


title: Injury

text: Injuries to the respiratory tract affect the lungs, diaphragm, trachea, bronchus, pharynx, or larynx. Tracheobronchial injuries are rare and often associated with other injuries. Bronchoscopy is necessary for an accurate diagnosis of tracheobronchial injury. The neck, including the pharynx and larynx, is highly vulnerable to injury due to its complex, compacted anatomy. Injuries to this area can cause airway obstruction. Ingestion of corrosive chemicals can cause chemical burns to the larynx. Inhalation of toxic materials can also cause serious injury to the respiratory tract.


title: Injury

text: Severe trauma to the chest can cause damage to the lungs, including pulmonary contusions, accumulation of blood, or a collapsed lung. The inflammation response to a lung injury can cause acute respiratory distress syndrome. Injuries to the lungs may cause symptoms ranging from shortness of breath to terminal respiratory failure. Injuries to the lungs are often fatal, and survivors often have a reduced quality of life. Injuries to the diaphragm are uncommon and rarely serious, but blunt trauma to the diaphragm can result in the formation of a hernia over time. Injuries to the diaphragm may present in many ways, including abnormal blood pressure, cardiac arrest, gastroinetestinal obstruction, and respiratory insufficiency. Injuries to the diaphragm are often associated with other injuries in the chest or abdomen, and its position between two major cavities of the human body may complicate diagnosis.


title: Injury

text: Most injuries to the skin are minor and do not require specialist treatment. Lacerations of the skin are typically repaired with sutures, staples, or adhesives. The skin is susceptible to burns, and burns to the skin often cause blistering. Abrasive trauma scrapes or rubs off the skin, and severe abrasions require skin grafting to repair. Skin tears involve the removal of the epidermis or dermis through friction or shearing forces, often in vulnerable populations such as the elderly. Skin injuries are potentially complicated by foreign bodies such as glass, metal, or dirt that entered the wound, and skin wounds often require cleaning.


title: Injury

text: Much of medical practice is dedicated to the treatment of injuries. Traumatology is the study of traumatic injuries and injury repair. Certain injuries may be treated by specialists. Serious injuries sometimes require trauma surgery. Following serious injuries, physical therapy and occupational therapy are sometimes used for rehabilitation. Medication is commonly used to treat injuries.


title: Injury

text: Emergency medicine during major trauma prioritizes the immediate consideration of life-threatening injuries that can be quickly addressed. The airway is evaluated, clearing bodily fluids with suctioning or creating an artificial airway if necessary. Breathing is evaluated by evaluating motion of the chest wall and checking for blood or air in the pleural cavity. Circulation is evaluated to resuscitate the patient, including the application of intravenous therapy. Disability is evaluated by checking for responsiveness and reflexes. Exposure is then used to examine the patient for external injury. Following immediate life-saving procedures, a CT scan is used for a more thorough diagnosis. Further resuscitation may be required, including ongoing blood transfusion, mechanical ventilation and nutritional support.


title: Injury

text: Pain management is another aspect of injury treatment. Pain serves as an indicator to determine the nature and severity of an injury, but it can also worsen an injury, reduce mobility, and affect quality of life. Analgesic drugs are used to reduce the pain associated with injuries, depending on the person's age, the severity of the injury, and previous medical conditions that may affect pain relief. NSAIDs such as aspirin and ibuprofen are commonly used for acute pain. Opioid medications such as fentanyl, methadone, and morphine are used to treat severe pain in major trauma, but their use is limited due to associated long-term risks such as addiction.


title: Injury

text: Complications may arise as a result of certain injuries, increasing the recovery time, further exasperating the symptoms, or potentially causing death. The extent of the injury and the age of the injured person may contribute to the likelihood of complications. Infection of wounds is a common complication in traumatic injury, resulting in diagnoses such as pneumonia or sepsis. Wound infection prevents the healing process from taking place and can cause further damage to the body. A majority of wounds are contaminated with microbes from other parts of the body, and infection takes place when the immune system is unable to address this contamination. The surgical removing of devitalized tissue and the use of topical antimicrobial agents can prevent infection.


title: Injury

text: Hemorrhaging of blood is a common result of injuries, and it can cause several complications. Pooling of blood under the skin can cause a hematoma, particularly after blunt trauma or the suture of a laceration. Hematomas are susceptible to infection and are typically treated compression, though surgery is necessary in severe cases. Excessive blood loss can cause hypovolemic shock in which cellular oxygenation can no longer take place. This can cause tachycardia, hypotension, coma, or organ failure. Fluid replacement is often necessary to treat blood loss. Other complications of injuries include cavitation, development of fistulas, and organ failure.


title: Injury

text: Injuries often cause psychological harm in addition to physical harm. Traumatic injuries are associated with psychological trauma and distress, and some victims of traumatic injuries will display symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder during and after the recovery of the injury. The specific symptoms and their triggers vary depending on the nature of the injury. Body image and self-esteem can also be affected by injury. Injuries that cause permanent disabilities, such as spinal cord injuries, can have severe effects on self-esteem. Disfiguring injuries can negatively affect body image, leading to a lower quality of life. Burn injuries in particular can cause dramatic changes in a person's appearance that may negatively affect body image.


title: Injury

text: Severe injury can also cause social harm. Disfiguring injuries may also result in stigma due to scarring or other changes in appearance. Certain injuries may necessitate a change in occupation or prevent employment entirely. Leisure activities are similarly limited, and athletic activities in particular may be impossible following severe injury. In some cases, the effects of injury may strain personal relationships, such as marriages. Psychological and social variables have been found to affect the likelihood of injuries among athletes. Increased life stress can cause an increase in the likelihood of athletic injury, while social support can decrease the likelihood of injury. Social support also assists in the recovery process after athletic injuries occur.


title: Majandra Delfino

text: Maria Alejandra Delfino ( ; born February 20, 1981), known professionally as Majandra Delfino, is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Maria DeLuca on "Roswell", and as Andi on the CBS sitcom "Friends with Better Lives".


