Journal articles on the topic 'Sound transmission class (STC)'

Field measurements of airborne sound transmission loss were made on several operable partitions of the horizontal-sliding-panel type between conference rooms. Apparent Sound Transmission Class (ASTC) and Noise Isolation Class (NIC) ratings were computed. Very significant deviation of field-measured sound transmission ratings and manufacturers' Sound Transmission Class (STC) ratings were found. Clients were not satisfied by actual sound isolating performance. Transmission of voice was clearly audible. Some deficiencies of field conditions were found. Some deficiencies of partition installation were found. Modifications were made; acoustical performance did not change significantly.

AbstractThis work explores the sound transmission loss provided by the orthotropic multi-layers to elucidate the sound insulation of FRP (Fiber Reinforced Plastics). Mat is the major material considered in the numerical works. The transfer matrices of a single layer of the orthotropic laminate and the fluid are determined. Further, the boundary conditions on the various interface planes are arranged into matrix form. Combining the transfer matrixes and the boundary conditions and applying the transfer matrix method (TMM) yields the surface impedance and the sound transmission loss. The sound-propagation characteristics are studied. Additionally, the STC (Sound Transmission Class) of FRP and steel are compared and discussed.

The National Building Code of Canada 2015 stipulates the minimum requirements of the airborne sound insulation transmission through common interior walls and ceiling/floor assemblies. The required minimum Apparent Sound Transmission Class (ASTC) is 47 in Canada, whereas the Impact Insulation Class (IIC) for floors is recommended to be higher than 55. For many years, significant efforts were made to develop sound insulation prediction models or tools to predict the sound insulation performance of wall and floor/ceiling assemblies at the design phase in order to meet the requirements and the recommendations made by codes. However, today few models can provide a reliable acoustics design tool. In this document, three prediction tools thought to be practically useful are presented and evaluated. Between these three prediction tools, one is an analytical model of the Insul software while the other two are empirical models developed by the National Research Council of Canada and the American Wood Council. This paper compared the STC and IIC ratings of wood wall and floor assemblies estimated by these three models and verified them by the measured STC and IIC ratings. This work aims at providing an idea for readers to choose a suitable design tool to proceed with their acoustic designs.

Volcanic Pumice (VP) is found abundantly in various parts of the world. In this study, VP from East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea is investigated and assessed for its industrial utilization. The manufacturing of heat-insulating lightweight concrete, building blocks or composites using VP is of prime importance as an energy saver. The utilization of VP as a heatinsulating material is tested and the results are found to satisfy the ASTM requirements. This fact suggests that VP could be utilized in the manufacture of composite building blocks or concrete. Acoustic performance of composite building floors with lightweight volcanic pumice concrete (VPC) is also described based on the performance of normal concrete (NC) and Code based requirements. The performance of VPC and NC composite floors is judged based on Sound Transmission Class (STC) or Impact Insulation Class (IIC) values. VPC composite floors exhibit better acoustic performance than their NC counterparts and seem to achieve the requirements of Codes of various countries.

For industrial applications, the scalability of a finalised design is an important factor to consider. The scaling process of typical membrane-type acoustic metamaterials may pose manufacturing challenges such as stress uniformity of the membrane and spatial consistency of the platelet. These challenges could be addressed by plate-type acoustic metamaterials with an internal tonraum resonator. By adopting the concept of modularity in a large-scale design (or meta-panel), the acoustical performance of different specimen configurations could be scaled and modularly combined. This study justifies the viability of two meta-panel configurations for low-frequency (80–500 Hz) noise control. The meta-panels were shown to be superior to two commercially available noise barriers at 80–500 Hz. This superiority was substantiated when the sound transmission class (STC) and the outdoor-indoor transmission class (OITC) were compared. The meta-panels were also shown to provide an average noise reduction of 22.7–27.4 dB at 80–400 Hz when evaluated in different noise environments—traffic noise, aircraft flyby noise, and construction noise. Consequently, the meta-panel may be further developed and optimised to obtain a design that is lightweight and yet has good acoustical performance at below 500 Hz, which is the frequency content of most problematic noises.

Abstract The paper presents an extensive review investigating the practical aspects related to the use of single- number ratings used in describing the sound insulation performance of partition wall panels and practical complications encountered in precise measurements in extensive frequency range from 50 Hz to 5 kHz. SWOT analysis of various single number ratings is described. A laboratory investigation on a double wall partition panel combination revealed the significant dependence of STC rating on transmission loss at 125 Hz attributed to 8 dB rule. An investigation conducted on devising alternative spectrums of aircraft noise, traffic noise, vehicular horn noise and elevated metro train noise as an extension to ISO 717-1 Ctr for ascertaining the sound insulation properties of materials exclusively towards these noise sources revealed that the single-number rating Rw + Ctr calculated using ISO 717-1 Ctr gives the minimum sound insulation, when compared with Rw + Cx calculated using the alternative spectrums of aircraft noise, traffic noise, etc., which means that material provides a higher sound insulation to the other noise sources. It is also observed that spectrum adaptation term Cx calculated using the spectrum of noise sources having high sound pressure levels in lower frequencies decreases as compared to ISO 717-1 Ctr owing to significant dependence of Ctr at lower frequencies.

The use of the door transmission class rating in lieu of the apparent sound transmission class rating has yet to gain traction within building codes and specified project requirements. This paper presents a case study involving performance requirement testing conducted at a university's media facility, in which sound insulation properties were a critical design and construction focus. Both test methods described in ASTM E2964 and ASTM E336 were performed where a door was the test partition. Door transmission class ratings were presented in comparison to apparent sound transmission class ratings for the same partition. Testing was performed in a variety of situations, including scenarios both inside and outside of the minimum requirements of testing standards. Our analysis considers the effectiveness of the recently adopted ASTM E2964 in comparison to the methods of the ASTM E336. We also consider some of the subtle differences between the two test methods and how they may impact the testing of certain adjacencies.

Experimental work on the prediction of sound transmission loss, TL, of brick cavity walls, plastered on both faces, is presented. First double brick walls having either 2 cm or 5 cm cavity widths were subjected to a diffuse sound field. Then tied walls were tested. In order to assess the effect of the wall ties on TL values, two types of ties, namely unit and continuous reinforcement, were investigated. The low frequency TL of the walls was observed to be highly affected by the presence of ties. High frequency TL values were not strongly influenced by the ties. When the leaves of the double brick walls having 5 cm cavity depth were tied, regardless of the type of tie used, their Sound Transmission Class was decreased by 5 points.

Attenuation of sound transmitting between rooms oriented over one another inside buildings is studied. Transmission loss and sound transmission class were measured by an independent, accredited, acoustics laboratory with and without a variety of modular acoustic ceilings suspended under a baseline concrete floor structure. Ceiling panel material types include stone wool, fiberglass and mineral fiber. Ceilings were tested with and without the presence of service penetrations for supply air diffusers, return air grilles and light fixtures. Some ceilings were also scanned with a sound intensity probe and the resulting color sound maps are used as a supplemental method of evaluating both isolation and absorption performance of the individual components of the ceiling systems. Results show that while the effects of ceiling panel type on absorption performance, and thus room acoustics, is substantial, the material type and weight of the ceiling panels do not substantially affect the overall isolation performance of the floor-ceiling assembly.

An ideal dynamical system should not generate any vibrations, because vibrations mean a loss of energy. Vibration in planetary precessional gear box occurs at bearings, gear wheels, misaligned shafts, imbalance rotating parts, couplings. If damage occurs, not only the dynamic processes change, but also the forces that act on system components. Regarding this aspects, regular vibration measurements on machines provide information about any necessary maintenance. Vibration research was made by using GUNT PT500 Machinery Diagnostic System and vibration signals was evaluated by using GUNT PT500.04 software witch allow to perform correct FFT analysis. Data acquisition was made by using two piezoelectric accelerations sensor type IMI603C01 and one reference photoelectric sensor to record the shaft speed. Sound level was measured by using Brüel & Kjær Sound Level Meter Type 2250 Light that has everything needed to perform high-precision, Class 1 measurement tasks in environmental, occupational and industrial application areas. Obtained and measured results was presented in diagrams and tables to be compared with German standard VDI-2058Limit value for vibration severity and noise level.

One of the problems experienced by the community, whether at home or at work, was the disruption in the sense of concentration caused by noise. This study aims to measure noise as well as provide materials to reduce noise in the area. The time for data collection was one day, carried out for 4 samples of data collection based on a reference from the Ministry of Environment, no: Kep-48 / MENLH / 11/1996. The measurement method also using SNI standard number 7231 in 2009. Then based on the noise value displayed on the instrument, material recommendations will be given based on the value of Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC), Sound Transmission Coefficient (STC) and Loss Factor. The results of noise measurements at the AT-Taqwa Mosque are 77.1 dB and the recommended material recommended by the tool is Acourete Perfowood - Acoustic Panel 881 with NRC 0.375. While the measurement at the Musholla at Pasar Minggu station is 76.8 dB and the recommended material recommended by the tool is Accourete Fiber 300 with an NRC of 0.44.

A combined approach based on finite element method, boundary element method, and genetic algorithm (FEM-BEM-GA) is proposed for optimizing the low frequency sound (LFS) insulation performance of plate structures. This approach can identify the optimal structural parameters (especially concerning the effects of arbitrary boundary conditions) so as to maximize the structural overall LFS insulation. The basic ideas of this approach are as follows: (1) the sound transmission loss (TL) analysis of a plate with arbitrary boundary conditions is conducted by the coupled FEM-BEM method; (2) the single-number rating method (such as low frequency sound transmission class) is used to assess the plate’s overall LFS insulation; and (3) the genetic algorithm (GA) is employed for searching the optimal solutions of the multiple-parameter optimization problem. The proposed approach is subsequently illustrated by numerical studies. The results show the effectiveness of consideration of the effects of boundary condition in the plate’s LFS insulation optimization and demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of this approach as a structure design tool.

