title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: "A Star Is Born" premiered at the Mann Village Theater on December 18, 1976, and was theatrically released by Warner Bros. on December 19, 1976. The film became a huge box office success, grossing $80 million on a $6 million budget in North America, becoming the 2nd highest-grossing film of 1976. However, it received mixed reviews, with praise for its performances and musical score, but criticism of the screenplay, lack of originality, and the runtime. It received four nominations at the 49th Academy Awards; Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Sound, and winning Best Original Song for its love theme "Evergreen".


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: John Norman Howard, a famous and self-destructive singer/songwriter rock star, arrives late for a concert. He is drunk, sings a couple of songs, and walks off stage. John's driver takes him to a bar where Esther Hoffman is singing. One of John's fans finds him there and starts a fight. Esther grabs John and helps him escape out a back door.


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: They go to Esther's, but she invites him to come back for breakfast. Over breakfast (pepperoni pizza), she agrees to go to a concert with him. After arriving by helicopter, John rides a motorbike around the stage, snags a cable and crashes off the front of the stage. John is taken away by ambulance and his entourage leave in the helicopter; forgetting Esther.


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: Afterwards, John is resting at home by his pool. A radio DJ, Bebe Jesus, hovers over the pool in a helicopter and invites John to his studio. John gets angry and shoots at the helicopter. Bebe Jesus then threatens to never play John's songs. Later, John goes to the radio station with a case of whiskey to make peace with Bebe Jesus. The disc jockey does not accept John's apology and calls John an alcoholic over the air. Esther happens to be at the radio station at the same time, taping a commercial. John takes Esther to his mansion and writes her name on the wall with a can of spray paint. There, they make love, have a bubble bath together, and he listens to her playing his piano. She thinks no one would be able to sing to the tune she has written, but he makes up some lyrics and starts singing.


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: At his next concert, John gets Esther on stage to sing. Although the audience boos when she starts to sing, she wins them over. Later, she tells John she wants them to get married. John replies that he's no good for her, but she persists, and they marry. John takes Esther to a plot of land he has out west where they build a simple house. She wants a tour co-starring with him, but he thinks she should do the tour on her own. Esther's career takes off, eclipsing his.


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: John returns to the studio thinking of restarting his career. He's told by Bobbie that the band has gone on without him and have renamed themselves. To save face, John asks Bobbie to tell them that he's found some new artists to work with and wishes them luck.


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: At home alone, John begins to write a new song. As he sings, he is constantly interrupted by the telephone. Someone asks for Esther and wants to know whether he is her secretary. When Esther returns home, she wants to find out how it went with the band and John tells her it didn't work out. He changes the subject to find out about Esther's day and goes through the messages he's taken for her, one of which is that she's up for a Grammy Award.


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: At the Grammy Awards, Esther wins for best female performance. While she is giving her acceptance speech, John arrives late and drunk and makes a scene. Later, Esther tries to talk Brian into giving John a last chance. John is writing songs again but in a different way. Brian calls on John and likes the new songs, but suggests John release some of his old hits along with the new songs. However, John wants to go with the new work only, so he turns down the offer.


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: Back at his LA mansion, John finds Quentin, a magazine writer, swimming half-naked in his swimming pool. She says she would do anything to get an exclusive interview. Initially he thinks it's with him, but she confirms it's an interview with Esther that she wants. When Esther arrives soon after, she finds them in bed together. Quentin tries to interview Esther, but John tells Quentin to get out. Esther and John fight with another, him telling her “I love you” and she “I hate you”, until Esther confesses that she does love him. They return to their small home out west, where they have been happiest.


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: One day, John wakes early and tells Esther he's going to pick up Brian from the airport. Esther asks him to hurry back. John leaves the house with a beer in hand and drives off in his flashy sports car. He leaves playing his track “Watch Closely Now” but gets bored and puts on one of Esther's songs. He continues to drink his beer, while driving too fast and recklessly.


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: In the next scene, a police dispatch is discussing an accident. The shell of a red sports car is on its side. A helicopter lands at the scene and Esther and Brian run out towards John, whose dead body is covered by a blanket. Esther asks for another blanket and cleans his face. She lies down on John and while crying she asks him what is she supposed to do without him. He is taken away in an ambulance.


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: Back at the LA mansion, Esther hears John's voice calling out for someone to answer the telephone. But she discovers it's just a tape of the old songwriting session during which the telephone had interrupted his singing. She cries on the step in the now empty house, saying that he was a liar and he wasn't supposed to leave her.


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: The final scene is what seems to be a memorial concert for John. Esther walks out and is introduced as Esther Hoffman-Howard. The audience raises candles as a tribute to her late husband. She sings the song John wrote for her “With One More Look at You” and then ends with his famous track, “Watch Closely Now”, done in her own style. At the last beat of the song, Esther spreads her arms wide and looks up to the heavens.


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: Directed by Frank Pierson, the film updates the original story and screenplay of William A. Wellman and Robert Carson with additional contributions by Pierson, John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion. It also features Gary Busey and Sally Kirkland. Venetta Fields and Clydie King perform as Streisand's backing vocalists "The Oreos". Kristofferson's then-wife Rita Coolidge and Tony Orlando appear briefly as themselves.


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: The earlier films had portrayed the behind-the-scenes world of Hollywood filmmaking. However, this version adapted the story to the music business. For example, the 1937 and 1954 films each portrayed the lead female character winning an Academy Award, while the 1976 and 2018 versions depicted the heroine winning a Grammy Award instead.


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: "A Star Is Born" was co-produced by Streisand and her then-partner Jon Peters for Barwood Films and Warner Brothers, with Peters and Streisand as producers and Streisand as executive producer. Among actors considered for the male lead were Neil Diamond and Marlon Brando. Streisand and Peters wanted Elvis Presley for the role: they met with Elvis and discussed the film, and he was interested in taking the part, thinking it would revive his film career. Elvis' manager, Colonel Tom Parker, insisted Elvis have top billing and asked for a substantial sum of money for the role, even though he had not had an acting role since 1969, and people were unsure what kind of box office draw he would be. This effectively ended Elvis's involvement with the project. Parker also did not want to have Elvis portrayed as having a show business career in decline because this was far from the truth, with Elvis playing to packed auditoriums wherever he toured in the States. Diamond, who knew Streisand and had attended high school with her at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, was also seriously considered but had to decline due to his extensive concert commitments, and Kristofferson got the part of John Norman Howard.


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: Kristofferson denied modelling his character on Jim Morrison: "That's a good idea but it's not true. I don't think I ever met Morrison. A lot of people said we looked alike – shirts off, beards – but that washed-up rock star was more about me."


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: The film cost around $6 million to produce. Its soundtrack album was also an international success, reaching number 1 in many countries and selling nearly 15 million copies worldwide. It featured the ballad "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)", which became one of the biggest hits of Streisand's career, spending three weeks at number one in the United States, and peaking at number three in the United Kingdom.


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: The filming locations included many in Arizona such as downtown Tucson, Tucson Community Center, Sonoita and Tempe, including Sun Devil Stadium. Streisand's wardrobe was selected from her own personal clothing. The film credit reads: "Miss Streisand's clothes from... her closet". The film was choreographed by David Winters of "West Side Story" fame, who worked closely with Streisand to perfect the movie's dancing sequences.


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: The film entered general release in the United States on December 19, 1976. It grossed $80 million at the U.S. box office, making it the 2nd highest grossing picture of 1976.


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film received an approval rating of 35% based on 40 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The site's consensus states; "A lack of memorable music, chemistry between its leads, and an overlong runtime prompts this modish iteration of A Star is Born to fizzle out quickly." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100 based on 8 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: Roger Ebert gave the film two and a half stars out of four, writing in his review, "There is, to begin with, no denying Barbra Streisand's enormous talent. At the end of 'A Star Is Born' the camera stays on her for one unbroken shot of seven or eight minutes, and she sings her heart out, and we concede that she's one of the great stars of the movies, one of the elemental presences...I thought Miss Streisand was distractingly miscast in the role, and yet I forgave her everything when she sang." Gene Siskel also gave the film two and a half stars, calling it "a lumbering love story made palatable by Streisand's superb singing." "Variety" was positive, calling Streisand's performance "her finest screen work to date, while Kris Kristofferson's portrayal of her failing benefactor realizes all the promise first shown five years ago in 'Cisco Pike.' Jon Peters' production is outstanding, and Frank Pierson's direction is brilliant." Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" called it "a transistorized remake, louder than ever, but very small in terms of its being about anything whatsoever." He also noted that Kristofferson "walks through the film looking very bored." Charles Champlin of the "Los Angeles Times" wrote, "The treatment of Streisand is so ceaselessly close up and reverential from the start that there really seems nowhere to go but further up, and little of the mutuality of need that is essential to a love, or a love story ... A half-hour in, I wrote 'a star is boring' in my notes, and was not later persuaded I'd been wrong." Gary Arnold of "The Washington Post" suggested that the film "should be retitled 'A Star is Embalmed" or "A Star is Entombed' or simply 'A Star is Lost' ... One loses sight of the ostensible dramatic tragedy, because the real tragedy appears to be Streisand's misuse of her talent." Geoff Brown of "The Monthly Film Bulletin" faulted the film for "Streisand's failure to convince as a rock star, even when singing the docile brand of rock supplied here. Luckily, Kris Kristofferson makes a far better impression. His eyes have the proper faraway look that betokens a mind besotted either with booze or love, and he drifts toward his destiny with none of James Mason's fireworks but with a great deal of quiet charm."


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: In "Mad (magazine)" issue #193 dated September '77, the movie was parodied in their "Rock of Aged Dept." as "A Star's a Bomb." (https://www.comics.org/issue/93993/)


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: In the 1937 and 1954 versions, Janet Gaynor and Judy Garland were each depicted on screen as winning an Academy Award, yet neither won for their film in real life (though Gaynor and Streisand had won Oscars before, and Garland had won an Academy Juvenile Award). In this film, Barbra Streisand is instead depicted as winning a Grammy Award (in real life, the film's song "Evergreen" won her both a Grammy Award for Song of the Year and an Academy Award for Best Original Song).