title: Majandra Delfino

text: Delfino was born on February 20, 1981, in Caracas, Venezuela. Her father Enrique Delfino is Italian Venezuelan, and her mother Mary Hellmund is Cuban. As a child, she lived in Caracas and Miami, Florida, until moving to Los Angeles as a teenager.


title: Majandra Delfino

text: Her nickname / stage-name “Majandra” is an amalgamation of her given name: Mariah Alejandra. She started using the nickname when her baby sister was not able to pronounce her full name properly.


title: Majandra Delfino

text: Delfino was cast in MGM's "Zeus & Roxanne" before landing the role of Tina Dimeo in NBC's "The Tony Danza Show", where she played Tony Danza's teenage daughter. After playing Natalie Sanford in the independent film "The Secret Life of Girls", Delfino was cast as Maria DeLuca on "Roswell". On hiatus, she performed in the small role of Vanessa in "Traffic". She also acted in "Reeseville", "Celeste in the City", and in "R.S.V.P." She played Trudi in the film "State's Evidence".


title: Majandra Delfino

text: Delfino starred in a number of episodes of the NBC show "Quarterlife", also shown on MySpaceTV, which started airing November 11, 2007. In 2011, she starred with Raven-Symoné in the show "State of Georgia" on ABC Family until its cancellation.


title: Majandra Delfino

text: Delfino performed in ABC's pilot "The Family Trap" starring Mandy Moore and Stockard Channing. Delfino was eight months pregnant with her first child during the shooting, so director Shawn Levy shot around the pregnancy for the entire project. One month after giving birth, Delfino was cast as Dwight Schrute's sister on NBC's "The Office" attempted spin-off/backdoor pilot, "The Farm." NBC did not greenlight the series.


title: Majandra Delfino

text: Delfino starred in CBS's "Friends with Better Lives", where writers included her pregnancy in the storyline.


title: Majandra Delfino

text: Delfino sang in several "Roswell" episodes, such as "Viva Las Vegas," "Cry Your Name," and "Behind the Music." In the summer of 2000, Delfino released three songs onto the internet, "Siren," "Bruises" and "Tattoo," and wrote and produced them in association with "Sci-Fi Lullaby." On October 31, 2001, Delfino released the EP "The Sicks" on her own label, Dripfeed, without radio or television airplay.


title: Majandra Delfino

text: Her second album, "Tarte", was released on April 23, 2007, by her own record company, Red Velvet Cake Records. In February 2011, the singer announced via Twitter that she was working on her third studio album, scheduled for a late 2018 release.


title: Majandra Delfino

text: Delfino was in a relationship with her "Roswell" co-star and on-screen love interest Brendan Fehr from 2000 to 2002. The two were briefly engaged before parting ways. In 2007, Delfino married Devon Gummersall, who also appeared alongside her in several "Roswell" episodes as her character's cousin, Sean DeLuca. The marriage was short-lived, and the two divorced the next year. On March 18, 2011, Delfino married actor David Walton in Miami. They have two children, a daughter born in 2012, and a son born in 2013.


title: YouGov

text: YouGov is a British international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm, headquartered in the UK, with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. In 2007, it acquired US company Polimetrix, and since December 2017 it has owned Galaxy Research, an Australian market research company.


title: YouGov

text: YouGov was founded in the UK in May 2000 by Stephan Shakespeare and future UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Nadhim Zahawi. In 2001 they engaged BBC political analyst Peter Kellner, who became chairman, and then from 2007 to 2016, President.


title: YouGov

text: In April 2005, YouGov became a public company listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange.


title: YouGov

text: Galaxy Research was an Australian market researching company that provided opinion polling for state and federal politics. Its polls were published in News Limited tabloid newspapers, including the "Herald Sun", "Courier-Mail" and "The Daily Telegraph" (in contrast to Newspoll data which is presented in the News Limited broadsheet newspaper "The Australian").


title: YouGov

text: Stephan Shakespeare has been YouGov's Chief Executive Officer since 2010. Roger Parry has been YouGov's Chairman since 2007. Since Peter Kellner's retirement as chair in 2016, its methodology has been overseen by Doug Rivers, former owner of Polimetrix.


title: YouGov

text: , major shareholders of the company included Liontrust Asset Management (14.23%); Standard Life Aberdeen (8.6%); Octopus Investments (7.78%); BlackRock (7.63%); and Stephan & Rosamund Shakespeare (6.85%).


title: YouGov

text: YouGov specialises in market research and opinion polling through online methods. The company's methodology involves obtaining responses from an invited group of Internet users, and then weighting these responses in line with demographic information. It draws these demographically representative samples from a panel of over 12 million people worldwide.


title: YouGov

text: In 2006, YouGov began expanding outside the UK through acquisitions and acquired Dubai-based research firm Siraj for $1.2 million plus an eventual earn out of $600,000. In 2007, they added Palo Alto, CA based US research firm Polimetrix for approximately $17 million, Scandinavian firm Zapera for $8 million and German firm Psychonomics for $20 million. In 2009 and 2010, YouGov expanded its US operations with two acquisitions; first buying Princeton, NJ research firm Clear Horizons for $600,000 plus an earn out of $2.7 million, then Connecticut-based research firm Harrison Group for $6 million with a $7 million earnout. In 2011, YouGov acquired Portland, OR-based firm Definitive Insights for $1 million with a potential $2 million earn out. In 2011, YouGov made its first organic expansion by opening an office in Paris, France. In January 2014, YouGov entered the Asia Pacific region with the acquisition of Decision Fuel for an estimated consideration of approximately £5 million.


title: YouGov

text: In 2010, YouGov bought a 20% stake of sports media data company SMG Insight. In 2018, the company acquired the remaining 80% of SMG Insight's stock. The new business was rebranded YouGov Sport.


title: YouGov

text: In June 2022, former employee Chris Curtis, who at this time worked for competitor Opinium, said that during the 2017 United Kingdom general election, a YouGov poll was suppressed by the company because it was "too positive about Labour", under pressure from the Conservative co-founder of YouGov Nadhim Zahawi. YouGov denied that the poll was spiked for political reasons, instead arguing that the poll was based on a "skewed sample". Former YouGov president Peter Kellner confirmed last-minute small methodology changes which transferred 2% from Labour to Conservative and increased the predicted Conservative lead from 3% to 7%.