Passive periodic structures exhibit unique dynamic characteristics that make them act as mechanical filters for wave propagation. As a result, waves can propagate along the periodic structures only within specific frequency bands called “pass bands” and wave propagation is completely blocked within other frequency bands called “stop bands”. In this paper, the emphasis is placed on developing a new class of these periodic structures called passive periodic struts, which can be used to support gearbox systems on the airframes of helicopters. When designed properly, the passive periodic strut can stop the propagation of vibration from the gearbox to the airframe within critical frequency bands, consequently minimizing the effects of transmission of undesirable vibration and sound radiation to the helicopter cabin. The theory governing the operation of this class of passive periodic struts is introduced and their filtering characteristics are demonstrated experimentally as a function of their design parameters. The presented concept of the passive periodic strut can be easily used in many applications to control the wave propagation and the force transmission in both the spectral and spatial domains in an attempt to stop/confine the propagation of undesirable disturbances.

The teleost Mauthner (M-) cell mediates a sound-evoked escape behavior. A major component of the auditory input is transmitted by large myelinated club endings of the posterior VIIIth nerve. Paradoxically, although nerve stimulations revealed these afferents have mixed electrical and glutamatergic synapses on the M-cell's distal lateral dendrite, paired pre- and postsynaptic recordings indicated most individual connections are chemically silent. To determine the sensory information encoded and the relative contributions of these two transmission modes, M-cell responses to acoustic stimuli in air were recorded intracellularly. Excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) evoked by both short 100- to 900-Hz “pips” and longer-lasting amplitude- and frequency-modulated sounds were dominated by fast, repetitive EPSPs superimposed on an underlying slow depolarization. Fast EPSPs 1) have kinetics comparable to presynaptic action potentials, 2) are maximal on the distal lateral dendrite, and 3) are insensitive to GluR antagonists. They presumably are coupling potentials, and power spectral analysis indicated they constitute a high-pass signal that accurately tracks sound frequency and amplitude. The spatial profile of the slow EPSP suggests both proximal and distal dendritic sources, a result supported by predictions of a multicompartmental model and the effects of AMPAR antagonists, which preferentially reduced the proximal component. Thus a second class of afferents generates a portion of the slow EPSP that, with sound stimuli, demonstrate that the dominant mode of transmission at LMCE synapses is electrical. The slow EPSP is a dynamic, low-pass representation of stimulus strength. Accordingly, amplitude and phase information, which are segregated in other systems, are faithfully represented in the M-cell.

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Learning disabilities are characterized by significant impairments in acquisition of reading, spelling or arithmetic skills. A growing number of studies have used speech sounds to assess auditory processing to linguistic elements in children with learning disability. The present study seeks to report whether speech evoked Auditory Brainstem Responses can be used as a biological marker of deficient sound encoding in children with learning disability. The study aims to establish relationship between click evoked auditory brainstem responses (ABR) and speech evoked ABR in children with learning disability; to report whether speech evoked auditory brainstem responses can be used as a biological marker of deficient sound encoding in children with learning disability.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> Pure tone audiometry, immitance audiometery, click and speech evoked brainstem responses were obtained in 25 children diagnosed with learning disability and the data was compared with the responses in the control group. </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> Statistical differences were seen in speech recognition threshold, speech discrimination scores, latencies and amplitude of speech evoked auditory brainstem responses between control and study group. This poor representation of significant components of speech sounds in children with learning disability could be due to synaptic efficacy distortion and poor synaptic transmission. Other reasons may be activation of fewer auditory nerve fibres in the auditory brainstem in response to speech stimulus.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> The speech evoked auditory brainstem responses can serve as an efficient tool in identifying underlying auditory processing difficulties in children with learning disability and can help in early intervention.</p><p class="abstract"> </p>

Traditionally, plant fibres have been used as a raw material for manufacturing construction materials; however, in the last century, they have been replaced by new mineral and synthetic materials with manufacturing processes that consume a large amount of energy. The objective of this study was to determine the mechanical, physical and acoustic properties of panels made from giant reed residues. The article focuses on evaluating the acoustic absorption of the boards for use in buildings. The materials used were reed particles and urea–formaldehyde was used as an adhesive. The panels were produced with three particle sizes and the influence that this parameter had on the properties of the board was evaluated. To determine the absorption coefficient, samples were tested at frequencies ranging from 50 to 6300 Hz. The results showed that the boards had a medium absorption coefficient for the low and high frequency range, with significant differences depending on the particle size. The boards with 2–4 mm particles could be classified as Class D sound absorbers, while boards with particle sizes of 0.25–1 mm showed the greatest sound transmission loss. Unlike the acoustic properties, the smaller the particle size used, the better the mechanical properties of the boards. The results showed that this may be an appropriate sound insulation material for commercial use.

Nowadays, almost every industry needs to undergo green and sustainable industrial revolution due to pollutions like waste dumping and noise that deteriorating the environment. Therefore, feasibility study on application of eggshell waste as partial cement replacement in lightweight foamed concrete was conducted by aiming to solve environmental and acoustical issues, i.e. reduce eggshell waste and improve acoustic properties. In this study, compressive strength and acoustic properties of 1300 kg m-3 lightweight foamed concrete with and without 5% eggshell powder as partial cement replacement material were tested. Optimal water to cement ratio of 0.6 was obtained for acoustic properties test by comparing compressive strength result. The result shows that application eggshell powder has generally reduced 7 days compressive strength but improved 28 days compressive strength, and either improve or maintain acoustics properties, in which lightweight foamed concrete that containing eggshell powder has improved noise reduction coefficient at testing ages of 7, 28, and 90 days and improved sound transmission class at testing age of 56 and 90 days. Based on these results, 5% of eggshell powder is feasible to be incorporated into lightweight foamed concrete as partial cement replacement material for sound insulation and strength development purposes.

The article considers the system of views on using information and communication technologies in the institutions of higher education. The concept of “interactive learning” has been defined. The ways of increasing the accessibility of higher education for students with limited abilities have been described. This issue can be solved by using interactive tools as the key to the successful training of such students is the optimization of teaching material in the most receptive form. The main features of various e-learning services which are used in the students’ learning process have been described: Blackboard, Prometeus, ATutor, Moodle, Cisco WebEx Meeting Center. The experience of the Canadian on-line Fredericton University’s researchers on the use of the WebEx service in the educational process of their university have been analyzed. The main advantages and objectives of the Cisco WebEx Meeting Center service have been described. It has been noted that due to multimedia and feedback, WebEx service provides the presence of distance learners in the training audience. It offers technologies for the accurate transmission of audio and video, data exchange and individual session for group and individual learning, which simplify the learning process. The usefulness of WebEx for students with limited abilities has been considered. Organizing and conducting of interactive class sessions for students with limited abilities using the Cisco WebEx Meeting Center service has been presented. WebEx service video broadcasting and sound transmission during interactive class sessions have been described.

There is an ever-increasing demand for speech privacy in modern office spaces. People prefer their conversations to remain private while not being disturbed by speech of others. The work presented in this article focuses on reducing the intelligibility of the perceived speech by masking the original signal without a significant additional annoyance. The disruption of the information-carrying components of speech by the amplitude and temporal smearing is of a specific interest of this work. We suggest a method in which a modified self-adjusted masking signal is used to effectively counteract the drawbacks of a straightforward reverberation. The presented masking method disrupts key speech characteristics of the original signal. The intelligibility and annoyance levels of the resulting signal are subjectively evaluated. The optimized experimental parameters are reported. The presented method provides a significantly higher speech privacy and a lower perceived annoyance as compared to white noise. The method can be used in office environments with various Sound Transmission Class levels.

This paper presents both theoretically and experimentally a new kind of a broadband vibration isolator. It is a table-like system formed by four parallel hybrid periodic rods connected between two plates. The rods consist of an assembly of periodic cells, each cell being composed of a short rod and piezoelectric inserts. By actively controlling the piezoelectric elements, it is shown that the periodic rods can efficiently attenuate the propagation of vibration from the upper plate to the lower one within critical frequency bands and consequently minimize the effects of transmission of undesirable vibration and sound radiation. In such a system, longitudinal waves can propagate from the vibration source in the upper plate to the lower one along the rods only within specific frequency bands called the "Pass Bands" and wave propagation is efficiently attenuated within other frequency bands called the "Stop Bands". The spectral width of these bands can be tuned according to the nature of the external excitation. The theory governing the operation of this class of vibration isolator is presented and their tunable filtering characteristics are demonstrated experimentally as functions of their design parameters. This concept can be employed in many applications to control the wave propagation and the force transmission of longitudinal vibrations both in the spectral and spatial domains in an attempt to stop/attenuate the propagation of undesirable disturbances.