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: According to at least one Streisand biography, unhappy with a few of Frank Pierson's scenes, Streisand later directed them herself (a claim also made for 1979's "The Main Event"), adding to the rumors that she and Pierson clashed constantly during production.


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: "A Star Is Born" was the second remake of the original 1937 drama, the prior being the 1954 musical starring Judy Garland and James Mason. The story was also adapted as the 2013 Bollywood film "Aashiqui 2". Bradley Cooper later starred, directed, co-wrote, and co-produced a 2018 retelling, with Lady Gaga co-starring and composing new music for the film. All four of the official "A Star is Born" movies have been nominated for at least four Academy Awards. In August 2021, while promoting her upcoming album, Streisand suggested that the 2018 film was unoriginal and the “wrong idea” despite her version also being a remake and despite her clear and apparent support & praise of the project both during production and after theatrical release.


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: In 2006, the Region 1 DVD was released in North America in Dolby Digital 5.1 sound with various extras, including a full-length commentary by Barbra Streisand, 16 minutes of never-before-seen and additional footage, and the original wardrobe test. In 2007, the Region 2 DVD with the same extras was released in Germany. In 2008, the Region 4 DVD was released in Australia, the content of which appears to be the same as the Region 1 edition. The DVD has yet to be released in any other region.


title: A Star Is Born (1976 film)

text: Warner Bros. released the film worldwide on the Blu-ray format on February 6, 2013. The DVD and Blu-ray reissues were released as manufacture-on-demand titles on May 14, 2019 by Warner Archive Collection who also reissued the DVD and Blu-ray formats for the 1954 adaption that day.


title: Borderlands 3

text: Borderlands 3 is an action role-playing first-person shooter video game developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K. It is a sequel to 2012's "Borderlands 2", and the fourth entry in the main "Borderlands" series. "Borderlands 3" was released on 13 September 2019 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, and released for macOS on 30 October 2019. A Stadia port was released on 17 December 2019. Versions for the Xbox Series X and Series S and PlayStation 5 including free upgrades for users on the prior console versions were released on 10 and 12 November 2020, respectively.


title: Borderlands 3

text: Players complete quests and side missions, in single-player or multiplayer, as one of four classes. When killed, enemies may drop weapons and gear which can be equipped. New abilities are unlocked as the player gains experience. The plot is centered on four new Vault Hunters recruited by the Crimson Raiders of Pandora to stop twins Troy and Tyreen Calypso and their insane cult followers from harnessing the power of the alien Vaults spread across the galaxy.


title: Borderlands 3

text: Upon release, "Borderlands 3" received generally favorable reviews with praise directed to its gameplay, though some criticized the lack of innovation, technical issues, and writing. The initial sales of the game were the highest of the "Borderlands" series: more than five million copies were sold in five days.


title: Borderlands 3

text: "Borderlands 3" is a first-person loot shooter. Players, either playing alone or in parties of up to four people, make a character from one of the four classes available, and take on various missions given out by non-playable characters (NPCs) and at bounty boards to gain experience, in-game monetary rewards, and reward items. Players can also gain these items by defeating enemies throughout the game. As the player gains level, they gain skill points to allocate across a skill tree. The game introduces four new playable characters: Amara, a "Siren" who summons ethereal fists; Moze, a young "Gunner" who rides the mecha Iron Bear; Zane, an "Operative" with a variety of gadgets; and FL4K, a robot "Beastmaster" who summons creatures to aid in fights. Unlike previous "Borderlands" games, where each character had only one unique skill that operates on a cooldown, each character in the new game can unlock three unique skills, though only one (or in Zane's case, two) can be equipped at a time, greatly expanding the number of potential character builds a player can make.


title: Borderlands 3

text: "Borderlands 3" shares the same core loop with previous games around taking on missions, defeating enemies, and obtaining loot from fallen foes or special chests, most often in the form of procedurally generated weapons to vary in damage, range, ammo capacity, and other special perks, giving the game "over one billion guns". Perks can include elemental effects, such as damaging the foes with fire, ice, or electricity, or may possess alternative firing behavior, among other visual differences. In "Borderlands 2", some weapons had "slag" elemental, which coated the enemy for a short period and made them extremely vulnerable to a subsequent elemental attack from a different element. Slag weapons have been replaced with radiation; the coating and subsequent vulnerability remains the same as slag, but radiation damage will also hurt enemies over time on its own and can potentially spread to other enemies. The in-game manufacture of the guns also plays a larger role in the type of perks a weapon can have. Tediore guns can be thrown when empty and create additional effects, Atlas have tracking bullets to hunt down enemies in cover, and Hyperion can have shields that absorb damage and use that for other purposes such as healing as well as having a reverse recoil mechanic. Other randomly-generated items include class modifiers, grenade modifiers, shield kits and relics. When playing with others, "Borderlands 3"s loot can be generated on a per-server basis, meaning that players must split the loot, but new to the series, players can also have loot generated on a per-player basis so that each player gains the same loot, scaled for their character level. This option also exists for the enemies seen in-game; by default enemies only scale with the player-character's level that is operating the server, but when enabled, each player sees enemies that match their individual levels.


title: Borderlands 3

text: Besides character skills and weapons, player-characters have new combat maneuvers and abilities, such as crouch-sliding influenced by the mechanic in "Titanfall" and "Apex Legends", and wall-mounting to climb up over short heights. Players and their enemies can take cover behind short barriers which can be destroyed after continued weapon onslaught.


title: Borderlands 3

text: While the game starts on the planet Pandora, the player early on gains access to a spacecraft, "Sanctuary III", which serves as a central hub between missions, and is used to set destinations for new planets where possible Vaults have been identified. While aboard "Sanctuary III", players can manage their inventory, recover guns they had left on the field, redo their skill tree, purchase new guns and upgrades, and take on optional missions. "Borderlands 3" has integration with Twitch streams; viewers can explore the streamer's inventory and skill tree, and special chests in game will offer the opportunity for viewers to receive the same gun/item that the stream finds via way of a Shift Code they can enter into their own game, scaled appropriately for their character's level.


title: Borderlands 3

text: Gearbox creative director Paul Sage estimated that players will spend about 35 hours through the main quest line along with some side missions. True Vault Hunter Mode, a type of New Game Plus, allows players to replay the campaign after finishing it with their leveled-up character, fighting more difficult enemies for a chance of better loot. The Badass Rank system from "Borderlands 2" will be replaced with a Guardian Rank system, which, by finishing smaller challenges throughout the game, allows players to gain buffs that persist across all their characters. "Borderlands 3" will include new post-game challenges. "Circles of Slaughter" found on various planets have players attempt to fight through difficult waves of enemies for higher quality of loot. While downed players can be revived by teammates, if all player-characters die, the match is over and any potential rewards are lost. "Proving Grounds" are a type of raid that must be first discovered by finding hidden markings across the game's worlds. Once discovered, players attempt to defeat all enemies across three areas within 30 minutes to complete the challenge and earn their rewards. A further "Mayhem Mode" randomizes several of the game's campaign elements to further increase the challenge to the player.


title: Borderlands 3

text: As part of the "Borderlands" series, "Borderlands 3" is centered on the planet Pandora, which has been long-rumored to contain Vaults holding vast amounts of treasure and technology, left behind by a mysterious alien civilization known as the Eridians. In decades prior, several corporations have laid siege to Pandora to try to find the Vaults, but the constant conflict and bloodshed has left the planet and its population ravaged and crazed. However, there are still those independently searching for the Vaults, known as Vault Hunters (the player characters).


title: Borderlands 3

text: "Borderlands 3" takes place seven years after the events of "Borderlands 2" and "Tales from the Borderlands". In "Borderlands 2", it was discovered that numerous other Vaults exist on other planets in the galaxy. In the power vacuum left by the defeat of Handsome Jack, twin siblings Troy and Tyreen Calypso form the Children of the Vault (COV), a violent cult of personality formed from the remnants of the planet's many bandit factions, to gain possession of the other Vaults, specifically one called 'the Great Vault'. Lilith, a member of a race of women with alien powers called 'Sirens' and current leader of the Crimson Raiders, a resistance force created to protect Pandora, recruits new Vault Hunters to help stop the Calypsos.


title: Borderlands 3

text: Several characters from past "Borderlands" games make a return. Previously playable Vault Hunters Lilith, Claptrap, Zer0, Maya, Brick, and Mordecai appear as NPCs. Aurelia, Sir Hammerlock's sister and one of the playable Vault Hunters in "", also appears as a boss. Returning NPCs include gun salesman Marcus Kincaid, explosives expert Tiny Tina (now going by just Tina), entrepreneur Miss Mad Moxxi and her mechanic daughter Ellie, cyborg hunter Sir Alistair Hammerlock, archaeologist Patricia Tannis, weapons manufacturer Mr. Torgue, and isolating Eridium trader Crazy Earl. Rhys Strongfork, one of the two playable protagonists in "Tales from the Borderlands", and his best friend Vaughn also appear. Playable Vault Hunters from previous titles, including Timothy Lawrence from "The Pre-Sequel" and Gaige, Krieg, Axton, and Salvador from "Borderlands 2", are featured as NPCs in the game's DLC campaigns and modes.


title: Borderlands 3

text: Answering a recruiting call from the Crimson Raiders, a team of Vault Hunters (Amara, Moze, Zane, and FL4K) arrive on Pandora and meet Lilith, who orders them to recover a lost Vault map, which the Children of the Vault (COV) have recently obtained. The Vault Hunters find the map, which directs them to the city-planet of Promethea, the location of the first discovered Vault and the Atlas corporation's headquarters. However, before they can depart, they are ambushed by Tyreen and Troy, who reveal they are both Sirens from being conjoined at birth and that Troy needs Tyreen's powers to survive. Tyreen steals Lilith's powers with her life-draining abilities, then takes the map and leaves for Promethea with Troy.