title: YouGov

text: A day later, Curtis withdrew his allegations, saying that he now accepted "YouGov's position that in fact the results were pulled because of concerns other members of the team had about the methodology", and that he had not intended to allege that Nadhim Zahawi had had any bearing on the decision, and apologised for any confusion caused by his previous statements.


title: Ritchie Coster

text: Ritchie Coster (born 1 July 1967) is an English actor. He is best known for playing the roles of Dietrich Banning in "The Tuxedo" (2002), the Chechen in "The Dark Knight" (2008), Elias Kassar in "Blackhat" (2015), Mayor Austin Chessani on the second season of the HBO anthology television series "True Detective" and Francisco Scaramucci / Mr. Blue on the SyFy television series "Happy!".


title: Ritchie Coster

text: Coster was born in London, England. He attended the Latymer School, Edmonton and later trained in acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. The youngest of four brothers. An early on screen appearance was a brief talking role in the British Broadcasting Corporation's soap drama "EastEnders".


title: Ritchie Coster

text: Coster has played various roles throughout his career, in the 1998 remake of "Rear Window", he played the sculptor who was married to the bottle loving woman Ilene played by Allison Mackie. In television roles he has appeared in at least seven episodes of the television series "Law & Order" from 1999 to 2009 in a range of roles.


title: Prime Minister of Norway

text: The prime minister of Norway (, which directly translates to "minister of state") is the head of government and chief executive of Norway. The prime minister and Cabinet (consisting of all the most senior government department heads) are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the monarch, to the Storting (Parliament of Norway), to their political party, and ultimately the electorate. In practice, since it is nearly impossible for a government to stay in office against the will of the Storting, the prime minister is primarily answerable to the Storting. The prime minister is almost always the leader of the majority party in the Storting, or the leader of the senior partner in the governing coalition.


title: Prime Minister of Norway

text: Norway has a constitution, which was adopted on 17 May 1814. The position of prime minister is the result of legislation. Modern prime ministers have few statutory powers, but provided they can command the support of their parliamentary party, they can control both the legislature and the executive (the cabinet) and hence wield considerable "de facto" powers. the prime minister of Norway is Jonas Gahr Støre, of the Labour Party, replacing Erna Solberg of Conservative Party, who resigned in October 2021.


title: Prime Minister of Norway

text: Unlike their counterparts in the rest of Europe, Norwegian prime ministers do not have the option of advising the king to dissolve the Storting and call a snap election. The constitution requires that the Storting serve out its full four-year term. If the prime minister loses the confidence of the Storting, they must resign.


title: X-Ray Spex

text: During their first incarnation (1976–1979), X-Ray Spex released five singles and one album. Their 1977 single "Oh Bondage Up Yours!" and 1978 debut album "Germfree Adolescents" are widely acclaimed as classic punk releases. The band has briefly reformed several times in the 1990s and 2000s.


title: X-Ray Spex

text: Initially, the band featured singer Poly Styrene (born Marion Joan Elliott-Said) (alternatively spelled Marian or Marianne) on vocals, Jak Airport (Jack Stafford) on guitars, Paul Dean on bass, Paul 'B. P.' Hurding on drums, and Lora Logic (born Susan Whitby) on saxophone. This last instrument was an atypical addition to the standard punk instrumental line-up, and became one of the group's most distinctive features. Logic played on only one of the band's records. As she was only fifteen, playing saxophone was a hobby and she left the band to complete her education.


title: X-Ray Spex

text: X-Ray Spex's other distinctive musical element was Poly Styrene's voice, which has been variously described as "effervescently discordant" and "powerful enough to drill holes through sheet metal". As Mari Elliot, Styrene had released a reggae single for GTO Records in 1976, "Silly Billy", which had not charted. Born in 1957 in Bromley, Kent, of both Somali and British parentage, Poly Styrene became the group's public face, and remains one of the most memorable front-women to emerge from the punk movement. Unorthodox in appearance, she wore thick braces on her teeth and once stated that "I said that I wasn't a sex symbol and that if anybody tried to make me one I'd shave my head tomorrow". She later actually did at Johnny Rotten's flat prior to a concert at Victoria Park. Mark Paytress recounts in the liner notes for the 2002 compilation, "The Anthology", that Jah Wobble, Rotten's longtime friend and bassist for his post-punk venture PiL, once described Styrene as a "strange girl who often talked of hallucinating. She freaked John out." Rotten, known more for his outspoken dislikes and disdain than for praise and admiration, said of X-Ray Spex in a retrospective punk documentary, "Them, they came out with a sound and attitude and a whole energy—it was just not relating to anything around it—"superb"."


title: X-Ray Spex

text: Styrene was inspired to form a band by seeing the Sex Pistols in Hastings and, through their live performances, she and X-Ray Spex became one of the most talked about acts on the infant punk scene. The band played twice at the punk club The Roxy during its first 100 days. In March, the band played with The Drones and Chelsea. In April, they shared the bill with the Buzzcocks, Wire, and Johnny Moped. Their first Roxy gig was only their second live appearance. It was recorded and their anthem "Oh Bondage Up Yours!" was included on the influential "Live at the Roxy WC2" album. Styrene was nineteen years old at the time of the recording. The publicity from this gig led to a "near residency", particularly on Sunday nights, at 'The Man in the Moon' pub, King's Road, Chelsea, and record label interest.


title: X-Ray Spex

text: In late September 1977, a studio recording of "Oh Bondage Up Yours!" was released as a single. Today, the 45 is regarded as their most enduring artefact, both as a piece of music and as a sort of proto-grrrl catchphrase. Opening with the spoken/screamed line, "Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard but I think—"oh, bondage, up yours!"", the song could be interpreted as a premonition of the riot grrrl movement 15 years later, although Styrene herself insists it was more intended as an anti-consumerist/anti-capitalist jingle, and was not exclusively feminist in nature.


title: X-Ray Spex

text: Lora Logic left the band aged 16 in late 1977 to form a new group called Essential Logic. She was replaced on saxophone, first temporarily by John Glyn (who later joined Wreckless Eric's band), and then permanently by Rudi Thompson (also known as Steve Rudi).