This paper presents both theoretically and experimentally a new kind of vibration isolator called tunable mechanical filter which consists of four parallel hybrid periodic rods connected between two plates. The rods consist of an assembly of periodic cells, each cell being composed of a short rod and piezoelectric inserts. By actively controlling the piezoelectric elements, it is shown that the periodic rods can efficiently attenuate the propagation of vibration from the upper plate to the lower one within critical frequency bands and consequently minimize the effects of transmission of undesirable vibration and sound radiation. In such a filter, longitudinal waves can propagate from the vibration source in the upper plate to the lower one along the rods only within specific frequency bands called the “Pass Bands” and wave propagation is efficiently attenuated within other frequency bands called the “Stop Bands”. The spectral width of these bands can be tuned according to the nature of the external excitation. The theory governing the operation of this class of vibration isolator is presented and their tunable filtering characteristics are demonstrated experimentally as functions of their design parameters. The concept of this mechanical filter as presented can be employed in many applications to control the wave propagation and the force transmission of longitudinal vibrations both in the spectral and spatial domains in an attempt to stop/attenuate the propagation of undesirable disturbances.

We present here line of sight communication between a person and his neighbour with the help of optical signal produced by a laser torch which act as a carrier. It is therefore a wireless communication and the transmission can go up to 500 meters. We used photodiode to receive the signal at the receiver. The transmitter circuit comprises condenser microphone transistor amplifier BC547 followed by an op-amp stage built around µA741. When we give a voice signal from the mike, it converts the voice signal into the electrical signal. This electrical signal is fed to IC741 (op-amp) for amplification. The gain of the op-amp can be controlled with the help of 1-mega-ohm potentiometer. The AF output from IC is coupled to the base of a class B amplifier which, in turn, modulates the signal. The transmitter uses 5V power supply. However, the 3-volt laser torch (after removal of its battery) can be directly connected to the circuit-with the body of the torch connected to the class B. The photodiode converts the optical signal into electrical signal and again this signal is amplified using IC741 and a combination of class B push pull amplifiers. The receiver circuit uses an NPN photodiode as the light sensor that is followed by a two-stage transistor preamplifier and IC741 based audio Power amplifier. The receiver does not need any complicated alignment. Just keep the photodiode oriented towards the remote transmitter’s laser point and adjust the volume control for a clear sound. The sensor must not directly face the sun.

Polymer processing belongs to the category of hazardous industries and requires a deep and comprehensive analysis of the production environment from a hygienic point of view in order to minimize the negative impact on human health and components of the biosphere. The purpose of the study. It is important to study a set of adverse factors that affect employees in the process of processing polymer waste, to establish the relationship with the development of general and occupational diseases. Results and discussion. It has been established that the working conditions of the process of processing polymer waste have a combined effect on the body caused by a set of adverse production factors of different actions. The main ones are: dust in the air of the working area with polymer dust with mixed and unstable composition over time, noise, cooling microclimate, difficulty of work. The excess of maximum permissible concentration for dust load on the body of workers in the process of mechanical processing of PPV is from 1.35 times to 1.74 times, at the workplaces of the baler and shredder and unloading-packing operator (working conditions class 3.1). Exceedance of the sound pressure level in the range from 2 dBA to 15 dBA was recorded at all workplaces (working conditions class 3.2). The parameters of the microclimate at all workplaces, except for the forklift operator, belong to the harmful class of working conditions 3.1. According to the severity of the labor process, the working conditions of employees vary from allowable 2 (operator of the technological process) to harmful 3.2 (baler and shredder operator). In terms of intensity, the working conditions of all employees belong to harmful class 3.2, due to the significant noise load, which prevents the capture and transmission of information between participants in the processing process, as well as timely receipt of audio signals from the process operator and equipment. Mostly working conditions of employees in the process of processing PPV mixtures belong to class 3.2, except for the forklift operator (class 3.4). As for the integrated assessment, according to the hygienic classification, working conditions of operators of unloading-packing, crushing, technological process and baler are evaluated according to class 3.2, and the truck operator - 3.4 according to state sanitary rules and regulations "Hygienic classification of labor according to the indicators of harmfulness and danger and the intensity of the labor process" (order of the Ministry of Health dated 08.04.2014 No.248,), which can lead to the development of work-related diseases

SUMMARY This study assessed dentin-resin interface integration in Class I cavities restored with simplified adhesives by using a focused ion-beam milling (FIB) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). Class I cavities (1.5-mm depth with dentin thickness of ∼0.5 mm, 4-mm length, and 2-mm width) were prepared on freshly extracted, sound human molars. Two all-in-one adhesive systems (Scotchbond/Single Bond Universal [SUD] and Xeno-V+ [X5D]) were used and compared with a two-step etch-and-rinse system (Prime&Bond NT [NTD]). The adhesives were applied according to the manufacturers' guidelines. A universal resin composite (Filtek Z350 XT Universal) was used to restore the cavities in one bulk filling and was irradiated at 550 mW/cm2 for 40 seconds by a quartz-tungsten-halogen light (Optilux 501). After exposure to liquid nitrogen coolant, the specimens were milled to nanoscale thickness by FIB to view and then assess the area of dentin-resin interface by TEM. Unlike the unfilled X5D, a noticeably smooth transition zone at the dentin-resin interface was shown for the SUD and NTD adhesives. The SUD demonstrated an uneven hybrid layer with clearly demineralized collagen bundles. Ultramorphologically, dispersed needlelike apatite crystals were detected within the partially demineralized dentin or the hybrid layer of both compositionally different all-in-one simplified adhesives. Conversely, these crystals were entirely absent from the hybrid layer of the etch-and-rinse NTD adhesive. In the X5D group, a bright band was noted beneath the hybrid layer. The methacryloxydecyl dihydrogen phosphate monomer containing ultramild self-etch adhesive (SUD) was still validated in terms of its capability in dentin adhesion.

<p class="0abstract"><span lang="EN-US">To explore</span><span lang="EN-US"> the application of audio signal in the troubleshooting system, a sound detection system </span><span lang="EN-US">wa</span><span lang="EN-US">s designed. The system consists of three parts: voice acquisition node, aggregation node and host computer monitoring software. Time protocol synchronization </span><span lang="EN-US">(</span><span lang="EN-US">TPSN</span><span lang="EN-US">)</span><span lang="EN-US"> algorithm </span><span lang="EN-US">wa</span><span lang="EN-US">s used to realize the synchronization between nodes. The algorithm and the trilateration method </span><span lang="EN-US">we</span><span lang="EN-US">re applied to the system. The application</span><span lang="EN-US">s</span><span lang="EN-US"> of the sound detection system in the field of fault sound source localization </span><span lang="EN-US">we</span><span lang="EN-US">re realized.</span><span lang="EN-US">Wireless sensor networks </span><span lang="EN-US">we</span><span lang="EN-US">re used in sound detection systems, which ha</span><span lang="EN-US">d</span><span lang="EN-US"> many advantages. On the one hand, complicated wiring </span><span lang="EN-US">wa</span><span lang="EN-US">s avoided. It ha</span><span lang="EN-US">d</span><span lang="EN-US"> the advantages of easy to set up and easy to move.</span><span lang="EN-US">On the other hand, some self-organizing and adaptive features in wireless sensor networks and some methods of synchronization and localization c</span><span lang="EN-US">ould</span><span lang="EN-US"> be introduced. The</span><span lang="EN-US">whole system</span><span lang="EN-US"> was</span><span lang="EN-US"> more flexible</span><span lang="EN-US"> and i</span><span lang="EN-US">ts application </span><span lang="EN-US">wa</span><span lang="EN-US">s more extensive.</span><span lang="EN-US">Using monitoring software, users can remotely access to the scene of the voice signal.</span><span lang="EN-US">The results show</span><span lang="EN-US">ed</span><span lang="EN-US"> that the system ha</span><span lang="EN-US">d</span><span lang="EN-US"> high transmission rate, stable operation and small positioning error. Therefore, it has good application prospects.</span></p>

Combining calibrated hydrophone measurements with vessel location data from the Automatic Identification System, we estimate underwater sound pressure levels for 1,582 unique ships that transited the core critical habitat of the endangered Southern Resident killer whales during 28 months between March, 2011, and October, 2013. Median received spectrum levels of noise from 2,809 isolated transits are elevated relative to median background levels not only at low frequencies (20–30 dB re 1 µPa2/Hz from 100 to 1,000 Hz), but also at high frequencies (5–13 dB from 10,000 to 96,000 Hz). Thus, noise received from ships at ranges less than 3 km extends to frequencies used by odontocetes. Broadband received levels (11.5–40,000 Hz) near the shoreline in Haro Strait (WA, USA) for the entire ship population were 110 ± 7 dB re 1 µPa on average. Assuming near-spherical spreading based on a transmission loss experiment we compute mean broadband source levels for the ship population of 173 ± 7 dB re 1 µPa 1 m without accounting for frequency-dependent absorption. Mean ship speed was 7.3 ± 2.0 m/s (14.1 ± 3.9 knots). Most ship classes show a linear relationship between source level and speed with a slope near +2 dB per m/s (+1 dB/knot). Spectrum, 1/12-octave, and 1/3-octave source levels for the whole population have median values that are comparable to previous measurements and models at most frequencies, but for select studies may be relatively low below 200 Hz and high above 20,000 Hz. Median source spectrum levels peak near 50 Hz for all 12 ship classes, have a maximum of 159 dB re 1 µPa2/Hz @ 1 m for container ships, and vary between classes. Below 200 Hz, the class-specific median spectrum levels bifurcate with large commercial ships grouping as higher power noise sources. Within all ship classes spectrum levels vary more at low frequencies than at high frequencies, and the degree of variability is almost halved for classes that have smaller speed standard deviations. This is the first study to present source spectra for populations of different ship classes operating in coastal habitats, including at higher frequencies used by killer whales for both communication and echolocation.