title: Borderlands 3

text: The Vault Hunters and Crimson Raiders take the "Sanctuary III" ship to Promethea. On arrival, they find the planet under attack by the Maliwan corporation and COV forces, as Maliwan's CEO, Katagawa Jr., has joined forces with the Calypso Twins on a hostile takeover attempt on Atlas, now owned by Rhys. The Vault Hunters help Rhys stall the attack, after which he directs them to the planet Athenas where the Promethean Vault Key is kept. On Athenas, the Vault Hunters help Maya and her apprentice Ava recover the Key, learning it is only one-third of the artifact. Maya and Ava join the Crimson Raiders. The Vault Hunters return to Promethea, disable Maliwan's orbital laser cannon powered by the second part of the Key, and kill Katawaga Jr. Rhys gives them the last part of the Key and the Vault's location. Inside it, the Vault Hunters defeat the Rampager, an alien beast held within it. The Calypso Twins arrive, and Tyreen absorbs the Rampager's power, revealing their plan to absorb the power of the Vault monsters on their way to the Great Vault. Ava attempts to fight them but is overpowered. Maya intervenes to save her, but Troy kills her by draining her life force and powers.


title: Borderlands 3

text: The Vault Hunters and Crimson Raiders head to the next Vault on the swamp planet of Eden-6, owned by the Jakobs family, where the COV are also invading. Wainwright Jakobs, heir to the Jakobs corporation, agrees to help the Vault Hunters obtain the Eden Vault Key if they rescue his lover Alastair Hammerlock. The Vault Hunters find Hammerlock, who reveals he was betrayed by his sister Aurelia, who has sided with the Calypso Twins and seized the Jakobs corporation in exchange for handing them the Vault Key. The Vault Hunters gather the three pieces of the Eden-6 Vault Key and kill Aurelia. They open the Vault and defeat its monster, the Graveward. Patricia Tannis then drains the Graveward's energy before Tyreen can absorb it. Enraged, the Calypsos kidnap Tannis and take her back to Pandora to publicly execute her.


title: Borderlands 3

text: The Vault Hunters and Crimson Raiders return to Pandora to rescue Tannis. During the rescue, Tannis reveals that she also has Siren powers inherited from Angel after her death, a fact both she and Lilith kept a secret. Tannis warns that the Calypso Twins are preparing to open the Great Vault and drain the energy of the monster within it. The Vault Hunters assault the COV's main headquarters, but are too late to prevent Troy from activating the Vault's Key, which is the entire moon of Elpis. The Vault Hunters fight and kill Troy, resulting in Ava inheriting the Siren powers he had stolen from Maya. However, the Great Vault starts opening and Tyreen absorbs Troy's energy before escaping. The Vault Hunters are contacted by Typhon DeLeon, the first Vault Hunter, who warns them that the Great Vault contains an interdimensional monster called the Destroyer, which can consume the entire universe. He summons the Vault Hunters to the lost Eridian homeworld, Nekrotafeyo.


title: Borderlands 3

text: At Nekrotafeyo, Typhon explains that the Great Vault isn't simply located on Pandora, but is actually the entire planet itself. The Eridians created it to act as a prison and sacrificed their entire civilization to capture the Destroyer, but left behind the machine they used in case the Destroyer escaped. As they gather the four Vault Keys needed to power the device, Tyreen reveals that Typhon is her and Troy's father. Typhon admits that he had tried to keep the twins with him on Nekrotafeyo to protect them, but they saw it as a prison, becoming bitter and power-hungry. Tyreen disables the machine before it can be used and mortally wounds Typhon before fleeing to Pandora.


title: Borderlands 3

text: The Vault Hunters reach Tyreen just as she merges with the Destroyer. They defeat her, and Lilith regains her Siren powers. However, Elpis still threatens to destroy Pandora as it continues to open the Great Vault. Lilith sacrifices herself to shut down Elpis, leaving a flaming Firehawk sign branded on the moon. During the credits, scenes depict the Vault Hunters, the Crimson Raiders, and their allies honoring and memorializing Lilith and everyone looking at the Firehawk sigil on Elpis.


title: Borderlands 3

text: "Borderlands 3" was developed jointly by Gearbox's Texas and Quebec studios. Gearbox had finished "Borderlands" and its sequel consecutively, leaving the studio somewhat burned out on the franchise. To try to do something different, Gearbox shifted work into "Battleborn" with the blessing of 2K Games, as a means of refreshing themselves. "Battleborn" was not a major success, but Gearbox was not disheartened on this. According to art director Scott Kester, while developing "Battleborn", they gained several ideas for how to take the next "Borderlands" game, and many of the team, as soon as "Battleborn" was complete, started building out these ideas for "Borderlands 3".


title: Borderlands 3

text: Gearbox Quebec undertook developing "Borderlands 3" as their first assignment, and said that they were doing so without compulsory overtime ("crunch"). The game was announced with a trailer at PAX East on 28 March 2019. The trailer received mixed reviews by video game websites, some of which characterized it as too similar in appearance and content to previous entries in the series such as "Borderlands 2".


title: Borderlands 3

text: To help bridge the gap between "Borderlands 2" and "Tales from the Borderlands" to "Borderlands 3", Gearbox released new DLC for "Borderlands 2", "Commander Lilith & the Fight for Sanctuary", in June 2019, making it free for a limited time to current owners of "Borderlands 2".


title: Borderlands 3

text: Several voice actors reprised their roles, including Ashly Burch as Tiny Tina, and Chris Hardwick as Vaughn from "Tales from the Borderlands". The recasting of other voice actors caused some controversy. Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford quarreled on Twitter with the voice actors Troy Baker (Rhys) and David Eddings (Claptrap) about the reasons for which both were not retained to voice their former character again. Eddings said that he had been bullied and physically assaulted by his former boss Pitchford. According to Baker, Gearbox had refused to want to deal with members from the voice actor's union, SAG-AFTRA. Baker and Eddings were replaced by Ray Chase as Rhys and Jim Foronda as Claptrap. Ice-T voices a character called Balex, an artificial intelligence trapped in the body of a teddy bear. Penn & Teller provide their likeness for the characters Pain & Terror, with Penn Jillette also providing his voice work for the Pain character. The Heavy recorded an original song for the game titled "Put It On The Line".


title: Borderlands 3

text: In June 2019, Gearbox invited Trevor Eastman, a series fan with terminal cancer, to play a preview build of the game. They let him name a weapon, the "Trevonator", that appears in the game. In August 2019, 2K Games and its parent company Take-Two Interactive sent private investigators to the home of a YouTuber, SupMatto. Take-Two said that he had let users access, for a fee, non-public gameplay videos of "Borderlands 3", which he denied. 2K called its actions necessary to protect its trade secrets. In response, calls for a boycott of the game began trending on Twitter.


title: Borderlands 3

text: Powered by Unreal Engine 4, the game was released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows on 13 September 2019. While the game did not feature cross-platform play at launch, Gearbox is looking to add this feature in after launch. Four different versions of the game were released, with various add-ons, at different price points, including physical bonuses.


title: Borderlands 3

text: The game's release was preceded by a limited-time crossover event in the tenth season of Epic Games' "Fortnite Battle Royale" and "Fortnite Creative". Players can explore a part of the planet Pandora on a small part of the Battle Royale mode's main map, as well as purchase the character Psycho with Claptrap as a backwear.


title: Borderlands 3

text: The Windows release of "Borderlands 3" was exclusive to the Epic Games Store for six months, with the Steam release in March 2020. Documents unveiled during the "Epic Games v. Apple" trial revealed that Epic had paid to 2K for this exclusivity. Fan dissatisfaction with this exclusivity arrangement led to a review bombing of the "Borderlands" games on Steam. Valve, the operators of Steam, used their new processes to combat review bombing for the first time to suppress the negative reviews on the "Borderlands" games as a result.


title: Borderlands 3

text: Gearbox announced plans to bring the game to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series S consoles. The game will have free updates with all DLC already purchased for users on the prior respect console to be available on the launch day for both consoles (12 November 2020 for the PlayStation 5 and 10 November 2020 for the Xbox Series X/S). In addition to updates with these versions, the game will be updated to support two or four-player local split-screen multiplayer, and will add in additional skill trees for the four main characters. There are also plans to add cross-platform play between the different platforms in the future.


title: Borderlands 3

text: Gearbox planned to release additional content through paid downloadable content for "Borderlands 3", though does not plan to add any additional playable characters.


title: Borderlands 3

text: The first content pack, "Moxxi's Heist of the Handsome Jackpot", was released on 19 December 2019 for all platforms. The content features the players helping Moxxi take back a casino that Handsome Jack stole from her prior to his death. The second content pack, "Guns, Love and Tentacles: The Marriage of Wainwright & Hammerlock" was released on 26 March 2020, which is a Lovecraftian-themed DLC and focuses on the characters Wainwright Jakobs and Sir Hammerlock, who are planning their wedding in the cult-controlled planet Xylourgos. The third content pack, "Bounty of Blood" was released on 25 June 2020 and is a Western-inspired DLC that also incorporates Japanese aesthetics. The fourth content pack, "Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck", featuring the return of the character Krieg from "Borderlands 2", was released on 10 September 2020. These four content packs were available as the game's first season pass available from the game's release.


title: Borderlands 3

text: In April 2020, Gearbox added "Borderlands Science", a tile-matching mini-game that was developed in conjunction with McGill University, Massively Multiplayer Online Science, and The Microsetta Initiative. The game is designed to present puzzles formulated from DNA sequences from the medical studies from research into the human gut microbiome. If a player is able to achieve a minimum score for a given level, then this indicates they have found a possible match that can be flagged to researchers for further study, since not all sequences will necessarily have such a possible match. Players are rewarded with special in-game skins and limited-time loot boosters for completing these puzzles.