title: X-Ray Spex

text: In November 1978, the band released their debut album. With the exception of "Identity", which was partially based on Styrene witnessing Bromley Contingent member Tracie O'Keefe slash her wrists in the restroom of the Roxy, the rest of "Germfree Adolescents" dealt with the anti consumerist theme. Indeed, "The Guardian" newspaper described the album as containing "unrivalled anti-consumerism anthems".


title: X-Ray Spex

text: X-Ray Spex played at 'Front Row Festival', a three-week event at the Hope and Anchor, Islington in late November and early December 1977. This resulted in the band's inclusion, alongside the likes of Wilko Johnson, 999, The Only Ones, the Saints, The Stranglers, and XTC, on a double album of recordings from the festival. Then, in February 1978, before the release of their second single, X-Ray Spex recorded the first of two sessions for John Peel at BBC Radio 1. Their profile was further enhanced by playing a fortnight's residency at New York's CBGB's, even though the album "Germ Free Adolescents" was not released in America until 1992.


title: X-Ray Spex

text: On 30 April 1978, the band appeared at the Rock Against Racism gig at Victoria Park, Bow, Tower Hamlets. Also on the bill were Steel Pulse, The Clash, The Ruts, Sham 69, Generation X and Tom Robinson Band. Later in the year, to promote the album, X-Ray Spex embarked on their first, and only, full UK tour. Exhausted by touring, Poly Styrene left the band in mid 1979. Footage of her performing with the band was later included in the 1980 film, "DOA". She released a solo album, "Translucence", before joining the Hare Krishna movement (as did Logic, after she left the band).


title: X-Ray Spex

text: Without Styrene, the group lost its momentum and split up. Hurding and Airport went on to form Classix Nouveaux, while Paul Dean and Rudi Thompson went on to form Agent Orange with Anthony "Tex" Doughty, who would later become a founding member of Transvision Vamp.


title: X-Ray Spex

text: The first incarnation of X-Ray Spex existed from mid-1976 to 1979, during which time they released five singles—"Oh Bondage Up Yours!", "Identity", "The Day the World Turned Day-Glo", "Germfree Adolescents", and "Highly Inflammable"—and one album, "Germfree Adolescents". One retrospective review described the singles as "not only riveting examples of high-energy punk, but contained provocative, thoughtful lyrics berating the urban synthetic fashions of the 70s and urging individual expression".


title: X-Ray Spex

text: The same reviewer in "The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music" sums up the band's 1970s contribution as "one of the most inventive, original and genuinely exciting groups to emerge during the punk era".


title: X-Ray Spex

text: In 1991, X-Ray Spex reformed for a surprise sell-out gig at the Brixton Academy, where Poly appeared in a blue foam dress with an army helmet (to her regret). The group reformed again in 1995 with a line-up of Styrene, Dean and Logic to release a new album "Conscious Consumer". Although heralded as the first in a trilogy, the album was not a commercial success. Styrene later explained that touring and promotional work suffered an abrupt end when she was run over by a fire engine in central London, suffering a fractured pelvis. The following year X-Ray Spex played at the 20th Anniversary of Punk Festival in Blackpool minus Poly Styrene, overcoming her last-minute decision to withdraw by recruiting a replacement female singer named Poly Filla. The band disbanded, but later releases include a compilation of the group's early records, a live album, and an anthology of all the aforementioned.


title: X-Ray Spex

text: Jak Airport later worked for the BBC's corporate and public relations department under his real name, Jack Stafford; he died on 13 August 2004 of cancer.


title: X-Ray Spex

text: On 28 April 2008, Poly Styrene gave a performance of "Oh Bondage Up Yours!" in front of more than 10,000 people at the Love Music Hate Racism free concert in Victoria Park, East London


title: X-Ray Spex

text: The band including original bass player Paul Dean, played what was described as a raucous comeback gig and in front of an audience of 3,000 full at The Roundhouse in London on 6 September 2008. The gig consisted of "Germfree Adolescents" in its entirety, with the exception of "Plastic Bag". A DVD and CD of the Roundhouse performance was released in November 2009 on the Year Zero Label by Future Noise Music. Symond Lawes, working as Concrete Jungle Productions, with Poly Styrene, produced the live show at Camden Roundhouse in 2008.


title: X-Ray Spex

text: Poly Styrene died of spinal and breast cancer on 25 April 2011 in East Sussex, England, at the age of 53.


title: X-Ray Spex

text: Styrene is the subject of a documentary "". The documentary was directed by Paul Sng, and was co-written by Styrene's daughter, Celeste Bell (who also narrates), and author Zoë Howe. The documentary comes in conjunction with the 40-year anniversary of "Germfree Adolescents". Bell said, "This film will be a celebration of the life and work of my mother, an artist who deserves to be recognized as one of the greatest front women of all time; a little girl with a big voice whose words are more relevant than ever". Bell and Howe have co-written a biography about Styrene. The book titled "Day Glo: The Poly Styrene Story" was released in the United States in September 2019.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla (, ; March 11, 1921 – July 4, 1992) was an Argentine tango composer, bandoneon player, and arranger. His works revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed "nuevo tango", incorporating elements from jazz and classical music. A virtuoso bandoneonist, he regularly performed his own compositions with a variety of ensembles.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: In 1992, American music critic Stephen Holden described Piazzolla as "the world's foremost composer of Tango music".