The multi-channel surround system used for multimedia teaching can bring more powerful auditory effects to the audience, and can fully mobilize students’ interest and enthusiasm in learning. Such as music arrangement, Yunnan musical instruments, the sound characteristics of national music and national musical instruments, and the sound processing knowledge of music processing. You can quickly master basic music arrangement, the sound characteristics of musical instruments, and the knowledge of mixing and processing music. Achieve better teaching results. Most multimedia devices on the market, with the music and sound effects, a high compression mono or stereo transmission. This mono or stereo transmission with a high compression ratio is very low quality. Since audio is far less powerful than visual impact, and the capacity of the disc used to store audio is small, people tend to focus on visual information processing, but ignore the importance of audio. Multi-channel surround sound technology has received more and more attention in the teaching practice of film and television colleges, but it is also affected by various factors such as venue facilities. This has caused bottlenecks in teaching in this field and has greatly affected the teaching effect. This paper designs and constructs a mobile multi-channel surround sound teaching system from a practical perspective. As part of a multimedia teaching device, try to use the best digital surround sound system for today’s audio reproduction. The feasibility of entering the digital surround sound system into the multimedia teaching classroom is analyzed. Better promote students’ correct understanding of audio and use modern high-tech digital technology to spread real art.

AbstractAn ultralight graphene oxide (GO)/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) aerogel (GPA) is proposed as a new class of acoustic materials with tuneable and broadband sound absorption and sound transmission losses. The interaction between GO sheets and PVA molecules is exploited in our environmentally friendly manufacturing process to fabricate aerogels with hierarchical and tuneable porosity embedded in a honeycomb scaffold. The aerogels possess an enhanced ability to dissipate sound energy, with an extremely low density of 2.10 kg m−3, one of the lowest values ever reported for acoustic materials. We have first experimentally evaluated and optimised the effects of composition and thickness on the acoustic properties, namely sound absorption and sound transmission losses. Subsequently, we have employed a semi-analytical approach to evaluate the effect of different processing times on acoustic properties and assessed the relationships between the acoustic and non-acoustic properties of the materials. Over the 400–2500 Hz range, the reported average sound absorption coefficients are as high as 0.79, while the average sound transmission losses can reach 15.8 dB. We envisage that our subwavelength thin and light aerogel-based materials will possess other functional properties such as fire resistance and EMI shielding, and will prove to be novel acoustic materials for advanced engineering applications.

Multimedia is a modern way of communication where lots of images and videos are been transmitted over the wireless sensor network, hence managing the transmission of these records plays an important role when it comes to speed in which the multimedia transferred. In this paper compression technique and bandwidth utilization method is used for the efficient data transmission. Using this one can minimize the bandwidth utilization by compressing the video to the best format where packet won’t be lost and complete packet will be transferred to the destination node. Remote sensor systems is a developing class of exceptionally powerful, complex system condition over which a wide scope of uses, for example, living space observing, object following, exactness farming, building checking and military frameworks are assembled. [1]The ongoing applications frequently produce earnest information and one-time occasion notices that should be conveyed dependably. The fruitful conveyance of such data directly affects the general execution of the framework. Solid correspondence is significant for sensor systems. In WSN’s for viable transmission of still pictures, sound, and video data implements thorough necessities on the vitality utilization and throughput. [2] It is given in this to examine the presentation of steering traffic for interactive media traffic in WSN for multi jump nodes from the sink.

A perturbation-based approach is implemented to study the sound attenuation in distorted cylindrical mufflers with various inlet/outlet orientations. Study of the transmission loss (TL) in mufflers requires solution of the Helmholtz equation. Exact solutions are available only for a limited class of problems where the method of separation of variables can be applied across the cross section of the muffler (e.g., circular, rectangular, elliptic sections). In many practical situations, departures from the regular geometry occur. The present work is aimed at formulating a general procedure for determining the TL in mufflers with small perturbations on the boundary. Distortions in the geometry have been approximated by Fourier series expansion, thereby, allowing for asymmetric perturbations. Using the method of strained parameters, eigensolutions for a distorted muffler are expressed as a series summation of eigensolutions of the unperturbed cylinder having similar dimensions. The resulting eigenvectors, being orthogonal up to the order of truncation, are used to define a Green's function for the Helmholtz equation in the perturbed domain. Assuming that inlet and outlet ports of the muffler are uniform-velocity piston sources, the Green's function is implemented to obtain the velocity potential inside the muffler cavity. The pressure field inside the muffler is obtained from the velocity potential by using conservation of linear momentum. Transmission loss in the muffler is derived from the averaged pressure field. In order to illustrate the method, TL of an elliptical muffler with different inlet/outlet orientations is considered. Comparisons between the perturbation results and the exact solutions show excellent agreement for moderate (0.4∼0.6) eccentricities.

Objective: To explore the prevention and control strategies and effects of COVID-19 in People's Hospital of Tongchuan so as to provide evidence for prevention and control of COVID-19 in Tongchuan. Methods: The measures taken by People's Hospital of Tongchuan from the aspects of sound organization, new coronavirus knowledge training, prevention of nosocomial infection, establishment of elite medical team, scientific and precise treatment and internet application as well as medical treatment were reviewed. Results: Between 23 January 2020 and 15 April 2020, the hospital had received a total of 6 patients with confirmed COVID-19, among which 3 patients have been discharged. More than 31,000 persons were given pre-examination triage, 2,605 persons were treated for fever at clinics, 596 persons were under isolation and observation, and 184 persons had nucleic acid test, so as to achieve the requirements of no missed diagnosis, no death and no infection goal, which were prioritized by the national, provincial and municipal health inspection teams. Conclusion: The effective prevention and control strategies against COVID-19 in People’s Hospital of Tongchuan have significantly achieved the "three zeros" goal namely zero infection, zero transmission and zero death. People's Hospital of Tongchuan, founded in 1949, is a comprehensive level-III first-class hospital. It has two hospitals located in the north and the south, with 1,700 beds and 2,044 employees. It is the first designated hospital for treatment of COVID-19 [1] in the province.