title: Borderlands 3

text: A second season pass was announced for the game's second year to be available 10 November 2020. The new pass includes two new content packs, titled "Designer's Cut" and "Director's Cut". "Designer's Cut" includes a new skill tree for each of the game's characters, and features a new game mode titled "Arms Race", which is Borderlands' own take on the battle royale genre. "Director's Cut" introduces small story missions and features a raid boss encounter, in addition to a new menu section that lets players view concept arts and behind-the-scenes videos.


title: Borderlands 3

text: Additionally, Gearbox has the ability to hot-fix in patches and other updates to the game, allowing them to offer limited-time events. One of the first such events was a ten-year anniversary event for the "Borderlands" series, which had launched in October 2009. Within "Borderlands 3", several week-long events offering better loot drops and unique challenges were made available during October 2019. On 24 October 2019, Borderlands 3 enabled its first Halloween-themed seasonal event, "Bloody Harvest", which ran until 5 December 2019. "Maliwan Takedown", a free content update, was added to the game permanently on 22 November 2019, adding a new end-game challenge for players featuring new enemies and raid bosses. On 23 April 2020, the second seasonal event, "Revenge of the Cartels", was added to the game, which lasted until 4 June 2020.


title: Borderlands 3

text: In October 2020, Gearbox announced next generation console support for the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 platforms to come via a free update. This was planned to commence day-and-date on release of the new consoles respectively on 10 November for Xbox and 12 November for PlayStation. This support promises to fully optimize and take advantage of their processing power. Alongside vertical two-player split screen, "Xbox Series X and PS5 will display "Borderlands 3" at up to 60 FPS in 4K resolution during single-player and online co-op, and the next-gen consoles will support three-and-four-player splitscreen for local multiplayer".


title: Borderlands 3

text: During November 2020 post-patch, it was discovered that "Borderlands 3" can run at up to 60 FPS in native 4K on the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X if the resolution mode is enabled, but can also get up to 120 FPS if run in performance mode.


title: Borderlands 3

text: A June 2021 update introduced cross-platform play across all supported platforms excluding the PlayStation systems, despite plans to support this. Gearbox said this was at the request of their publisher 2K. However, by April 2022, Gearbox affirmed that they will reintroduce crossplay with PlayStation support within a few months.


title: Borderlands 3

text: The PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and the PC version of "Borderlands 3" received "generally favorable reviews", while the PlayStation 5 version received “universal acclaim”, according to review aggregator Metacritic.


title: Borderlands 3

text: "GameSpot" gave "Borderlands 3" a positive review, noting its preservation of the franchise's hallmarks (including weapon variety, a "personable" cast, and "juvenile humor and ludicrous jokes"), refinements to the skill system and player movement, and that its storyline "satisfyingly wraps up the arcs of characters that fans have been following for 10 years". However, it was felt that the flow of "Borderlands 3" was still disrupted by the franchise's reliance on boss fights with little strategy and "bullet sponge" enemies. In conclusion, it was argued that "if you've never been a fan of the franchise, it's unlikely "Borderlands 3" does enough things differently to change your mind, as the game best excels at continuing what the series has always done: deliver a humorous tall tale of misfits looting and shooting their way to heroism".


title: Borderlands 3

text: "PC Gamer" felt that "Borderlands 3" was "the best and worst of the series all at once", acknowledging refinements to gameplay and its signature visual style, but that enemies were still "too dumb and erratic and spongy to force tactical play", and that while the different planets provided variety over the "muted deserts" of Pandora, they were often "an excuse to roll out an old character only for them to disappear or fade into the background as soon as they say hello, shoot some folks, and crack a few one-liners in sidequests that do little to reveal anything about them or test them in any way." It was also felt that the game's endgame options were "shallow" at-launch, and that its overall writing was not as good as the "pitch perfect" "Tales from the Borderlands", and "[read] like teenage lunch table improv circa ""."


title: Borderlands 3

text: During launch, a number of Windows players experienced technical performance issues with the game, while console players found lower-than-expected frame rates, both of which Gearbox is investigating.


title: Borderlands 3

text: According to publisher 2K, "Borderlands 3" shipped more than five million copies in five days from release. In addition, the sales for the MS Windows version in this time were the highest for any 2K title to date, and more than 70% of all purchases were made through digital distribution. With these sales, the total "Borderlands" franchise has made more than in revenue. The game had sold more than 8 million copies by the end of 2019, according to Take-Two. In May 2022, Take-Two revealed sales number over 15 million copies.


title: Trigun

text: Set on the fictional planet known as No Man's Land, the plot follows Vash the Stampede, a famous gunman who is constantly fighting bounty hunters seeking to obtain the immense bounty on his head. As the narrative progresses, Vash's past is explored. "Trigun" originated from Nightow's fascination with Western movies. Nightow wanted Vash to be different from cowboys in Western movies by avoiding killing enemies and instead exploring the characters involved in each story arc.


title: Trigun

text: "Trigun" was adapted into a twenty-six episode anime television series by Madhouse; it aired on TV Tokyo from April to September 1998. An anime feature film, "", premiered in Japan in April 2010.


title: Trigun

text: In North America, both manga series have been licensed by Dark Horse Comics. The anime series was first licensed by Geneon Entertainment and started broadcast in the United States, as part of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block, in 2003; the series was later licensed by Funimation.


title: Trigun

text: Critical response to the manga has been generally positive based on Vash and his friends' actions and relationships, as well as the handling of action scenes. However, critics disliked Vash's predicament in regards to his pacifism repeated and the plot being hard to understand. The anime was similarly positively received.


title: Trigun

text: A new anime television series adaptation by Orange, titled "Trigun Stampede", is set to premiere in January 2023.


title: Trigun

text: In the 32nd century, a man known as "Vash the Stampede" has earned a bounty of $$60 billion ("double dollar") on his head and the nickname after accidentally destroying a city with his supernatural powers. However, whenever he is attacked, Vash displays a pacifist personality as noted by two Bernardelli Insurance Society employees, Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson, who follow him around in order to minimize the damages inevitably caused by his appearance. Most of the damage attributed to Vash is actually caused by bounty hunters in pursuit of the sixty billion double-dollar bounty on Vash's head for the destruction of the city of July. However, he cannot remember the incident due to retrograde amnesia, being able to recall only fragments of the destroyed city and memories of his childhood. Throughout his travels, Vash tries to save lives using non-lethal force. He is occasionally joined by a priest, Nicholas D. Wolfwood, who, like Vash, is a superb gunfighter with a mysterious past. As the series progresses, more about Vash's past and the history of human civilization on the planet Gunsmoke is revealed.


title: Trigun

text: Vash and his twin brother Knives were originally two children with a slow aging process found in a spaceship that escaped from the planet Earth after mankind had exhausted all its resources. Rem raised them but Knives became nihilistic and had most of the people in the ship disposed of. As a result, Vash lives to find his twin and have revenge. Vash is targeted by Legato Bluesummers from the Gung-ho Guns assassins who are followers of Knives. Wolfwood himself is a Gung-Ho Gun but was hired to make sure Vash does not die and instead suffer. Vash and Knives both possess the Angel Arm, which Knives forced Vash to use in the series' beginning to destroy the town.


title: Trigun

text: Vash eventually fights Knives but is defeated. Wolfwood betrays Knives and saves Vash. In the aftermath, Wolfwood dies fighting one of the Gung-Hos; his friend, Livio, joins Vash's cause while grieving for his friend's death. As Knives approaches the city with the "Ark", a floating ship designed to leave humans without any resources and end life on the planet. Knives begins dueling with Vash. Throughout his past battles that required him to use the Angel's Arm, Vash has transformed into a regular human signified by his blond hair now turned black. Knives also starts losing the powers he stored with the Ark through Vash's actions. Vash then saves his brother from the vengeful ships from Earth. Following his defeat, Knives uses his last powers to help his weakened brother by creating a small fruit tree to feed him. After his brother's death, Vash continues his travels on the planet with Meryl and Milly.


title: Trigun

text: After leaving college, Yasuhiro Nightow had gone to work selling apartments for the housing corporation Sekisui House, but struggled to keep up with his manga drawing hobby. Reassured by some successes, including a serialized manga based on the popular video game franchise "Samurai Spirits" for "Family Computer Magazine", he quit his job to draw full-time.


title: Trigun

text: The series was conceptualized as a mix between Western and science fiction as Nightow found it not seen in Japan by the time he started writing "Trigun". To contrast Vash from the typical heroes in action films, Nightow portrayed him as a pacifist since he did not want his lead character to be a murderer. Throughout the story, Vash avoids killing enemies by disarming them and avoids inflicting mortal wounds during combat. His cheerful personality was used to highlight this trait with his catchphrase being: "Hey, sorry. Love and peace?" Other elements of the manga were based on real life. Wolfwood's name was taken from the lead singer as his image for the priest. He is also modeled on Tortoise Matsumoto from the band Ulfuls. In order to create "warm" environments, Nightow drew several eating scenes.


title: Trigun

text: In the making of the manga, Nightow attempts to draw the fight scenes carefully as he has "all these images running through my head of characters moving this way and that, and contorting into all sort sorts of amazing action poses, but thinking about it and putting it to paper are always two different things". In regards to the narrative, Nightow uses a "logical and intuitive manner" as his "modus operandi" in order to make readers being capable of following it.


title: Trigun

text: While Vash is the manga's protagonist, anime director Satoshi Nishimura used Meryl Stryfe as the main character. In the anime, she searches for the Humanoid Typhoon and initially does not believe it is Vash due to his childish behavior. To create suspense, writer Yōsuke Kuroda suggested that Vash would not shoot a bullet until the fifth episode, which causes Meryl to realize he is the famous gunman.


title: Trigun

text: first published a one-shot of "Trigun" in Tokuma Shoten's "shōnen" manga magazine "" in February 1995; it began its regular serialization in the same magazine two months later in April. "Monthly Shōnen Captain" ceased publication in January 1997, and the series was put on hiatus. Tokuma Shoten collected the "Trigun" chapters in three "tankōbon" volumes, released from April 25, 1996, to January 20, 1999; Shōnen Gahōsha republished the "Trigun" chapters in two volumes, released on June 2, 2000.