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 1921, the only child of Italian immigrant parents, Vicente "Nonino" Piazzolla and Assunta Manetti. His paternal grandfather, a sailor and fisherman named Pantaleo (later Pantaleón) Piazzolla, had immigrated to Mar del Plata from Trani, a seaport in the southeastern Italian region of Apulia, at the end of the 19th century. His mother was the daughter of two Italian immigrants from Lucca in the central region of Tuscany.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: In 1925 Astor Piazzolla moved with his family to Greenwich Village in New York City, which in those days was a violent neighbourhood inhabited by a volatile mixture of gangsters and hard-working immigrants. His parents worked long hours and Piazzolla soon learned to take care of himself on the streets despite having a limp. At home he would listen to his father's records of the tango orchestras of Carlos Gardel and Julio de Caro, and was exposed to jazz and classical music, including Bach, from an early age. He began to play the bandoneon after his father spotted one in a New York pawn shop in 1929.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: After their return to New York City from a brief visit to Mar del Plata in 1930, the family moved to Little Italy in lower Manhattan. In 1932 Piazzolla composed his first tango, "La Catinga". The following year he took music lessons with the Hungarian classical pianist Béla Wilda, a student of Rachmaninoff who taught him to play Bach on his bandoneon. In 1934 he met Carlos Gardel, one of the most important figures in the history of tango, and played a cameo role as a paper boy in his movie "El día que me quieras". Gardel invited the young bandoneon player to join him on his tour. Much to Piazzolla's dismay, his father decided that he was not old enough to go along. The disappointment of being forbidden to join the tour proved to be fortunate, as it was on this tour in 1935 that Gardel and his entire orchestra perished in a plane crash. In later years Piazzolla jokingly made light of this fateful event: had his father let him join the tour, Piazzolla would have played the harp instead of the bandoneon.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: In 1936, he returned with his family to Mar del Plata, where he began to play in a variety of tango orchestras and around this time he discovered the music of Elvino Vardaro’s sextet on the radio. Vardaro's novel interpretation of tango made a great impression on Piazzolla and years later he would become Piazzolla's violinist in his Orquesta de Cuerdas (String Orchestra) and his First Quintet.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: Inspired by Vardaro's style of tango, and still only 17 years old, Piazzolla moved to Buenos Aires in 1938 where, the following year, he realized a dream when he joined the orchestra of the bandoneonist Aníbal Troilo, which would become one of the greatest tango orchestras of that time. Piazzolla was employed as a temporary replacement for who was ill, but when Rodríguez returned to work Troilo decided to retain Piazzolla as a fourth bandoneonist. Apart from playing the bandoneon, Piazzolla also became Troilo's arranger and would occasionally play the piano for him. By 1941 he was earning a good wage, enough to pay for music lessons with Alberto Ginastera, an eminent Argentine composer of classical music. It was the pianist Arthur Rubinstein, then living in Buenos Aires, who had advised him to study with Ginastera and delving into scores of Stravinsky, Bartók, Ravel, and others, Piazzolla rose early each morning to hear the Teatro Colón orchestra rehearse while continuing a gruelling performing schedule in the tango clubs at night. During his five years of study with Ginastera he mastered orchestration, which he later considered to be one of his strong points. In 1943 he started piano lessons with the Argentine classical pianist Raúl Spivak, which would continue for the next five years, and wrote his first classical works "Preludio No. 1 for Violin and Piano" and "Suite for Strings and Harps". That same year he married his first wife, Dedé Wolff, an artist, with whom he had two children, Diana and Daniel.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: As time went by Troilo began to fear that the advanced musical ideas of the young bandoneonist might undermine the style of his orchestra and make it less appealing to dancers of tango. Tensions mounted between the two bandoneonists until, in 1944, Piazzolla announced his intention to leave Troilo and join the orchestra of the tango singer and bandoneonist . Piazzolla would lead Fiorentino's orchestra until 1946 and make many recordings with him, including his first two instrumental tangos, "La chiflada" and "Color de rosa".


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: In 1946 Piazzolla formed his Orquesta Típica, which, although having a similar formation to other tango orchestras of the day, gave him his first opportunity to experiment with his own approach to the orchestration and musical content of tango. That same year he composed "El Desbande", which he considered to be his first formal tango, and then began to compose musical scores for films, starting with "Con los mismos colores" in 1949 and "Bólidos de acero" in 1950, both films directed by Carlos Torres Ríos.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: Having disbanded his first orchestra in 1950 he almost abandoned tango altogether as he continued to study Bartok and Stravinsky and orchestra direction with Hermann Scherchen. He spent a lot of time listening to jazz and searching for a musical style of his own beyond the realms of tango. He decided to drop the bandoneon and to dedicate himself to writing and to studying music. Between 1950 and 1954 he composed a series of works that began to develop his unique style: "Para lucirse", "Tanguango", "Prepárense", "Contrabajeando", "Triunfal" and "Lo que vendrá".