Practically any good story follows certain narrative conventions in order to hold its readers' attention and leave them with a feeling of satisfaction -- this goes for fictional tales as well as for many news reports (we do tend to call them 'news stories', after all), for idle gossip as well as for academic papers. In the Western tradition of storytelling, it's customary to start with the exposition, build up to major events, and end with some form of narrative closure. Indeed, audience members will feel disturbed if there is no sense of closure at the end -- their desire for closure is a powerful one. From this brief description of narrative patterns it is also clear that such narratives depend crucially on linear progression through the story in order to work -- there may be flashbacks and flashforwards, but very few stories, it seems, could get away with beginning with their point of closure, and work back to the exposition. Closure, as the word suggests, closes the story, and once reached, the audience is left with the feeling of now knowing the whole story, of having all the pieces necessary to understand its events. To understand how important the desire to reach this point is to the audience, just observe the discussions of holes in the plot which people have when they're leaving a cinema: they're trying to reach a better sense of closure than was afforded them by the movie itself. In linearly progressing media, this seems, if you'll pardon the pun, straightforward. Readers know when they've finished an article or a book, viewers know when a movie or a broadcast is over, and they'll be able to assess then if they've reached sufficient closure -- if their desires have been fulfilled. On the World Wide Web, this is much more difficult: "once we have it in our hands, the whole of a book is accessible to us readers. However, in front of an electronic read-only hypertext document we are at the mercy of the author since we will only be able to activate the links which the author has provided" (McKnight et al. 119). In many cases, it's not even clear whether we've reached the end of the text already: just where does a Website end? Does the question even make sense? Consider the following example, reported by Larry Friedlander: I watched visitors explore an interactive program in a museum, one that contained a vast amount of material -- pictures, film, historic explanations, models, simulations. I was impressed by the range of subject matter and by the ambitiousness and polish of the presentation. ... But to my surprise, as I watched visitors going down one pathway after another, I noticed a certain dispirited glaze spread over their faces. They seemed to lose interest quite quickly and, in fact, soon stopped their explorations. (163) Part of the problem here may just have been the location of the programme, of course -- when you're out in public, you might just not have the time to browse as extensively as you could from your computer at home. But there are other explanations, too: the sheer amount of options for exploration may have been overwhelming -- there may not have been any apparent purpose to aim for, any closure to arrive at. This is a problem inherent in hypertext, particularly in networked systems like the Web: it "changes our conception of an ending. Different readers can choose not only to end the text at different points but also to add to and extend it. In hypertext there is no final version, and therefore no last word: a new idea or reinterpretation is always possible. ... By privileging intertextuality, hypertext provides a large number of points to which other texts can attach themselves" (Snyder 57). In other words, there will always be more out there than any reader could possibly explore, since new documents are constantly being added. There is no ending if a text is constantly extended. (In print media this problem appears only to a far more limited extent: there, intertextuality is mostly implicit, and even though new articles may constantly be added -- 'linked', if you will -- to a discourse, due to the medium's physical nature they're still very much separate entities, while Web links make intertextuality explicit and directly connect texts.) Does this mark the end of closure, then? Adding to the problem is the fact that it's not even possible to know how much of the hypertextual information available is still left unexplored, since there is no universal register of all the information available on the Web -- "the extent of hypertext is unknowable because it lacks clear boundaries and is often multi-authored" (Snyder 19). While reading a book you can check how many more pages you've got to go, but on the Web this is not an option. Our traditions of information transmission create this desire for closure, but the inherent nature of the medium prevents us from ever satisfying it. Barrett waxes lyrical in describing this dilemma: contexts presented online are often too limited for what we really want: an environment that delivers objects of desire -- to know more, see more, learn more, express more. We fear being caught in Medusa's gaze, of being transfixed before the end is reached; yet we want the head of Medusa safely on our shield to freeze the bitstream, the fleeting imagery, the unstoppable textualisations. We want, not the dead object, but the living body in its connections to its world, connections that sustain it, give it meaning. (xiv-v) We want nothing less, that is, than closure without closing: we desire the knowledge we need, and the feeling that that knowledge is sufficient to really know about a topic, but we don't want to devalue that knowledge in the same process by removing it from its context and reducing it to trivial truisms. We want the networked knowledge base that the Web is able to offer, but we don't want to feel overwhelmed by the unfathomable dimensions of that network. This is increasingly difficult the more knowledge is included in that network -- "with the growth of knowledge comes decreasing certainty. The confidence that went with objectivity must give way to the insecurity that comes from knowing that all is relative" (Smith 206). The fact that 'all is relative' is one which predates the Net, of course, and it isn't the Internet or the World Wide Web that has destroyed objectivity -- objectivity has always been an illusion, no matter how strongly journalists or scientists have at times laid claims ot it. Internet-based media have simply stripped away more of the pretences, and laid bare the subjective nature of all information; in the process, they have also uncovered the fact that the desire for closure must ultimately remain unfulfilled in any sufficiently non-trivial case. Nonetheless, the early history of the Web has seen attempts to connect all the information available (LEO, one of the first major German Internet resource centres, for example, took its initials from its mission to 'Link Everything Online') -- but as the amount of information on the Net exploded, more and more editorial choices of what to include and what to leave out had to be made, so that now even search engines like Yahoo! and Altavista quite clearly and openly offer only a selection of what they consider useful sites on the Web. Web browsers still hoping to find everything on a certain topic would be well-advised to check with all major search engines, as well as important resource centres in the specific field. The average Web user would probably be happy with picking the search engine, Web directory or Web ring they find easiest to use, and sticking with it. The multitude of available options here actually shows one strength of the Internet and similar networks -- "the computer permits many [organisational] structures to coexist in the same electronic text: tree structures, circles, and lines can cross and recross without obstructing one another. The encyclopedic impulse to organise can run riot in this new technology of writing" (Bolter 95). Still, this multitude of options is also likely to confuse some users: in particular, "novices do not know in which order they need to read the material or how much they should read. They don't know what they don't know. Therefore learners might be sidetracked into some obscure corner of the information space instead or covering the important basic information" (Nielsen 190). They're like first-time visitors to a library -- but this library has constantly shifting aisles, more or less well-known pathways into specialty collections, fiercely competing groups of librarians, and it extends almost infinitely. Of course, the design of the available search and information tools plays an important role here, too -- far more than it is possible to explore at this point. Gay makes the general observation that "visual interfaces and navigational tools that allow quick browsing of information layout and database components are more effective at locating information ... than traditional index or text-based search tools. However, it should be noted that users are less secure in their findings. Users feel that they have not conducted complete searches when they use visual tools and interfaces" (185). Such technical difficulties (especially for novices) will slow take-up of and low satisfaction with the medium (and many negative views of the Web can probably be traced to this dissatisfaction with the result of searches -- in other words, to a lack of satisfaction of the desire for closure); while many novices eventually overcome their initial confusion and become more Web-savvy, others might disregard the medium as unsuitable for their needs. At the other extreme of the scale, the inherent lack for closure, in combination with the societally deeply ingrained desire for it, may also be a strong contributing factor for another negative phenomenon associated with the Internet: that of Net users becoming Net junkies, who spend every available moment online. Where the desire to know, to get to the bottom (or more to the point: to the end) of a topic, becomes overwhelming, and where the fundamental unattainability of this goal remains unrealised, the step to an obsession with finding information seems a small one; indeed, the neverending search for that piece of knowledge surpassing all previously found ones seems to have obvious