title: Trigun

text: When Nightow was approached by Shōnen Gahōsha's "seinen" manga magazine "Young King OURs", they were interested in him beginning a new work. Nightow, however, was troubled by the idea of leaving "Trigun" incomplete, and requested to be allowed to finish the series. The manga resumed its publication in the magazine, under the title , in October 1997. Nightow said that there was no difference in the story between the two titles, and that the only reason for the change was because of the switch of publishing house. "Trigun Maximum" finished in March 2007. Shōnen Gahōsha collected its chapters in fourteen "tankōbon" volumes, released from May 23, 1998, to February 27, 2008.


title: Trigun

text: In North America, the manga was licensed by Dark Horse Comics, who announced its publication in June 2003; they released the two volumes of "Trigun", based on the Shōnen Gahosha's edition, on October 15, 2003, and January 7, 2004. In March 2004, Dark Horse Comics announced that they would also publish "Trigun Maximum"; the fourteen volumes were released from May 26, 2004, to April 8, 2009. In September 2012, "Dark Horse Comics" announced that they would release the series in an omnibus edition; "Trigun" was released in a single volume on October 9, 2013; "Trigun Maximum" was released in five volumes from November 21, 2012, to November 5, 2014.


title: Trigun

text: An anthology manga titled "Trigun: Multiple Bullets", featuring short stories written by several manga artists such as Boichi, Masakazu Ishiguru, Satoshi Mizukami, Ark Performance, Yusuke Takeyama, Yuga Takauchi, and Akira Sagami, was released by Shōnen Gahosha in Japan on December 28, 2011. The volume was released by Dark Horse Comics on March 6, 2013.


title: Trigun

text: "Trigun" was adapted into an anime television series. It was animated by Madhouse and directed by Satoshi Nishimura, written by Yōsuke Kuroda, and produced by Shigeru Kitayama. The music was composed by Tsuneo Imahori. Twenty-six episodes aired on TV Tokyo from April 1 to September 30, 1998. The episodes were collected in thirteen VHS cassettes, labeled as "Stages", from August 5, 1998, to August 4, 1999.


title: Trigun

text: In North America, the series was first licensed by Pioneer Entertainment (later Geneon USA) in 1999. Eight DVDs were released from March 28, 2000, to May 29, 2001. A box set containing all the episodes was released on November 20, 2001. The series premiered on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block on March 31, 2003. The series also premiered in Canada on G4techTV's Anime Current programming block in 2007. In the same year, Geneon announced that they would cease their in-house distribution, In 2008, Funimation announced that they signed a deal with Geneon to distribute "select" titles from the company; in 2010, they announced that they had licensed "Trigun" for a DVD and Blu-ray Disc home video release, and launched it on October 26, 2010. Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the series will move over to Crunchyroll.


title: Trigun

text: In June 2022, a new anime adaptation by Orange, titled "Trigun Stampede", was announced. It will be directed by Kenji Mutō, with Tatsurō Inamoto, Shin Okashima, and Yoshihisa Ueda writing the screenplay, Kōji Tajima serving as concept designer and credited with the character concept, and Nao Ootsu serving as chief designer. Kōdai Watanabe, Tetsurō Moronuki, Takahiko Abiru, Akiko Satō, Soji Ninomiya, and Yumihiko Amano are designing the characters, and Tatsuya Kato is composing the music. The series is set to premiere on January 7, 2023, on TV Tokyo and other networks. The opening theme song is "Tombi" by Kvi Baba, while the ending theme song is by singer Salyu and composer Haruka Nakamura.


title: Trigun

text: Crunchyroll has licensed it for a global release, excluding Asia, but including the Philippines, Singapore, India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.


title: Trigun

text: A "Trigun" film was originally announced in February 2008 to be released in 2009. The film titled "Trigun: Badlands Rumble" opened in theaters in Japan on April 24, 2010, and was first shown to an American audience at the Sakura-Con 2010 in Seattle, Washington on, April 2, 2010.


title: Trigun

text: At Anime Expo 2010, Funimation announced that they had licensed the film as they had with the TV series and planned to release it into theaters. The film made its US television premiere on Saturday, December 28, 2013, on Adult Swim's Toonami block.


title: Trigun

text: The anime series is frequently listed as one of the best anime series; in 2001, "Wizard's Anime" Magazine listed "Trigun" as the 38th best series on their "Top 50 Anime released in North America", and in 2010 "The Los Angeles Times" journalist Charles Solomon placed the series as the seventh best anime on his "Top 10". In 2009, "Trigun Maximum" won the Best Comic Seiun Award at the 48th Japan Science Fiction Convention. The success of the animated series increased the popularity of the original manga source material with the US release's first volume run of 35,000 sold out shortly after release. The second volume concluded the original series early the next year, and went on to be the top earning manga release of 2004.


title: Trigun

text: Critical response to the manga has been positive. "Manga Life" enjoyed the setting, comparing it to the American Midwest in the 1800s. They called the lead's characterization "fantastic" based on the personality he displays when facing enemies as he refuses to murder anybody. Anime News Network compared the series to "Rurouni Kenshin", based on both's pacifist messages to the audience and how challenging is this message explored in a similar fashion to comic book hero Batman. He also praised the fight scenes' handling as well as villains' designs. The clash between him and his antagonist was also praised for his execution and artwork. However, "Mania Entertainment" said some events that happened to Vash might come across as repetitive because his pacifism keeps backfiring and no proper solution has yet been given. As Vash's philosophy was tested in the finale, "Fandom Post" praised the consequences of his actions. While Vash and Knives' was popular, to the point "Mania" referred to their final fight as "the stuff of legend." On the other hand, the book "" provided criticism to some parts of the narrative, finding it difficult to follow but still enjoyable. The artwork was also praised in the character designs with Wolfwood being called as one of the most stylish manga and anime characters.


title: Trigun

text: In regards to the anime adaptation, Theron Martin of Anime News Network gave the anime adaptation a B+ praising the writing stating, "The series never wallows in the clichés inherent to this format simply because the surprisingly high quality of its writing never allows that to happen." However he continued to criticize the visuals stating, "Character rendering regularly looks more like rough drafts than refined final products, with the artists often struggling just to stay on model." Mike Toole of Anime News Network named "Trigun" as one of the most important anime of the 1990s.


title: Trigun

text: Escapist Magazine columnist H.D. Russell reviewed the anime adaptation of the series in early 2016, as part of the "Good Old Anime Review" section focusing on popular anime of the 1990s to early 2000s. Though, noting the series hasn't aged well in terms of animation and English voice acting quality, Russell states the depth of the characters and moral themes of the series more than compensate for its faults. Russell concluded his review giving "Trigun" a rank of four out of a five stars stating, ""Trigun" is very often overshadowed by its close cousin "Cowboy Bebop", which is sad, because it truly is a delight to watch. Despite having only decent voice acting (with a few exceptions), average music, and relatively static visuals, "Trigun" is an absolute blast that had me laughing and thinking the whole way. While it's not perfect, it is fun and it does ask the questions that will make viewers ponder for years to come without ever offering them an answer. "Trigun" is one that went straight from my backlog to my heart and is truly greater than the sum of its parts." Despite its relative popularity in the West, "Trigun" never gained widespread appeal to Japanese audiences. Suggested factors include the "old west" setting, European style character names and a lack of Japanese cultural elements. This would make "Trigun" one of the rare examples of an anime that is far more successful in the West than it was within its country of origin. The show failed to garner a large audience in Japan during its original showing in 1998, but gained a substantial fan base following its United States premiere on Adult Swim in 2003.


title: Canine parvovirus

text: Canine parvovirus (also referred to as CPV, CPV2, or parvo) is a contagious virus mainly affecting dogs. CPV is highly contagious and is spread from dog to dog by direct or indirect contact with their feces. Vaccines can prevent this infection, but mortality can reach 91% in untreated cases. Treatment often involves veterinary hospitalization. Canine parvovirus often infects other mammals including foxes, wolves, cats, and skunks. Felines (cats) are also susceptible to panleukopenia, a different strain of parvovirus.


title: Canine parvovirus

text: Dogs that develop the disease show signs of the illness within three to ten days. The signs may include lethargy, vomiting, fever, and diarrhea (usually bloody). Generally, the first sign of CPV is lethargy. Secondary signs are loss of weight and appetite or diarrhea followed by vomiting. Diarrhea and vomiting result in dehydration that upsets the electrolyte balance and this may affect the dog critically. Secondary infections occur as a result of the weakened immune system. Because the normal intestinal lining is also compromised, blood and protein leak into the intestines, leading to anemia and loss of protein, and endotoxins escape into the bloodstream, causing endotoxemia. Dogs have a distinctive odor in the later stages of the infection. The white blood cell level falls, further weakening the dog. Any or all of these factors can lead to shock and death. Younger animals have worse survival rates.


title: Canine parvovirus

text: Diagnosis is made through detection of CPV2 in the feces by either an ELISA or a hemagglutination test, or by electron microscopy. PCR has become available to diagnose CPV2, and can be used later in the disease when potentially less virus is being shed in the feces that may not be detectable by ELISA. Clinically, the intestinal form of the infection can sometimes be confused with coronavirus or other forms of enteritis. Parvovirus, however, is more serious and the presence of bloody diarrhea, a low white blood cell count, and necrosis of the intestinal lining also point more towards parvovirus, especially in an unvaccinated dog. The cardiac form is typically easier to diagnose because the symptoms are distinct.


title: Canine parvovirus

text: Survival rate depends on how quickly CPV is diagnosed, the age of the dog, and how aggressive the treatment is. There is no approved treatment, and the current standard of care is supportive care, involving extensive hospitalization, due to severe dehydration and potential damage to the intestines and bone marrow. A CPV test should be given as early as possible if CPV is suspected in order to begin early treatment and increase survival rate if the disease is found.