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: At Ginastera's urging, on August 16, 1953, Piazzolla entered his classical composition "Buenos Aires Symphony in Three Movements" for the Fabian Sevitzky Award. The performance took place at the law school in Buenos Aires with the symphony orchestra of Radio del Estado under the direction of Sevitzky himself. At the end of the concert, a fight broke out among members of the audience who were offended by the inclusion of two bandoneons in a traditional symphony orchestra. In spite of this Piazzolla's composition won him a grant from the French government to study in Paris with the legendary French composition teacher Nadia Boulanger at the Fontainebleau conservatory.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: In 1954 he and his wife left their two children (Diana aged 11 and Daniel aged 10) with Piazzolla's parents and travelled to Paris. Piazzolla was tired of tango and tried to hide his tango and bandoneon compositions from Boulanger, thinking that his destiny lay in classical music. Introducing his work, Piazzolla played her a number of his classically inspired compositions, but it was not until he played his tango "Triunfal" that she congratulated him and encouraged him to pursue his career in tango, recognising that this was where his talent lay. This was to prove a historic encounter and a cross-road in Piazzolla's career.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: With Boulanger he studied classical composition, including counterpoint, which was to play an important role in his later tango compositions. Before leaving Paris, he heard the octet of the American jazz saxophonist Gerry Mulligan, which was to give him the idea of forming his own octet on his return to Buenos Aires. He composed and recorded a series of tangos with the String Orchestra of the Paris Opera and began to play the bandoneon while standing up, putting his right foot on a chair and the bellows of the instrument across his right thigh. Until that time bandoneonists played sitting down.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: Back in Argentina, Piazzolla formed his Orquesta de Cuerdas (String Orchestra), which performed with the singer , and his Octeto Buenos Aires in 1955. With two bandoneons (Piazzolla and Leopoldo Federico), two violins (Enrique Mario Francini and ), double bass (Juan Vasallo), cello (José Bragato), piano (Atilio Stampone), and an electric guitar (Horacio Malvicino), his Octeto effectively broke the mould of the traditional orquesta típica and created a new sound akin to chamber music, without a singer and with jazz-like improvisations. This was to be a turning point in his career and a watershed in the history of tango. Piazzolla's new approach to the tango, "nuevo tango", made him a controversial figure in his native land both musically and politically. However, his music gained acceptance in Europe and North America, and his reworking of the tango was embraced by some liberal segments of Argentine society, who were pushing for political changes in parallel to his musical revolution.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: In 1958 he disbanded both the Octeto and the String Orchestra and returned to New York City with his family where he struggled to make a living as a musician and arranger. Briefly forming his own group, the Jazz Tango Quintet with whom he made just two recordings, his attempts to blend jazz and tango were not successful. He received the news of the death of his father in October 1959 while performing with Juan Carlos Copes and María Nieves in Puerto Rico; on his return to New York City a few days later, he asked to be left alone in his apartment and in less than an hour wrote his famous tango "Adiós Nonino", in homage to his father.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: Copes and Nieves packed out Club Flamboyan in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with "Compañia Argentina Tangolandia". Piazzolla was serving as the musical director. The tour continued in New York, Chicago and then Washington. The last show that the three of them did together was an appearance on CBS, the only colour TV channel in the US, on the Arthur Murray Show in April 1960.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: Back in Buenos Aires later that year he put together the first, and perhaps most famous, of his quintets, the first Quinteto, initially comprising bandoneon (Piazzolla), piano (Jaime Gosis), violin (Simón Bajour), electric guitar (Horacio Malvicino ) and double bass (Kicho Díaz). Of the many ensembles that Piazzolla set up during his career, it was the quintet formation which best expressed his approach to tango.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: In 1963 he set up his "Nuevo Octeto", and the same year premiered his "Tres Tangos Sinfónicos", under the direction of Paul Klecky, for which he was awarded the Hirsch Prize.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: In 1965 he released "El Tango", an album for which he collaborated with the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. The recording featured his Quinteto together with an orchestra, the singer Edmundo Rivero and Luis Medina Castro reciting texts.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: In 1966 he left Dedé Wolff and the following year signed a five-year contract with the poet Horacio Ferrer with whom he composed the operetta "María de Buenos Aires", with lyrics by Ferrer. The work was premiered in May 1968 with the singer Amelita Baltar in the title role and introduced a new style of tango, Tango Canción (in English: Song Tango). Soon after this he began a relationship with Amelita Baltar. The following year he wrote "Balada para un loco" with lyrics by Ferrer, which was premiered at the First Iberoamerican Music Festival with Amelita Baltar, and Piazzolla himself conducting the orchestra. Piazzolla was awarded second prize and the composition would prove to be his first popular success.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: In 1970 Piazzolla returned to Paris where with Ferrer he wrote the oratorio "El pueblo joven", later premiered in Saarbrücken, Germany in 1971. On May 19, 1970, he gave a concert with his Quinteto at the Teatro Regina in Buenos Aires in which he premiered his composition "Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas".


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: Back in Buenos Aires he founded his Conjunto 9 (a.k.a. "Nonet"), a chamber music formation, which was a realisation of a dream for Piazzolla and for which he composed some of his most sophisticated music. He now put aside his first Quinteto and made several recordings with his new ensemble in Italy. Within a year the Conjunto 9 had run into financial problems and was dissolved and in 1972 he participated in his first concert at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, sharing the bill with other Tango orchestras.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: After a period of great productivity as a composer, he suffered a heart attack in 1973. That same year he moved to Italy where he began a series of recordings which would span a period of five years. The music publisher , a partner in Curci-Pagani Music, had offered Piazzolla a 15-year contract in Rome to record anything he could write. His famous album "Libertango" was recorded in Milan in May 1974. Later that year he separated from Amelita Baltar and in September recorded the album "Summit (Reunión Cumbre)" with the saxophonist Gerry Mulligan and an Italian orchestra, including jazz musicians such as bassist /arranger Pino Presti and drummer Tullio De Piscopo, in Milan. The album includes the composition "Aire de Buenos Aires" by Mulligan.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: In 1975 he set up his "Electronic Octet" an octet made up of bandoneon, electric piano and/or acoustic piano, organ, guitar, electric bass, drums, synthesizer and violin, which was later replaced by a flute or saxophone. Later that year Aníbal Troilo died and Piazzolla composed the in his memory, a work in four parts, which he recorded with the Conjunto Electronico. At this time Piazzolla started a collaboration with the singer , with whom he made a number of recordings.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: In December 1976 he played at a concert at the Teatro Gran Rex in Buenos Aires, where he presented his work, “500 motivaciones”, written especially for the Conjunto Electronico, and in 1977 he played another memorable concert at the Olympia in Paris, with a new formation of the Conjunto Electronico.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: In 1978 he formed his second Quintet, with which he would tour the world for 11 years, and would make him world-renowned. He also returned to writing chamber music and symphonic works.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: During the period of Argentine military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983, Piazzolla lived in Italy, but returned many times to Argentina, recorded there, and on at least one occasion had lunch with the dictator Jorge Rafael Videla. However, his relationship with the dictator might have been less than friendly, as recounted in "Astor Piazzolla, A manera de memorias" (a comprehensive collection of interviews, constituting a memoir):


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: In 1985 he received the Platinum Konex Award, and in 1995 his family received the Honour Konex Award as the most important deceased musician of the decade in Argentina.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: In 1982 he recorded the album "Oblivion" with an orchestra in Italy for the film "Enrico IV", directed by Marco Bellocchio, and in May 1982, in the middle of the Falklands War, he played in a concert at the Teatro Regina, Buenos Aires with the second Quinteto and the singer Roberto Goyeneche. That same year he wrote "Le Grand Tango" for cello and piano, dedicated to Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, which would be premiered by him in 1990 in New Orleans.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: On 11 June 1983 he put on one of the best concerts of his life when he played a program of his music at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. For the occasion he regrouped the Conjunto 9 and played solo with the Buenos Aires Philharmonic, directed by . The programme included his three-movement "Concierto para bandoneón y orquesta" and his 3 movement "Concierto de Nacar".