similarities to drug addiction with its search for the high to better all previous highs. And most likely, the addiction is only heightened by the knowledge that on the Web, new pieces of information are constantly being added -- an endless, and largely free, supply of drugs... There is no easy solution to this problem -- in the end, it is up to the user to avoid becoming an addict, and to keep in mind that there is no such thing as total knowledge. Web designers and content providers can help, though: "there are ways of orienting the reader in an electronic document, but in any true hypertext the ending must remain tentative. An electronic text never needs to end" (Bolter 87). As Tennant & Heilmeier elaborate, "the coming ease-of-use problem is one of developing transparent complexity -- of revealing the limits and the extent of vast coverage to users, and showing how the many known techniques for putting it all together can be used most effectively -- of complexity that reveals itself as powerful simplicity" (122). We have been seeing, therefore, the emergence of a new class of Websites: resource centres which help their visitors to understand a certain topic and view it from all possible angles, which point them in the direction of further information on- and off-site, and which give them an indication of how much they need to know to understand the topic to a certain degree. In this, they must ideally be very transparent, as Tennant & Heilmeier point out -- having accepted that there is no such thing as objectivity, it is necessary for these sites to point out that their offered insight into the field is only one of many possible approaches, and that their presented choice of information is based on subjective editorial decisions. They may present preferred readings, but they must indicate that these readings are open for debate. They may help satisfy some of their readers' desire for closure, but they must at the same time point out that they do so by presenting a temporary ending beyond which a more general story continues. If, as suggested above, closure crucially depends on a linear mode of presentation, such sites in their arguments help trace one linear route through the network of knowledge available online; they impose a linear from-us-to-you model of transmission on the normally unordered many-to-many structure of the Net. In the face of much doomsaying about the broadcast media, then, here is one possible future for these linear transmission media, and it's no surprise that such Internet 'push' broad- or narrowcasting is a growth area of the Net -- simply put, it serves the apparent need of users to be told stories, to have their desire for closure satisfied through clear narrative progressions from exposition through development to end. (This isn't 'push' as such, really: it's more a kind of 'push on demand'.) But at the same time, this won't mean the end of the unstructured, networked information that the Web offers: even such linear media ultimately build on that networked pool of knowledge. The Internet has simply made this pool public -- passively as well as actively accessible to everybody. Now, however, Web designers (and this includes each and every one of us, ultimately) must work "with the users foremost in mind, making sure that at every point there is a clear, simple and focussed experience that hooks them into the welter of information presented" (Friedlander 164); they must play to the desire for closure. (As with any preferred reading, however, there is also a danger that that closure is premature, and that the users' process or meaning-making is contained and stifled rather than aided.) To return briefly to Friedlander's experience with the interactive museum exhibit: he draws the conclusion that visitors were simply overwhelmed by the sheer mass of information and were reluctant to continue accumulating facts without a guiding purpose, without some sense of how or why they could use all this material. The technology that delivers immense bundles of data does not simultaneously deliver a reason for accumulating so much information, nor a way for the user to order and make sense of it. That is the designer's task. The pressing challenge of multimedia design is to transform information into usable and useful knowledge. (163) Perhaps this transformation is exactly what is at the heart of fulfilling the desire for closure: we feel satisfied when we feel we know something, have learnt something from a presentation of information (no matter if it's a news report or a fictional story). Nonetheless, this satisfaction must of necessity remain intermediate -- there is always much more still to be discovered. "From the hypertext viewpoint knowledge is infinite: we can never know the whole extent of it but only have a perspective on it. ... Life is in real-time and we are forced to be selective, we decide that this much constitutes one node and only these links are worth representing" (Beardon & Worden 69). This is not inherently different from processes in other media, where bandwidth limitations may even force much stricter gatekeeping regiments, but as in many cases the Internet brings these processes out into the open, exposes their workings and stresses the fundamental subjectivity of information. Users of hypertext (as indeed users of any medium) must be aware of this: "readers themselves participate in the organisation of the encyclopedia. They are not limited to the references created by the editors, since at any point they can initiate a search for a word or phrase that takes them to another article. They might also make their own explicit references (hypertextual links) for their own purposes ... . It is always a short step from electronic reading to electronic writing, from determining the order of texts to altering their structure" (Bolter 95). Significantly, too, it is this potential for wide public participation which has made the Internet into the medium of the day, and led to the World Wide Web's exponential growth; as Bolter describes, "today we cannot hope for permanence and for general agreement on the order of things -- in encyclopedias any more than in politics and the arts. What we have instead is a view of knowledge as collections of (verbal and visual) ideas that can arrange themselves into a kaleidoscope of hierarchical and associative patterns -- each pattern meeting the needs of one class of readers on one occasion" (97). To those searching for some meaningful 'universal truth', this will sound defeatist, but ultimately it is closer to realism -- one person's universal truth is another one's escapist phantasy, after all. This doesn't keep most of us from hoping and searching for that deeper insight, however -- and from the preceding discussion, it seems likely that in this we are driven by the desire for closure that has been imprinted in us so deeply by the multitudes of narrative structures we encounter each day. It's no surprise, then, that, as Barrett writes, "the virtual environment is a place of longing. Cyberspace is an odyssey without telos, and therefore without meaning. ... Yet cyberspace is also the theatre of operations for the reconstruction of the lost body of knowledge, or, perhaps more correctly, not the reconstruction, but the always primary construction of a body of knowing. Thought and language in a virtual environment seek a higher synthesis, a re-imagining of an idea in the context of its truth" (xvi). And so we search on, following that by definition end-less quest to satisfy our desire for closure, and sticking largely to the narrative structures handed down to us through the generations. This article is no exception, of course -- but while you may gain some sense of closure from it, it is inevitable that there is a deeper feeling of a lack of closure, too, as the article takes its place in a wider hypertextual context, where so much more is still left unexplored: other articles in this issue, other issues of M/C, and further journals and Websites adding to the debate. Remember this, then: you decide when and where to stop. References Barrett, Edward, and Marie Redmont, eds. Contextual Media: Multimedia and Interpretation. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT P, 1995. Barrett, Edward. "Hiding the Head of Medusa: Objects and Desire in a Virtual Environment." Barrett & Redmont xi- vi. Beardon, Colin, and Suzette Worden. "The Virtual Curator: Multimedia Technologies and the Roles of Museums." Barrett & Redmont 63-86. Bolter, Jay David. Writing Space: The Computer, Hypertext, and the History of Writing. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1991. Friedlander, Larry. "Spaces of Experience on Designing Multimedia Applications." Barrett & Redmont 163-74. Gay, Geri. "Issues in Accessing and Constructing Multimedia Documents." Barrett & Redmont 175-88. McKnight, Cliff, John Richardson, and Andrew Dillon. "The Authoring of Hypertext Documents." Hypertext: Theory into Practice. Ed. Ray McAleese. Oxford: Intellect, 1993. Nielsen, Jakob. Hypertext and Hypermedia. Boston: Academic Press, 1990. Smith, Anthony. Goodbye Gutenberg: The Newspaper Revolution of the 1980's [sic]. New York: Oxford UP, 1980. Snyder, Ilana. Hypertext: The ELectronic Labyrinth. Carlton South: Melbourne UP, 1996. Tennant, Harry, and George H. Heilmeier. "Knowledge and Equality: Harnessing the Truth of Information Abundance." Technology 2001: The Future of Computing and Communications. Ed. Derek Leebaert. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT P, 1991. Citation reference for this article MLA style: Axel Bruns. "What's the Story: The Unfulfilled Desire for Closure on the Web." M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2.5 (1999). [your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9907/closure.php>. Chicago style: Axel Bruns, "What's the Story: The Unfulfilled Desire for Closure on the Web," M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2, no. 5 (1999), <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9907/closure.php> ([your date of access]). APA style: Axel Bruns. (1999) What's the story: the unfulfilled desire for closure on the Web. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2(5). <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9907/closure.php> ([your date of access]).