title: Canine parvovirus

text: Supportive care ideally also consists of crystalloid IV fluids and/or colloids (e.g., Hetastarch), antinausea injections (antiemetics) such as maropitant, metoclopramide, dolasetron, ondansetron and prochlorperazine, and broad-spectrum antibiotic injections such as cefazolin/enrofloxacin, ampicillin/enrofloxacin, metronidazole, timentin, or enrofloxacin. IV fluids are administered and antinausea and antibiotic injections are given subcutaneously, intramuscularly, or intravenously. The fluids are typically a mix of a sterile, balanced electrolyte solution, with an appropriate amount of B-complex vitamins, dextrose, and potassium chloride. Analgesic medications can be used to counteract the intestinal discomfort caused by frequent bouts of diarrhea; however, the use of opioid analgesics can result in secondary ileus and decreased motility.


title: Canine parvovirus

text: In addition to fluids given to achieve adequate rehydration, each time the puppy vomits or has diarrhea in a significant quantity, an equal amount of fluid is administered intravenously. The fluid requirements of a patient are determined by the animal's body weight, weight changes over time, degree of dehydration at presentation, and surface area.


title: Canine parvovirus

text: A blood plasma transfusion from a donor dog that has already survived CPV is sometimes used to provide passive immunity to the sick dog. Some veterinarians keep these dogs on site, or have frozen serum available. There have been no controlled studies regarding this treatment. Additionally, fresh frozen plasma and human albumin transfusions can help replace the extreme protein losses seen in severe cases and help assure adequate tissue healing. However, this is controversial with the availability of safer colloids such as Hetastarch, as it will also increase the colloid osmotic pressure without the ill effect of predisposing that canine patient to future transfusion reaction.


title: Canine parvovirus

text: Once the dog can keep fluids down, the IV fluids are gradually discontinued, and very bland food slowly introduced. Oral antibiotics are administered for a number of days depending on the white blood cell count and the patient's ability to fight off secondary infection. A puppy with minimal symptoms can recover in two or three days if the IV fluids are begun as soon as symptoms are noticed and the CPV test confirms the diagnosis. If more severe, depending on treatment, puppies can remain ill from five days up to two weeks. However, even with hospitalization, there is no guarantee that the dog will be cured and survive.


title: Canine parvovirus

text: Kindred Biosciences, a biopharmaceutical company, is developing a monoclonal antibody as a prophylactic therapy to prevent clinical signs of parvovirus infection and also as treatment of established parvovirus infection. Completion of an upcoming pivotal efficacy study for the therapeutic indication is expected in the first quarter of 2021.


title: Canine parvovirus

text: Preliminary research in kidney cell lines have identified nitazoxanide, closantel sodium, and closantel as drugs which have the most potential as broad-spectrum antiviral agents against canine parvovirus and it’s various subspecies, raising the prospect these drugs may yield potential for future treatments of this disease.


title: Canine parvovirus

text: Parvovirus CPV2 is a relatively new disease that appeared in the late 1970s. It was first recognized in 1978 and spread worldwide in one to two years. The virus is very similar to feline panleukopenia (also a parvovirus); they are 98% identical, differing only in two amino acids in the viral capsid protein VP2. It is also highly similar to mink enteritis virus (MEV), and the parvoviruses of raccoons and foxes. It is possible that CPV2 is a mutant of an unidentified parvovirus (similar to feline parvovirus (FPV)) of some wild carnivore. CPV2 was thought to only cause diseases in canines, but newer evidence suggest pathogenicity in cats too.


title: Canine parvovirus

text: There are two types of canine parvovirus called canine minute virus (CPV1) and CPV2. CPV2 causes the most serious disease and affects domesticated dogs and wild canids. There are variants of CPV2 called CPV-2a and CPV-2b, identified in 1979 and 1984 respectively. Most of canine parvovirus infection are believed to be caused by these two strains, which have replaced the original strain, and the present day virus is different from the one originally discovered, although they are indistinguishable by most routine tests. An additional variant is CPV-2c, a Glu-426 mutant, and was discovered in Italy, Vietnam, and Spain. The antigenic patterns of 2a and 2b are quite similar to the original CPV2. Variant 2c however has a unique pattern of antigenicity. This has led to claims of ineffective vaccination of dogs, but studies have shown that the existing CPV vaccines based on CPV-2b provide adequate levels of protection against CPV-2c. A strain of CPV-2b (strain FP84) has been shown to cause disease in a small percentage of domestic cats, although vaccination for FPV seems to be protective. With severe disease, dogs can die within 48 to 72 hours without treatment by fluids. In the more common, less severe form, mortality is about 10 percent. Certain breeds, such as Rottweilers, Doberman Pinschers, and Pit bull terriers as well as other black and tan colored dogs may be more susceptible to CPV2. Along with age and breed, factors such as a stressful environment, concurrent infections with bacteria, parasites, and canine coronavirus increase a dog's risk of severe infection. Dogs infected with parvovirus usually die from the dehydration it causes or secondary infection rather than the virus itself.


title: Canine parvovirus

text: The variants of CPV-2 are defined by surface protein (VP capsid) features. This classification does not correlate well with phylogenies built from other parts of the viral genome, such as the NS1 protein.


title: Canine parvovirus

text: Dogs become infected through oral contact with CPV2 in feces, infected soil, or fomites that carry the virus. Following ingestion, the virus replicates in the lymphoid tissue in the throat, and then spreads to the bloodstream. From there, the virus attacks rapidly dividing cells, notably those in the lymph nodes, intestinal crypts, and the bone marrow. There is depletion of lymphocytes in lymph nodes and necrosis and destruction of the intestinal crypts. Anaerobic bacteria that normally reside in the intestines can then cross into the bloodstream, a process known as translocation, with bacteremia leading to sepsis. The most common bacteria involved in severe cases are "Clostridium", "Campylobacter" and "Salmonella" species. This can lead to a syndrome known as systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). SIRS leads to a range of complications such as hypercoagulability of the blood, endotoxaemia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Bacterial myocarditis has also been reported secondarily to sepsis. Dogs with CPV are at risk of intussusception, a condition where part of the intestine prolapses into another part. Three to four days following infection, the virus is shed in the feces for up to three weeks, and the dog may remain an asymptomatic carrier and shed the virus periodically. The virus is usually more deadly if the host is concurrently infested with worms or other intestinal parasites.


title: Canine parvovirus

text: This form is less common and affects puppies infected in the uterus or shortly after birth until about 8 weeks of age. The virus attacks the heart muscle and the puppy often dies suddenly or after a brief period of breathing difficulty due to pulmonary edema. On the microscopic level, there are many points of necrosis of the heart muscle that are associated with mononuclear cellular infiltration. The formation of excess fibrous tissue (fibrosis) is often evident in surviving dogs. Myofibers are the site of viral replication within cells. The disease may or may not be accompanied with the signs and symptoms of the intestinal form. However, this form is now rarely seen due to widespread vaccination of breeding dogs.


title: Canine parvovirus

text: Even less frequently, the disease may also lead to a generalized infection in neonates and cause lesions and viral replication and attack in other tissues other than the gastrointestinal tissues and heart, but also brain, liver, lungs, kidneys, and adrenal cortex. The lining of the blood vessels are also severely affected, which lead the lesions in this region to hemorrhage.


title: Canine parvovirus

text: This type of infection can occur when a pregnant female dog is infected with CPV2. The adult may develop immunity with little or no clinical signs of disease. The virus may have already crossed the placenta to infect the fetus. This can lead to several abnormalities. In mild to moderate cases the pups can be born with neurological abnormalities such as cerebellar hypoplasia.


title: Canine parvovirus

text: CPV2 is a non-enveloped single-stranded DNA virus in the "Parvoviridae" family. The name comes from the Latin "parvus", meaning small, as the virus is only 20 to 26 nm in diameter. It has an icosahedral symmetry. The genome is about 5000 nucleotides long. CPV2 continues to evolve, and the success of new strains seems to depend on extending the range of hosts affected and improved binding to its receptor, the canine transferrin receptor. CPV2 has a high rate of evolution, possibly due to a rate of nucleotide substitution that is more like RNA viruses such as Influenzavirus A. In contrast, FPV seems to evolve only through random genetic drift.


title: Canine parvovirus

text: CPV2 affects dogs, wolves, foxes, and other canids. CPV2a and CPV2b have been isolated from a small percentage of symptomatic cats and is more common than feline panleukopenia in big cats.


title: Canine parvovirus

text: Previously it has been thought that the virus does not undergo cross species infection. However studies in Vietnam have shown that CPV2 can undergo minor antigenic shift and natural mutation to infect felids. Analyses of feline parvovirus (FPV) isolates in Vietnam and Taiwan revealed that more than 80% of the isolates were of the canine parvovirus type, rather than feline panleukopenia virus (FPLV). CPV2 may spread to cats easier than dogs and undergo faster rates of mutation within that species.


title: Canine parvovirus

text: Prevention is the only way to ensure that a puppy or dog remains healthy because the disease is extremely virulent and contagious. Appropriate vaccination should be performed starting at 7–8 weeks of age, with a booster given every 3–4 weeks until at least 16 weeks of age. Pregnant mothers should not be vaccinated as it will abort the puppies and could make the mother extremely sick. The virus is extremely hardy and has been found to survive in feces and other organic material such as soil for up to 1 year. It survives in extremely low and high temperatures. The only household disinfectant that kills the virus is bleach. The dilute bleach solution needs to be in a 1:30 ratio to disinfect and kill parvovirus.


title: Canine parvovirus

text: Puppies are generally vaccinated in a series of doses, extending from the earliest time that the immunity derived from the mother wears off until after that passive immunity is definitely gone. Older puppies (16 weeks or older) are given 3 vaccinations 3 to 4 weeks apart. The duration of immunity of vaccines for CPV2 has been tested for all major vaccine manufacturers in the United States and has been found to be at least three years after the initial puppy series and a booster 1 year later.