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: On 4 July 1984, Piazzolla appeared with his Quinteto at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the world's largest jazz festival, and on 29 September that same year they appeared with the Italian singer Milva at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, Paris. His concert on 15 October 1984 at the Teatro Nazionale in Milan was recorded and released as the album "Suite Punta del Este". At the end of that same year he performed in West-Berlin, and in theater Vredenburg in Utrecht, in the Netherlands, where VPRO-TV-director Theo Uittenbogaard recorded his Quinteto Tango Nuevo, playing, among other pieces, a very moving "Adios Nonino", with as a backdrop – to Piazzolla's great pleasure – the extremely zoomed-in "live"' projection of his bandoneon playing.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: In 1985 he was named Illustrious Citizen of Buenos Aires and premiered his "Concerto for Bandoneon and Guitar" (also known as "Tribute to Liège"), at the Fifth International Liège Guitar Festival on March 15, with the Liège Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Leo Brouwer and Cacho Tirao on guitar. Piazzolla made his London debut with his second Quinteto at the Almeida Theatre in London at the end of June.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: With the film score for El exilio de Gardel he won the French critics Cesar Award in Paris for best film music in 1986.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: He appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Montreux, Switzerland, with vibraphonist Gary Burton in July 1986 and, on 6 September 1987, gave a concert in New York's Central Park, in the city where he spent his childhood.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: In September 1987 he recorded his "Concierto para bandoneón y orquesta" and "Tres tangos para bandoneón y orquesta" with Lalo Schifrin conducting the St. Luke's Orchestra, in the Richardson Auditorium at Princeton University.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: In 1988, he wrote music for the film "Sur" and married the singer and television personality Laura Escalada on April 11. In May that year he recorded his album "La Camorra" in New York, a suite of three pieces, the last time he would record with the second Quinteto. During a tour of Japan with Milva he played at a concert at the Nakano Sun Plaza Hall in Tokyo on June 26, 1988, and that same year underwent a quadruple by-pass operation.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: Early in 1989 he formed his "Sexteto Nuevo Tango", his last ensemble, with two bandoneons, piano, electric guitar, bass and cello. Together they gave a concert at the Club Italiano in Buenos Aires in April, a recording of which was issued under the title of "Tres minutos con la realidad". Later he appeared with them at the Teatro Opera in Buenos Aires in the presence of the newly elected Argentine President Carlos Menem on Friday, June 9. This would be Piazzolla's last concert in Argentina.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: There followed a concert at the Royal Carre Theatre in Amsterdam with his Sexteto and Osvaldo Pugliese’s Orquesta on June 26, 1989, a live recording at the BBC Bristol Studios in June 1989, between concerts in Berlin and Rome, and a concert at the Wembley Conference Centre on June 30, 1989. On November 4, 1989, he gave a concert in Lausanne, Switzerland, at the Moulin à Danses and later that month he recorded his composition "Five Tango Sensations", with the Kronos Quartet in the US on an album of the same name. This would be his last studio recording and was his second composition for the Kronos Quartet. His first "Four, For Tango" had been included in their 1988 album "Winter Was Hard". Towards the end of the year he dissolved his sexteto and continued playing solo with classical string quartets and symphonic orchestras. He joined Anahi Carfi's Mantova String Quartet and toured Italy and Finland with them.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: His 1982 composition "Le grand tango", for cello and piano, was premiered in New Orleans by the Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and the pianist Igor Uriash in 1990 and on July 3 he gave his last concert in Athens, Greece, with the Athens Orchestra of Colours, conducted by Manos Hatzidakis.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: He suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in Paris on August 4, 1990, which left him in a coma, and died in Buenos Aires, just under two years later on July 4, 1992, without regaining consciousness.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: Among his followers, the composer and pianist Fernando Otero and Piazzolla's protégé, bandoneonist Marcelo Nisinman, are the best known innovators of the tango music of the new millennium, while Pablo Ziegler, pianist with Piazzolla's second quintet, has assumed the role of principal custodian of "nuevo tango", extending the jazz influence in the style. The Brazilian guitarist Sergio Assad has also experimented with folk-derived, complex virtuoso compositions that show Piazzolla's structural influence while steering clear of tango sounds; and Osvaldo Golijov has acknowledged Piazzolla as perhaps the greatest influence on his globally oriented, eclectic compositions for classical and klezmer performers.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: Piazzolla's "nuevo tango" was distinct from the traditional tango in its incorporation of elements of jazz, its use of extended harmonies and dissonance, its use of counterpoint, and its ventures into extended compositional forms. As Argentine psychoanalyst Carlos Kuri has pointed out, Piazzolla's fusion of tango with this wide range of other recognizable Western musical elements was so successful that it produced a new individual style transcending these influences. It is precisely this success, and individuality, that makes it hard to pin down where particular influences reside in his compositions, but some aspects are clear. The use of the passacaglia technique of a circulating bass line and harmonic sequence, invented and much used in 17th- and 18th-century baroque music but also central to the idea of jazz changes, predominates in most of Piazzolla's mature compositions. Another clear reference to the baroque is the often complex and virtuosic counterpoint that sometimes follows strict fugal behavior but more often simply allows each performer in the group to assert his voice. A further technique that emphasises this sense of democracy and freedom among the musicians is improvisation, that is borrowed from jazz in concept, but in practice involves a different vocabulary of scales and rhythms that stay within the parameters of the established tango sound-world. Pablo Ziegler has been particularly responsible for developing this aspect of the style both within Piazzolla's groups and since the composer's death.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: With the composition of "Adiós Nonino" in 1959, Piazzolla established a standard structural pattern for his compositions, involving a formal pattern of fast-slow-fast-slow-coda, with the fast sections emphasizing gritty tango rhythms and harsh, angular melodic figures and the slower sections usually making use of the string instrument in the group and/or Piazzolla's own bandoneon as lyrical soloists. The piano tends to be used throughout as a percussive rhythmic backbone, while the electric guitar either joins in this role or spins filigree improvisations; the double bass parts are usually of little interest, but provide an indispensable rugged thickness to the sound of the ensemble. The quintet of bandoneon, violin, piano, electric guitar and double bass was Piazzolla's preferred setup on two extended occasions during his career, and most critics consider it to be the most successful instrumentation for his works. This is due partly to its great efficiency in terms of sound – it covers or imitates most sections of a symphony orchestra, including the percussion, which is improvised by all players on the bodies of their instruments – and the strong expressive identity it permits each individual musician. With a style that is both rugged and intricate, such a setup augments the compositions' inherent characteristics.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: Despite the prevalence of the quintet formation and the ABABC compositional structure, Piazzolla consistently experimented with other musical forms and instrumental combinations. In 1965 an album was released containing collaborations between Piazzolla and Jorge Luis Borges where Borges's poetry was narrated over very avant-garde music by Piazzolla including the use of dodecaphonic (twelve-tone) rows, free non-melodic improvisation on all instruments, and modal harmonies and scales. In 1968 Piazzolla wrote and produced an "operita", "María de Buenos Aires", that employed a larger ensemble including flute, percussion, multiple strings and three vocalists, and juxtaposed movements in Piazzolla's own style with several pastiche numbers ranging from waltz and hurdy-gurdy to a piano/narrator bar-room "scena" straight out of "Casablanca".