“The intellect must not only desire surreptitious delights; it must become completely free and celebrate Saturnalia.” (Nietzsche 6) Theory-jamming suggests an array of eclectic methods, deployed in response to emerging conditions, using traditional patterns to generate innovative moves, seeking harmony and syncopation, transparent about purpose and power, aiming for demonstrable certainties while aware of their own provisional fragility. In this paper, theory-jamming is suggested as an antidote for the confusion and disarray that typifies communication theory. Communication theory as the means to conceptualise the transmission of information and the negotiation of meaning has never been a stable entity. Entrenched divisions between ‘administrative’ and ‘critical’ tendencies are played out within schools and emerging disciplines and across a range of scientific/humanist, quantitative/qualitative and political/cultural paradigms. “Of course, this is only the beginning of the mischief for there are many other polarities at play and a host of variations within polar contrasts” (Dervin, Shields and Song). This paper argues that the play of contending schools with little purchase on each other, or anything much, has turned meta-discourse about communication into an ontological spiral. Perhaps the only way to ride out this storm is to look towards communication practices that confront these issues and appreciate their theoretical underpinnings. From its roots in jazz and blues to its contemporary manifestations in rap and hip-hop and throughout the communication industries, the jam (or improvised reorganisation of traditional themes into new and striking patterns) confronts the ontological spiral in music, and life, by taking the flotsam flung out of the spiral to piece together the means to transcend the downward pull into the abyss. Many pretenders have a theory. Theory abounds: language theory, number theory, game theory, quantum theory, string theory, chaos theory, cyber-theory, queer theory, even conspiracy theory and, most poignantly, the putative theory of everything. But since Bertrand Russell’s unsustainable class of all classes, Gödel’s systemically unprovable propositions and Heisenberger’s uncertainty principle, the propensity for theories to fall into holes in themselves has been apparent. Nowhere is this more obvious than in communication theory where many schools contend without actually connecting to each other. From the 1930s, as the mass media formed, there have been administrative and critical tendencies at war in the communication arena. Some point to the origins of the split in the Institute of Social Research’s Radio Project where pragmatic sociologist, Paul Lazarsfeld broke with Frankfurt School critical theorist, Theodor Adorno over the quality of data. Lazarsfeld was keen to produce results while Adorno complained the data over-simplified the relationship between mass media and audiences (Rogers). From this split grew the twin disciplines of mass communication (quantitative, liberal, commercial and lost in its obsession with the measurement of minor media effects) and cultural/media studies (qualitative, post-Marxist, radical and lost in simulacra of their own devising). The complexity of interactions between these two disciplines, with the same subject matter but very different ways of thinking about it, is the foundation of the ontological black hole in communication theory. As the disciplines have spread out across universities, professional organizations and publishers, they have been used and abused for ideological, institutional and personal purposes. By the summer of 1983, the split was documented in a special issue of the Journal of Communication titled “Ferment in the Field”. Further, professional courses in journalism, public relations, marketing, advertising and media production have complex relations with both theoretical wings, which need the student numbers and are adept at constructing and defending new boundaries. The 90s saw any number ‘wars’: Journalism vs Cultural Studies, Cultural Studies vs Cultural Policy Studies, Cultural Studies vs Public Relations, Public Relations vs Journalism. More recently, the study of new communication technologies has led to a profusion of nascent, neo-disciplines shadowing, mimicking and reacting with old communication studies: “Internet studies; New media studies; Digital media studies; Digital arts and culture studies; Cyberculture studies; Critical cyberculture studies; Networked culture studies; Informatics; Information science; Information society studies; Contemporary media studies” (Silver & Massanari 1). As this shower of cyberstudies spirals by, it is further warped by the split between the hard science of communication infrastructure in engineering and information technology and what the liberal arts have to offer. The early, heroic attempt to bridge this gap by Claude Shannon and, particularly, Warren Weaver was met with disdain by both sides. Weaver’s philosophical interpretation of Shannon’s mathematics, accommodating the interests of technology and of human communication together, is a useful example of how disparate ideas can connect productively. But how does a communications scholar find such connections? How can we find purchase amongst this avalanche of ideas and agendas? Where can we get the traction to move beyond twentieth century Balkanisation of communications theory to embrace the whole? An answer came to me while watching the Discovery Channel. A documentary on apes showed them leaping from branch to branch, settling on a swaying platform of leaves, eating and preening, then leaping into the void until they make another landing, settling again… until the next leap. They are looking for what is viable and never come to ground. Why are we concerned to ground theory which can only prove its own impossibility while disregarding the certainty of what is viable for now? I carried this uneasy insight for almost five years, until I read Nietzsche on the methods of the pre-Platonic philosophers: “Two wanderers stand in a wild forest brook flowing over rocks; the one leaps across using the stones of the brook, moving to and fro ever further… The other stands there helplessly at each moment. At first he must construct the footing that can support his heavy steps; when this does not work, no god helps him across the brook. Is it only boundless rash flight across great spaces? Is it only greater acceleration? No, it is with flights of fantasy, in continuous leaps from possibility to possibility taken as certainties; an ingenious notion shows them to him, and he conjectures that there are formally demonstrable certainties” (Nietzsche 26). Nietzsche’s advice to take the leap is salutary but theory must be more than jumping from one good idea to the next. What guidance do the practices of communication offer? Considering new forms that have developed since the 1930s, as communication theory went into meltdown, the significance of the jam is unavoidable. While the jam session began as improvised jazz and blues music for practice, fellowship and fun, it quickly became the forum for exploring new kinds of music arising from the deconstruction of the old and experimentation with technical, and ontological, possibilities. The jam arose as a spin-off of the dance music circuit in the 1930s. After the main, professional show was over, small groups would gather together in all-night dives for informal, spontaneous sessions of unrehearsed improvisation, playing for their own pleasure, “in accordance with their own esthetic [sic] standards” (Cameron 177). But the jam is much more than having a go. The improvisation occurs on standard melodies: “Theoretically …certain introductions, cadenzas, clichés and ensemble obbligati assume traditional associations (as) ‘folkways’… that are rarely written down but rather learned from hearing (“head jobs”)” (Cameron 178-9). From this platform of tradition, the artist must “imagine in advance the pattern which unfolds… select a part in the pattern appropriate to the occasion, instrument and personal abilities (then) produce startlingly distinctive sound patterns (that) rationalise the impossible.” The jam is founded on its very impossibility: “the jazz aesthetic is basically a paradox… traditionalism and the radical originality are irreconcilable” (Cameron 181). So how do we escape from this paradox, the same paradox that catches all communication theorists between the demands of the past and the impossibility of the future? “Experimentation is mandatory and formal rules become suspect because they too quickly stereotype and ossify” (Cameron 181). The jam seems to work because it offers the possibility of the impossible made real by the act of communication. This play between the possible and the impossible, the rumbling engine of narrative, is the dynamo of the jam. Theory-jamming seeks to activate just such a dynamo. Rather than having a group of players on their instruments, the communication theorist has access a range of theoretical riffs and moves that can be orchestrated to respond to the question in focus, to latest developments, to contradictions or blank spaces within theoretical terrains. The theory-jammer works to their own standards, turning ideas learned from others (‘head jobs’) into their own distinctive patterns, still reliant on traditional melody, harmony and syncopation but now bent, twisted and reorganised into an entirely new story. The practice of following old pathways to new destinations has a long tradition in the West as eclecticism, a Graeco-Roman, particularly Alexandrian, philosophical tradition from the first century BC to the end of the classical period. Typified by Potamo who “encouraged his pupils instead to learn from a variety of masters”, eclecticism sought the best from each school, “all that teaches righteousness combined, the complete eclectic unity” (Kelley 578). By selecting the best, most reasonable, most useful elements from existing philosophical beliefs, polymaths such as Cicero sought the harmonious solution of particular problems. We see something similar to eclecticism in the East in the practices of ‘wild fox zen’ which teaches liberation from conceptual fixation (Heine). The 20th century’s most interesting eclectic was probably Walter Benjamin whose method owes something to both scientific Marxism and the Jewish Kabbalah. His hero was the rag-picker who had the cunning to create life from refuse and detritus. Benjamin’s greatest work, the unfinished Arcades Project, sought to create history from the same. It is a collection of photos, ephemera and transcriptions from books and newspapers (Benjamin). The particularity of eclecticism may be contrasted with the claim to universality of syncretism, the reconciliation of disparate or opposing beliefs by melding together various schools of thought into a new orthodoxy. Theory-jammers are not looking for a final solution but rather they seek what will work on this problem now, to come to a provisional solution, always aware that other, better, further solutions may be ahead. Elements of the jam are apparent in other contemporary forms of communication. For example bricolage, the practice from art, culture and information systems, involves tinkering elements together by trial and error, in ways not originally planned. Pastiche, from literature to the movies, mimics style while creating a new message. In theatre and TV comedy, improvisation has become a style in itself. Theory-jamming has direct connections with brainstorming, the practice that originated in the advertising industry to generate new ideas and solutions by kicking around possibilities. Against the hyper-administration of modern life, as the disintegration of grand theory immobilises thinkers, theory-jamming provides the means to think new thoughts. As a political activist and communications practitioner in Australia over the last thirty years, I have always been bemused by the human propensity to factionalise. Rather than getting bogged down by positions, I have sought to use administrative structures to explore critical ideas, to marshal critical approaches into administrative apparatus, to weld together critical and administrative formations in ways useful to both sides, bust most importantly, in ways useful to human society and a healthy environment. I've been accused of selling-out by the critical camp and of being unrealistic by the administrative side. My response is that we have much more to learn by listening and adapting than we do by self-satisfied stasis. Five Theses on Theory-Jamming Eclecticism requires Ethnography: the eclectic is the ethnographer loose in their own mind. “The free spirit surveys things, and now for the first time mundane existence appears to it worthy of contemplation…” (Nietzsche 6). Enculturation and Enumeration need each other: qualitative and quantitative research work best when they work off each other. “Beginners learned how to establish parallels, by means of the Game’s symbols, between a piece of classical music and the formula for some law of nature. Experts and Masters of the Game freely wove the initial theme into unlimited combinations.” (Hesse) Ephemera and Esoterica tell us the most: the back-story is the real story as we stumble on the greatest truths as if by accident. “…the mind’s deeper currents often need to be surprised by indirection, sometimes, indeed, by treachery and ruse, as when you steer away from a goal in order to reach it more directly…” (Jameson 71). Experimentation beyond Empiricism: more than testing our sense of our sense data of the world. Communication theory extends from infra-red to ultraviolet, from silent to ultrasonic, from absolute zero to complete heat, from the sub-atomic to the inter-galactic. “That is the true characteristic of the philosophical drive: wonderment at that which lies before everyone.” (Nietzsche 6). Extravagance and Exuberance: don’t stop until you’ve got enough. Theory-jamming opens the possibility for a unified theory of communication that starts, not with a false narrative certainty, but with the gaps in communication: the distance between what we know and what we say, between what we say and what we write, between what we write and what others read back, between what others say and what we hear. References Benjamin, Walter. The Arcades Project. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard UP, 2002. Cameron, W. B. “Sociological Notes on the Jam Session.” Social Forces 33 (Dec. 1954): 177–82. Dervin, B., P. Shields and M. Song. “More than Misunderstanding, Less than War.” Paper at International Communication Association annual meeting, New York City, NY, 2005. 5 Oct. 2006 http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p13530_index.html>. “Ferment in the Field.” Journal of Communication 33.3 (1983). Heine, Steven. “Putting the ‘Fox’ Back in the ‘Wild Fox Koan’: The Intersection of Philosophical and Popular Religious Elements in The Ch’an/Zen Koan Tradition.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 56.2 (Dec. 1996): 257-317. Hesse, Hermann. The Glass Bead Game. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972. Jameson, Fredric. “Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism.” New Left Review 146 (1984): 53-90. Kelley, Donald R. “Eclecticism and the History of Ideas.” Journal of the History of Ideas 62.4 (Oct. 2001): 577-592 Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Pre-Platonic Philosophers. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001. Rogers, E. M. “The Empirical and the Critical Schools of Communication Research.” Communication Yearbook 5 (1982): 125-144. Shannon, C.E., and W. Weaver. The Mathematical Theory of Communication. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1949. Silver, David, Adrienne Massanari. Critical Cyberculture Studies. New York: NYU P, 2006. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Stockwell, Stephen. "Theory-Jamming: Uses of Eclectic Method in an Ontological Spiral." M/C Journal 9.6 (2006). echo date('d M. Y'); ?> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0612/09-stockwell.php>. APA Style Stockwell, S. (Dec. 2006) "Theory-Jamming: Uses of Eclectic Method in an Ontological Spiral," M/C Journal, 9(6). Retrieved echo date('d M. Y'); ?> from <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0612/09-stockwell.php>.