title: Canine parvovirus

text: A dog that successfully recovers from CPV2 generally remains contagious for up to three weeks, but it is possible they may remain contagious for up to six. Ongoing infection risk is primarily from fecal contamination of the environment due to the virus's ability to survive many months in the environment. Neighbours and family members with dogs should be notified of infected animals so that they can ensure that their dogs are vaccinated or tested for immunity. A modified live vaccine may confer protection in 3 to 5 days; the contagious individual should remain in quarantine until other animals are protected.


title: ISO 9000

text: The ISO 9000 family is a set of five quality management systems (QMS) standards that help organizations ensure they meet customer and other stakeholder needs within statutory and regulatory requirements related to a product or service. ISO 9000 deals with the fundamentals of QMS, including the seven quality management principles that underlie the family of standards. ISO 9001 deals with the requirements that organizations wishing to meet the standard must fulfill. ISO 9002 is a model for quality assurance in production and installation. ISO 9003 for quality assurance in final inspection and test. ISO 9004 gives guidance on achieving sustained organizational success.


title: ISO 9000

text: Third-party certification bodies provide independent confirmation that organizations meet the requirements of ISO 9001. Over one million organizations worldwide are independently certified, making ISO 9001 one of the most widely used management tools in the world today. However, the ISO certification process has been criticized as being wasteful and not being useful for all organizations.


title: ISO 9000

text: ISO 9000 was first published in 1987 by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). It was based on the BS 5750 series of standards from BSI that were proposed to ISO in 1979. However, its history can be traced back some twenty years before that, to the publication of government procurement standards, such as the United States Department of Defense MIL-Q-9858 standard in 1959, and the United Kingdom's Def Stan 05-21 and 05–24. Large organizations that supplied government procurement agencies often had to comply with a variety of quality assurance requirements for each contract awarded, which led the defense industry to adopt mutual recognition of NATO AQAP, MIL-Q, and Def Stan standards. Eventually, industries adopted ISO 9000 instead of forcing contractors to adopt multiple—and often similar—requirements.


title: ISO 9000

text: The global adoption of ISO 9001 may be attributable to a number of factors. In the early days, the ISO 9001 (9002 and 9003) requirements were intended to be used by procuring organizations, such as contractors and design activities, as the basis of contractual arrangements with their suppliers. This helped reduce the need for subcontract supplier quality development by establishing basic requirements for a supplier to assure product quality. The ISO 9001 requirements could be tailored to meet specific contractual situations, depending on the complexity of the product, business type (design responsibility, manufacture only, distribution, servicing etc.) and risk to the procurer. If a chosen supplier was weak on the controls of their measurement equipment (calibration), and hence QC/inspection results, that specific requirement would be invoked in the contract. The adoption of a single quality assurance requirement also leads to cost savings throughout the supply chain by reducing the administrative burden of maintaining multiple sets of quality manuals and procedures.


title: ISO 9000

text: A few years later, the UK Government took steps to improve national competitiveness following the publication of cmd 8621, and Third-Party Certification of Quality Management Systems was born, under the auspices of the National Accreditation Council of Certification Bodies (NACCB), which has become the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).


title: ISO 9000

text: In addition to many stakeholders' benefits, a number of studies have identified significant financial benefits for organizations certified to ISO 9001, with an ISO analysis of 42 studies showing that implementing the standard does enhance financial performance. Corbett "et al." showed that certified organizations achieved a superior return on assets compared to otherwise similar organizations without certification.


title: ISO 9000

text: Heras "et al." found similarly superior performance and demonstrated that this was statistically significant and not a function of organization size. Naveha and Marcus claimed that implementing ISO 9001 led to superior operational performance in the U.S. automotive industry. Sharma identified similar improvements in operating performance and linked this to superior financial performance. Chow-Chua "et al." showed better overall financial performance was achieved for companies in Denmark. Rajan and Tamimi (2003) showed that ISO 9001 certification resulted in superior stock market performance and suggested that shareholders were richly rewarded for the investment in an ISO 9001 system.


title: ISO 9000

text: While the connection between superior financial performance and ISO 9001 may be seen from the examples cited, there remains no proof of direct causation, though longitudinal studies, such as those of Corbett "et al." (2005), may suggest it. Other writers, such as Heras "et al." (2002), have suggested that while there is some evidence of this, the improvement is partly driven by the fact that there is a tendency for better-performing companies to seek ISO 9001 certification.


title: ISO 9000

text: The mechanism for improving results has also been the subject of much research. Lo "et al." (2007) identified operational improvements (e.g., cycle time reduction, inventory reductions) as following from certification. Internal process improvements in organizations lead to externally observable improvements. The benefit of increased international trade and domestic market share, in addition to the internal benefits such as customer satisfaction, interdepartmental communications, work processes, and customer/supplier partnerships derived, far exceeds any and all initial investment.


title: ISO 9000

text: ISO 9001:2015 Quality management systems — Requirements is a document of approximately 30 pages available from the national standards organization in each country. Only ISO 9001 is directly audited against for third-party assessment purposes.


title: ISO 9000

text: Essentially, the layout of the standard is similar to the previous ISO 9001:2008 standard in that it follows the Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle in a process-based approach but is now further encouraging this to have risk-based thinking (section 0.3.3 of the introduction). The purpose of the quality objectives is to determine the conformity of the requirements (customers and organizations), facilitate effective deployment, and improve the quality management system.


title: ISO 9000

text: Before the certification body can issue or renew a certificate, the auditor must be satisfied that the company being assessed has implemented the requirements of sections 4 to 10. Sections 1 to 3 are not directly audited against, but because they provide context and definitions for the rest of the standard, not that of the organization, their contents must be taken into account.


title: ISO 9000

text: The standard no longer specifies that the organization shall issue and maintain documented procedures, but ISO 9001:2015 requires the organization to document any other procedures required for its effective operation. The standard also requires the organization to issue and communicate a documented quality policy, a quality management system scope, and quality objectives. The standard no longer requires compliant organizations to issue a formal Quality Manual. The standard does require the retention of numerous records, as specified throughout the standard. New for the 2015 release is a requirement for an organization to assess risks and opportunities (section 6.1) and to determine internal and external issues relevant to its purpose and strategic direction (section 4.1). The organization must demonstrate how the standard's requirements are being met, while the external auditor's role is to determine the quality management system's effectiveness. More detailed interpretation and implementation examples are often sought by organizations seeking more information in what can be a very technical area.


title: ISO 9000

text: The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) does not certify organizations themselves. Numerous certification bodies exist, which audit organizations and upon success, issue ISO 9001 compliance certificates. Although commonly referred to as "ISO 9000" certification, the actual standard to which an organization's quality management system can be certified is ISO 9001:2015 (ISO 9001:2008 expired around September 2018). Many countries have formed accreditation bodies to authorize ("accredit") the certification bodies. Both the accreditation bodies and the certification bodies charge fees for their services. The various accreditation bodies have mutual agreements with each other to ensure that certificates issued by one of the accredited certification bodies (CB) are accepted worldwide. Certification bodies themselves operate under another quality standard, ISO/IEC 17021, while accreditation bodies operate under ISO/IEC 17011.


title: ISO 9000

text: An organization applying for ISO 9001 certification is audited based on an extensive sample of its sites, functions, products, services, and processes. The auditor presents a list of problems (defined as "nonconformities", "observations", or "opportunities for improvement") to management. If there are no major nonconformities, the certification body issues a certificate. Where major nonconformities are identified, the organization presents an improvement plan to the certification body (e.g., corrective action reports showing how the problems will be resolved); once the certification body is satisfied that the organization has carried out sufficient corrective action, it issues a certificate. The certificate is limited by a certain scope (e.g., production of golf balls) and displays the addresses to which the certificate refers.


title: ISO 9000

text: An ISO 9001 certificate is not a once-and-for-all award but must be renewed, in accordance with ISO 17021, at regular intervals recommended by the certification body, usually once every three years. There are no grades of competence within ISO 9001: either a company is certified (meaning that it is committed to the method and model of quality management described in the standard) or it is not. In this respect, ISO 9001 certification contrasts with measurement-based quality systems.


title: ISO 9000

text: The ISO 9000 standard is continually being revised by standing technical committees and advisory groups, who receive feedback from those professionals who are implementing the standard.


title: ISO 9000

text: ISO 9000:1987 had the same structure as the UK Standard BS 5750, with three "models" for quality management systems, the selection of which was based on the scope of activities of the organization:


title: ISO 9000

text: "ISO 9000:1987" was also influenced by existing U.S. and other Defense Standards ("MIL SPECS"), and so was well-suited to manufacturing. The emphasis tended to be placed on conformance with procedures rather than the overall process of management, which was likely the actual intent.


title: ISO 9000

text: "ISO 9000:1994" emphasized quality assurance via preventive actions, instead of just checking final product, and continued to require evidence of compliance with documented procedures. As with the first edition, the down-side was that companies tended to implement its requirements by creating shelf-loads of procedure manuals, and becoming burdened with an ISO bureaucracy. In some companies, adapting and improving processes could actually be impeded by the quality management system.


title: ISO 9000

text: "ISO 9001:2000" replaced all three former standards of 1994 issues, "ISO 9001", "ISO 9002," and "ISO 9003". Design and development procedures were required only if a company does, in fact, engage in the creation of new products. The 2000 version sought to make a radical change in thinking by actually placing front and center the concept of process management (the monitoring and optimization of a company's tasks and activities, instead of just inspection of the final product). The 2000 version also demanded involvement by upper executives in order to integrate quality into the business system and avoid delegation of quality functions to junior administrators. Another goal was to improve effectiveness via process performance metrics: numerical measurement of the effectiveness of tasks and activities. Expectations of continual process improvement and tracking customer satisfaction were made explicit.


title: ISO 9000

text: ISO 9001:2008 in essence re-narrates ISO 9001:2000. The 2008 version only introduced clarifications to the existing requirements of ISO 9001:2000 and some changes intended to improve consistency with ISO 14001:2004. There were no new requirements. For example, in ISO 9001:2008, a quality management system being upgraded just needs to be checked to see if it is following the clarifications introduced in the amended version.