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: By the 1970s Piazzolla was living in Rome, managed by the Italian agent , and exploring a leaner, more fluid musical style drawing on more jazz influence, and with simpler, more continuous forms. Pieces that exemplify this new direction include "Libertango" and most of the , written in memory of Aníbal Troilo. In the 1980s Piazzolla was wealthy enough, for the first time, to become relatively autonomous artistically, and wrote some of his most ambitious multi-movement works. These included "Tango Suite" for the virtuoso guitar duo Sergio and Odair Assad; "Histoire du Tango", where a flutist and guitarist tell the history of tango in four chunks of music styled at thirty-year intervals; and "La Camorra", a suite in three ten-minute movements, inspired by the Neapolitan crime family and exploring symphonic concepts of large-scale form, thematic development, contrasts of texture and massive accumulations of ensemble sound. After making three albums in New York with the second quintet and producer Kip Hanrahan, two of which he described on separate occasions as "the greatest thing I've done", he disbanded the quintet, formed a sextet with an extra bandoneon, cello, bass, electric guitar, and piano, and wrote music for this ensemble that was even more adventurous harmonically and structurally than any of his previous works ("Preludio y Fuga; Sex-tet"). Had he not suffered an incapacitating stroke on the way to Notre Dame mass in 1990, it is likely that he would have continued to use his popularity as a performer of his own works to experiment in relative safety with even more audacious musical techniques, while possibly responding to the surging popularity of non-Western musics by finding ways to incorporate new styles into his own. In his musical professionalism and open-minded attitude to existing styles he held the mindset of an 18th-century composing performer such as Handel or Mozart, who were anxious to assimilate all national "flavors" of their day into their own compositions, and who always wrote with both first-hand performing experience and a sense of direct social relationship with their audiences. This may have resulted in a backlash amongst conservative tango aficionados in Argentina, but in the rest of the West it was the key to his extremely sympathetic reception among classical and jazz musicians, both seeing some of the best aspects of their musical practices reflected in his work.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: After leaving Troilo's orchestra in the 1940s, Piazzolla led numerous ensembles beginning with the 1946 Orchestra, the 1955 Octeto Buenos Aires, the 1960 "First Quintet", the 1971 Conjunto 9 ("Noneto"), the 1978 "Second Quintet" and the 1989 New Tango Sextet. As well as providing original compositions and arrangements, he was the director and bandoneon player in all of them. He also recorded the album "Summit (Reunión Cumbre)" with jazz baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan. His numerous compositions include orchestral work such as the "Concierto para bandoneón, orquesta, cuerdas y percusión", "Doble concierto para bandoneón y guitarra", "Tres tangos sinfónicos" and "Concierto de Nácar para 9 tanguistas y orquesta", pieces for the solo classical guitar – the "Cinco Piezas" (1980), as well as song-form compositions that still today are well known by the general public in his country, including "Balada para un loco" (Ballad for a madman) and "Adiós Nonino" (dedicated to his father), which he recorded many times with different musicians and ensembles. Biographers estimate that Piazzolla wrote around 3,000 pieces and recorded around 500.


title: Astor Piazzolla

text: In 1984, he appeared with his Quinteto Tango Nuevo in West-Berlin, Germany and for television in Utrecht, Netherlands. In the summer of 1985 he performed at the Almeida Theatre in London for a week-long engagement. On September 6, 1987, his quintet gave a concert in New York's Central Park, which was recorded and, in 1994, released in compact disc format as "The Central Park Concert."


title: Drillbit Taylor

text: Drillbit Taylor is a 2008 American coming-of-age comedy film directed by Steven Brill, produced by Judd Apatow, Susan Arnold and Donna Arkoff Roth with screenplay by Kristofor Brown and Seth Rogen based on an original story by John Hughes (his final film work before his death in 2009). In the film, three high school pupils decide to hire an adult bodyguard to protect them from two bullies who endlessly harass and abuse them before developing a friendly relationship with him.


title: Drillbit Taylor

text: The film stars Owen Wilson as the eponymous role, alongside Nate Hartley, Troy Gentile, David Dorfman, Alex Frost, Josh Peck and Leslie Mann in supporting roles.


title: Drillbit Taylor

text: "Drillbit Taylor" was released by Paramount Pictures on March 21, 2008. Upon release, the film received mixed reviews, with criticism directed mainly toward the screenwriting, the direction and the mean-spirited nature, but praised the humor, Wilson's performance and the chemistry between the cast.


title: Drillbit Taylor

text: On the first day of high school, freshmen Wade and Ryan witness bullies Filkins and Ronnie attack a geek, Emmit, stuffing him into his locker. Wade intervenes, so the two begin endlessly targeting Wade, Ryan and Emmit. Emmit also befriends the duo, much to Ryan's dismay.