Food is not a trifling matter on Japanese television. More visible than such cultural staples as sumo and enka, food-related talk abounds. Aired year-round and positioned on every channel in every time period throughout the broadcast day, the lenses of food shows are calibrated at a wider angle than heavily-trafficked samurai dramas, beisboru or music shows. Simply, more aspects of everyday life, social history and cultural values pass through food programming. The array of shows work to reproduce traditional Japanese cuisine and cultural mores, educating viewers about regional customs and history. They also teach viewers about the "peculiar" practices of far-away countries. Thus, food shows engage globalisation and assist the integration of outside influences and lifestyles in Japan. However, food-talk is also about nihonjinron -- the uniqueness of Japanese culture1. As such, it tends toward cultural nationalism2. Food-talk is often framed in the context of competition and teaches viewers about planning and aesthetics, imparting class values and a consumption ethic. Food discourse is also inevitably about the reproduction of popular culture. Whether it is Jackie Chan plugging a new movie on a "guess the price" food show or a group of celebs are taking a day-trip to a resort town, food-mediated discourse enables the cultural industry and the national economy to persist -- even expand. To offer a taste of the array of cultural discourse that flows through food, this article serves up an ideal week of Japanese TV programming. Competition for Kisses: Over-Cooked Idols and Half-Baked Sexuality Monday, 10:00 p.m.: SMAP x SMAP SMAP is one of the longest-running, most successful male idol groups in Japan. At least one of their members can be found on TV every day. On this variety show, all five appear. One segment is called "Bistro SMAP" where the leader of the group, Nakai-kun, ushers a (almost always) female guest into his establishment and inquires what she would like to eat. She states her preference and the other four SMAP members (in teams of two) begin preparing the meal. Nakai entertains the guest on a dais overlooking the cooking crews. While the food is being prepared he asks standard questions about the talento's career; "how did you get in this business", "what are your favorite memories", "tell us about your recent work" -- the sort of banal banter that fills many cooking shows. Next, Nakai leads the guest into the kitchen and introduces her to the cooks. Finally, she samples both culinary efforts with the camera catching the reactions of anguish or glee from the opposing team. Each team then tastes the other group's dish. Unlike many food shows, the boys eat without savoring the food. The impression conveyed is that these are everyday boys -- not mega CD-selling pop idols with multiple product endorsements, commercials and television commitments. Finally, the moment of truth arrives: which meal is best. The winners jump for joy, the losers stagger in disappointment. The reason: the winners receive a kiss from the judge (on an agreed-upon innocuous body part). Food as entrée into discourse on sexuality. But, there is more than mere sex in the works, here. For, with each collected kiss, a set of red lips is affixed to the side of the chef's white cap. Conquests. After some months the kisses are tallied and the SMAPster with the most lips wins a prize. Food begets sexuality which begets measures of skill which begets material success. Food is but a prop in managing each idol's image. Putting a Price-tag on Taste (Or: Food as Leveller) Tuesday 8:00 p.m.: Ninki mono de ikou (Let's Go with the Popular People) An idol's image is an essential aspect of this show. The ostensible purpose is to observe five famous people appraising a series of paired items -- each seemingly identical. Which is authentic and which is a bargain-basement copy? One suspects, though, that the deeper aim is to reveal just how unsophisticated, bumbling and downright stupid "talento" can be. Items include guitars, calligraphy, baseball gloves and photographs. During evaluation, the audience is exposed to the history, use and finer points of each object, as well as the guest's decision-making process (via hidden camera). Every week at least one food item is presented: pasta, cat food, seaweed, steak. During wine week contestants smelled, tasted, swirled and regarded the brew's hue. One compared the sound each glass made, while another poured the wines on a napkin to inspect patterns of dispersion! Guests' reasoning and behaviors are monitored from a control booth by two very opinionated hosts. One effect of the recurrent criticism is a levelling -- stars are no more (and often much less) competent (and sacrosanct) than the audience. Technique, Preparation and Procedure? Old Values Give Way to New Wednesday 9:00: Tonerus no nama de daradara ikasette (Tunnels' Allow Us to Go Aimlessly, as We Are) This is one of two prime time shows featuring the comedy team "Tunnels"3. In this show both members of the duo engage in challenging themselves, one another and select members of their regular "team" to master a craft. Last year it was ballet and flamenco dance. This month: karate, soccer and cooking. Ishibashi Takaaki (or "Taka-san") and his new foil (a ne'er-do-well former Yomiuri Giants baseball player) Sadaoka Hiyoshi, are being taught by a master chef. The emphasis is on technique and process: learning theki (the aura, the essence) of cooking. After taking copious notes both men are left on their own to prepare a meal, then present it to a young femaletalento, who selects her favorite. In one segment, the men learned how to prepare croquette -- striving to master the proper procedure for flouring, egg-beating, breading, heating oil, frying and draining. In the most recent episode, Taka prepared his shortcake to perfection, impressing even the sensei. Sadaoka, who is slow on the uptake and tends to be lax, took poor notes and clearly botched his effort. Nonetheless, the talento chose Sadaoka's version because it was different. Certain he was going to win, Taka fell into profound shock. For years a popular host of youth-oriented shows, he concluded: "I guess I just don't understand today's young people". In Japanese television, just as in life, it seems there is no accounting for taste. More, whatever taste once was, it certainly has changed. "We Japanese": Messages of Distinctiveness (Or: Old Values NEVER Die) Thursday, 9:00 p.m.: Douchi no ryori shiou: (Which One? Cooking Show) By contrast, on this night viewers are served procedure, craft and the eternal order of things. Above all, validation of Japanese culinary instincts and traditions. Like many Japanese cooking showsDouchi involves competition between rival foods to win the hearts of a panel of seven singers, actors, writers and athletes.Douchi's difference is that two hosts front for rival dishes, seeking to sway the panel during the in-studio preparation. The dishes are prepared by chefs fromTsuji ryori kyoshitsu, a major cooking academy in Osaka, and are generally comparable (for instance, beef curry versus beef stew). On the surface Douchi is a standard infotainment show. Video tours of places and ingredients associated with the dish entertain the audience and assist in making the guests' decisions more agonising. Two seating areas are situated in front of each chef and panellists are given a number of opportunities to switch sides. Much playful bantering, impassioned appeals and mock intimidation transpire throughout the show. It is not uncommon for the show to pit a foreign against a domestic dish; and most often the indigenous food prevails. For, despite the recent "internationalisation" of Japanese society, many Japanese have little changed from the "we-stick-with-what-we-know-best" attitude that is a Japanese hallmark. Ironically, this message came across most clearly in a recent show pitting spaghetti and meat balls against tarako supagetei (spicy fish eggs and flaked seaweed over Italian noodles) -- a Japanese favorite. One guest, former American, now current Japanese Grand Sumo Champion, Akebono, insisted from the outset that he preferred the Italian version because "it's what my momma always cooked for me". Similarly the three Japanese who settled on tarako did so without so much as a sample or qualm. "Nothing could taste better than tarako" one pronounced even before beginning. A clear message in Douchi is that Japanese food is distinct, special, irreplaceable and (if you're not opposed by a 200 kilogram giant) unbeatable. Society as War: Reifying the Strong and Powerful Friday, 11:00 p.m.: Ryori no tetsujin. (The Ironmen of Cooking) Like sumo this show throws the weak into the ring with the strong for the amusement of the audience. The weak in this case being an outsider who runs his own restaurant. Usually the challengers are Japanese or else operate in Japan, though occasionally they come from overseas (Canada, America, France, Italy). Almost without exception they are men. The "ironmen" are four famous Japanese chefs who specialise in a particular cuisine (Japanese, Chinese, French and Italian). The contest has very strict rules. The challenger can choose which chef he will battle. Both are provided with fully-equipped kitchens positioned on a sprawling sound stage. They must prepare a full-course meal for four celebrity judges within a set time frame. Only prior to the start are they informed of which one key ingredient must be used in every course. It could be crab, onion, radish, pears -- just about any food imaginable. The contestants must finish within the time limit and satisfy the judges in terms of planning, creativity, composition, aesthetics and taste. In the event of a tie, a one course playoff results. The show is played like a sports contest, with a reporter and cameras wading into the trenches, conducting interviews and play-by-play commentary. Jump-cut editing quickens the pace of the show and the running clock adds a dimension of suspense and excitement. Consistent with one message encoded in Japanese history, it is very hard to defeat the big power. Although the ironmen are not weekly winners, their consistency in defeating challengers works to perpetuate the deep-seated cultural myth4. Food Makes the Man Saturday 12:00: Merenge no kimochi (Feelings like Meringue) Relative to the full-scale carnage of Friday night, Saturdays are positively quiescent. Two shows -- one at noon, the other at 11:30 p.m. -- employ food as medium through which intimate glimpses of an idol's life are gleaned.Merenge's title makes no bones about its purpose: it unabashedly promises fluff. In likening mood to food -- and particularly in the day-trip depicted here -- we are reminded of the Puffy's famous ditty about eating crab: "taking the car out for a spin with a caramel spirit ... let's go eat crab!"Merengue treats food as a state of mind, a many-pronged road to inner peace. To keep it fluffy,Merenge is hosted by three attractive women whose job it is to act frivolous and idly chat with idols. The show's centrepiece is a segment where the male guest introduces his favorite (or most cookable) recipe. In-between cutting, beating, grating, simmering, ladling, baking and serving, the audience is entertained and their idol's true inner character is revealed. Continuity Editing Running throughout the day, every day, on all (but the two public) stations, is advertising. Ads are often used as a device to heighten tension or underscore the food show's major themes, for it is always just before the denouement (a judge's decision, the delivery of a story's punch-line or a final tally) that an ad interrupts. Ads, however, are not necessarily departures from the world of food, as a large proportion of them are devoted to edibles. In this way, they underscore food's intimate relationship to economy -- a point that certain cooking shows make with their tie-in goods for sale or maps to, menus of and prices for the featured restaurants. While a considerable amount of primary ad discourse is centred on food (alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, coffees, sodas, instant or packaged items), it is ersatz food (vitamin-enriched waters, energy drinks, sugarless gums and food supplements) which has recently come to dominate ad space. Embedded in this commercial discourse are deeper social themes such as health, diet, body, sexuality and even death5. Underscoring the larger point: in Japan, if it is television you are tuned into, food-mediated discourse is inescapable. Food for Conclusion The question remains: "why food?" What is it that qualifies food as a suitable source and medium for filtering the raw material of popular culture? For one, food is something that all Japanese share in common. It is an essential part of daily life. Beyond that, though, the legacy of the not-so-distant past -- embedded in the consciousness of nearly a third of the population -- is food shortages giving rise to overwhelming abundance. Within less than a generation's time Japanese have been transported from famine (when roasted potatoes were considered a meal and chocolate was an unimaginable luxury) to excess (where McDonald's is a common daily meal, scores of canned drink options can be found on every street corner, and yesterday's leftover 7-Eleven bentos are tossed). Because of food's history, its place in Japanese folklore, its ubiquity, its easy availability, and its penetration into many aspects of everyday life, TV's food-talk is of interest to almost all viewers. Moreover, because it is a part of the structure of every viewer's life, it serves as a fathomable conduit for all manner of other talk. To invoke information theory, there is very little noise on the channel when food is involved6. For this reason food is a convenient vehicle for information transmission on Japanese television. Food serves as a comfortable podium from which to educate, entertain, assist social reproduction and further cultural production. Footnotes 1. For an excellent treatment of this ethic, see P.N. Dale, The Myth of Japanese Uniqueness. London: Routledge, 1986. 2. A predilection I have discerned in other Japanese media, such as commercials. See my "The Color of Difference: Critiquing Cultural Convergence via Television Advertising", Interdisciplinary Information Sciences 5.1 (March 1999): 15-36. 3. The other, also a cooking show which we won't cover here, appears on Thursdays and is called Tunnerusu no minasan no okage deshita. ("Tunnels' Because of Everyone"). It involves two guests -- a male and female -- whose job it is to guess which of 4 prepared dishes includes one item that the other guest absolutely detests. There is more than a bit of sadism in this show as, in-between casual conversation, the guest is forced to continually eat something that turns his or her stomach -- all the while smiling and pretending s/he loves it. In many ways this suits the Japanese cultural value of gaman, of bearing up under intolerable conditions. 4. After 300-plus airings, the tetsujin show is just now being put to bed for good. It closes with the four iron men pairing off and doing battle against one another. Although Chinese food won out over Japanese in the semi-final, the larger message -- that four Japanese cooks will do battle to determine the true iron chef -- goes a certain way toward reifying the notion of "we Japanese" supported in so many other cooking shows. 5. An analysis of such secondary discourse can be found in my "The Commercialized Body: A Comparative Study of Culture and Values". Interdisciplinary Information Sciences 2.2 (September 1996): 199-215. 6. The concept is derived from C. Shannon and W. Weaver, The Mathematical Theory of Communication. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1949. Citation reference for this article MLA style: Todd Holden. "'And Now for the Main (Dis)course...': Or, Food as Entrée in Contemporary Japanese Television." M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2.7 (1999). [your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9910/entree.php>. Chicago style: Todd Holden, "'And Now for the Main (Dis)course...': Or, Food as Entrée in Contemporary Japanese Television," M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2, no. 7 (1999), <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9910/entree.php> ([your date of access]). APA style: Todd Holden. (1999) "And now for the main (dis)course...": or, food as entrée in contemporary Japanese television. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2(7). <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9910/entree.php> ([your date of access]).