title: ISO 9000

text: Other standards, like ISO 19011 and the ISO 10000 series, may also be used for specific parts of the quality system.


title: ISO 9000

text: In 2012, ISO TC 176 – responsible for ISO 9001 development – celebrated 25 years of implementing ISO 9001 and concluded that it was necessary to create a new QMS model for the next 25 years. They subsequently commenced the official work on creating a revision of ISO 9001, starting with the new QM principles. This moment was considered by important specialists in the field as the "beginning of a new era in the development of quality management systems." As a result of the intensive work from this technical committee, the revised standard ISO 9001:2015 was published by ISO on 23 September 2015. The scope of the standard has not changed; however, the structure and core terms were modified to allow the standard to integrate more easily with other international management systems standards.


title: ISO 9000

text: The new "ISO 9001:2015" management system standard helps ensure that consumers get reliable, desired quality goods and services. This further increases benefits for a business.


title: ISO 9000

text: The 2015 version is also less prescriptive than its predecessors and focuses on performance. This was achieved by combining the process approach with risk-based thinking, and employing the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle at all levels in the organization.


title: ISO 9000

text: Two types of auditing are required to become registered to the standard: auditing by an external certification body (external audit) and audits by internal staff trained for this process (internal audits). The aim is a continual process of review and assessment to verify that the system is working as it is supposed to, to find out where it can improve, and to correct or prevent identified problems. It is considered healthier for internal auditors to audit outside their usual management line, so as to bring a degree of independence to their judgements. Supporting papers are provided by the ISO 9001 Auditing Practices Group. This is constituted as an informal group of quality management system (QMS) experts, auditors and practitioners, drawn from the ISO Technical Committee 176 Quality Management and Quality Assurance (ISO/TC 176) and the International Accreditation Forum (IAF).


title: ISO 9000

text: The ISO 9001 standard is generic; its parts must be carefully interpreted to make sense within a particular organization. Developing software is not like making cheese or offering counseling services, yet the ISO 9001 guidelines, because they are business management guidelines, can be applied to each of these. Diverse organizations—police departments (United States), professional soccer teams (Mexico), and city councils (UK)—have successfully implemented ISO 9001 systems.


title: ISO 9000

text: Over time, various industry sectors have wanted to standardize their interpretations of the guidelines within their own marketplace. This is partly to ensure that their versions of ISO 9000 have their specific requirements, but also to try and ensure that more appropriately trained and experienced auditors are sent to assess them.


title: ISO 9000

text: The effectiveness of the ISO system being implemented depends on a number of factors, the most significant of which are:


title: ISO 9000

text: Proper quality management can improve business, often having a positive effect on investment, market share, sales growth, sales margins, competitive advantage, and avoidance of litigation. The quality principles in ISO 9000:2000 are also sound, according to Wade and Barnes, who says that "ISO 9000 guidelines provide a comprehensive model for quality management systems that can make any company competitive". Sroufe and Curkovic, (2008) found benefits ranging from registration required to remain part of a supply base, better documentation, to cost benefits, and improved involvement and communication with management. According to ISO the 2015 version of the standard brings the following benefits:


title: ISO 9000

text: A common criticism of ISO 9000 and 9001 is the amount of money, time, and paperwork required for a complete implementation, and later when needed, ISO 9001 certification. Dalgleish cites the "inordinate and often unnecessary paperwork burden" of ISO, and says that "quality managers feel that ISO's overhead and paperwork are excessive and extremely inefficient". The level of minimum documentation for a minimum scope organization has been greatly reduced, going from ISO 9001:2000 to ISO 9001:2008 to ISO 9001:2015.


title: ISO 9000

text: According to Barnes, "Opponents claim that it is only for documentation. Proponents believe that if a company has documented its quality systems, then most of the paperwork has already been completed". Wilson suggests that ISO standards "elevate inspection of the correct procedures over broader aspects of quality", and therefore, "the workplace becomes oppressive and quality is not improved".


title: ISO 9000

text: One study showing reasons for not adopting this standard include the risks and uncertainty of not knowing if there are direct relationships to improved quality, and what kind and how many resources will be needed. Additional risks include how much certification will cost, increased bureaucratic processes and risk of poor company image if the certification process fails. According to John Seddon, ISO 9001 promotes specification, control, and procedures rather than understanding and improvement. Wade argues that ISO 9000 is effective as a guideline, but that promoting it as a standard "helps to mislead companies into thinking that certification means better quality, ... [undermining] the need for an organization to set its own quality standards". In short, Wade argues that reliance on the specifications of ISO 9001 does not guarantee a successful quality system.


title: ISO 9000

text: The standard is seen as especially prone to failure when a company is interested in certification before quality. Certifications are in fact often based on customer contractual requirements rather than a desire to actually improve quality. "If you just want the certificate on the wall, chances are you will create a paper system that doesn't have much to do with the way you actually run your business", said ISO's Roger Frost. Certification by an independent auditor is often seen as the problem area, and according to Barnes, "has become a vehicle to increase consulting services".


title: ISO 9000

text: Dalgleish argues that while "quality has a positive effect on return on investment, market share, sales growth, better sales margins and competitive advantage," "taking a quality approach is unrelated to ISO 9000 registration." In fact, ISO itself advises that ISO 9001 can be implemented without certification, simply for the quality benefits that can be achieved.


title: ISO 9000

text: Abrahamson argues that fashionable management discourse such as Quality Circles tends to follow a lifecycle in the form of a bell curve, possibly indicating a management fad.


title: ISO 9000

text: Dytz argues that ISO 9001 certification is based on 7 management principles and that companies are free to develop their internal tools and working methods, however, the model adopted to audit and certify companies does not evaluate the effectiveness of these methods. Even when there is still a superficial analysis of this effectiveness, mainly due to the time available to audit these companies, the certifications do not distinguish two companies with the same business model, with regard to their internal capacity and quality of management.


title: ISO 9000

text: Pickrell argues that ISO systems merely gauge whether the processes are being followed. It does not gauge how good the processes are or whether the correct parameters are being measured and controlled to ensure quality. Furthermore, when unique technical solutions are involved in the creation of a new part, ISO does not validate the robustness of the technical solution—a key part of advanced quality planning. It is not unheard of for an ISO-certified plant to display poor quality performance due to poor process selection and/or poor technical solutions.


title: ISO 9000

text: ISO 9001 certification has a three-year validity period. At the end of this period, every certified organization must renew its certificate. Unfortunately, not all organizations are successful in their renewal. Some organizations are not able to renew the certificate, because they do not conform to all requirements, and others simply decide not to renew the certificate. There are several reasons why an organization may lose or decide not to renew its ISO 9000 certification:


title: ISO 9000

text: According to the latest data made available by ISO, approximately 60,000 organizations lose the certification every year. Given that there are approximately 1,000,000 certified organizations worldwide, and that 1/3 of these (approx. 333,333) must renew the certificate every year, the yearly average propensity for ISO 9001 withdrawal can be estimated roughly at 18% (60,000/333,333). The propensity of a given organization to lose its certification can be estimated, depending on several factors specific to the organization:


title: Optical character recognition

text: Optical character recognition or optical character reader (OCR) is the electronic or mechanical conversion of images of typed, handwritten or printed text into machine-encoded text, whether from a scanned document, a photo of a document, a scene-photo (for example the text on signs and billboards in a landscape photo) or from subtitle text superimposed on an image (for example: from a television broadcast).


title: Optical character recognition

text: Widely used as a form of data entry from printed paper data records – whether passport documents, invoices, bank statements, computerized receipts, business cards, mail, printouts of static-data, or any suitable documentation – it is a common method of digitizing printed texts so that they can be electronically edited, searched, stored more compactly, displayed on-line, and used in machine processes such as cognitive computing, machine translation, (extracted) text-to-speech, key data and text mining. OCR is a field of research in pattern recognition, artificial intelligence and computer vision.


title: Optical character recognition

text: Early versions needed to be trained with images of each character, and worked on one font at a time. Advanced systems capable of producing a high degree of recognition accuracy for most fonts are now common, and with support for a variety of digital image file format inputs. Some systems are capable of reproducing formatted output that closely approximates the original page including images, columns, and other non-textual components.


title: Optical character recognition

text: Early optical character recognition may be traced to technologies involving telegraphy and creating reading devices for the blind. In 1914, Emanuel Goldberg developed a machine that read characters and converted them into standard telegraph code. Concurrently, Edmund Fournier d'Albe developed the Optophone, a handheld scanner that when moved across a printed page, produced tones that corresponded to specific letters or characters.


title: Optical character recognition

text: In the late 1920s and into the 1930s, Emanuel Goldberg developed what he called a "Statistical Machine" for searching microfilm archives using an optical code recognition system. In 1931, he was granted USA Patent number 1,838,389 for the invention. The patent was acquired by IBM.


title: Optical character recognition

text: In 1974, Ray Kurzweil started the company Kurzweil Computer Products, Inc. and continued development of omni-font OCR, which could recognize text printed in virtually any font (Kurzweil is often credited with inventing omni-font OCR, but it was in use by companies, including CompuScan, in the late 1960s and 1970s.) Kurzweil decided that the best application of this technology would be to create a reading machine for the blind, which would allow blind people to have a computer read text to them out loud. This device required the invention of two enabling technologiesthe CCD flatbed scanner and the text-to-speech synthesizer. On January 13, 1976, the successful finished product was unveiled during a widely reported news conference headed by Kurzweil and the leaders of the National Federation of the Blind. In 1978, Kurzweil Computer Products began selling a commercial version of the optical character recognition computer program. LexisNexis was one of the first customers, and bought the program to upload legal paper and news documents onto its nascent online databases. Two years later, Kurzweil sold his company to Xerox, which had an interest in further commercializing paper-to-computer text conversion. Xerox eventually spun it off as Scansoft, which merged with Nuance Communications.