text:
I've heard stories about some people in this industry, and I've told a few myself. Some ridiculous, and some just eyeroll-y, and a few really sweet. This is the nature of the beast, we talk constantly about the bold-face names we write about all the time, and if they're horrible to work with, everyone in the industry knows it. It's understood that the best gossip is saved for whispering to one another over drinks, because it's less traceable.
You know all this, of course. You read this site.
But what confounds me, after years of immersion in this business, is how few stories there are about James Franco. The occasional whispered speculation about who he prefers, but not much about diva fits or whiny demands or general doughiness. I've decided it's because there's no need to whisper. James Franco puts all his annoying traits right out in the open. He's not ashamed of them; in fact, he thinks you should learn from his expertise in all things.
His latest target is Girls. There is an entire cottage industry of talking about and deconstructing this show, and of course, I've been a part of it. (Click here for the recaps.) But part of the reason Girls gets so scrutinized is because people want it to be great, or have heard it should be great, so there's lots of real estate devoted to how it could be, and what would make it rise all the way to incredible.
James Franco in the Huffington Post is only interested in telling you how the show sucks, in his very, very educated opinion. He points out that Hannah should get a job, because that's the only way she'll learn things. He himself has lived by this credo, because when he was young his parents didn't want him to act and so that was hard...until he landed on a network show at the age of 20/21. Yeah. It's hard out there for a Franco.
But that pales in comparison to his further points: in one breath, he denigrates his MFA classmates whose lives, he thinks, are pretty well-reflected in Girls - and it's pretty clear he means it to be insulting - and in the next he points out how his "friends in New York" think it's all much ado about nothing. And still other "friends" - the diverse group of people he worked with in his MFA (the implication being that if others didn't have a diverse graduate school experience, it's their own self-selective fault) - don't see themselves represented in the show. All pretty well-worn arguments by this point in the game, but why should that bother James Franco? He's got an opinion, dammit - an educated one - and he wants you to know about it.
And then. AND THEN! Franco is irritated because he doesn't see himself represented in the show among the "drips" and "wussy hipsters". Because of course, if the show isn't exactly representative of him and his life and his world, it doesn't deserve to be on the air, right? Then he goes into a thorough explanation of why the "wussy" guys are PAYBACK for vapid girls, who are in turn payback for the Entourage guys, who are payback for ...ugh. It's nice to know that we can't just have real representations of less-than-perfect versions of both sexes, unless it's "payback" for something. Fantastic.
But don't you worry, because James Franco has your interests at heart! In fact, he "can get off on female bonding". THAT'S a relief. You wouldn't want to have bonding he couldn't identify with and get off on. You wouldn't want to make something that wasn't expressly appealing to a young white male member of the 1%. Phew. And Franco knows what's appealing, you guys, because he watched Steel Magnolias. So that makes him an expert in what ladies do, are and want. Thank God we have him looking out for us.
Anyway, Franco manages to insult Judd Apatow and Lena Dunham, ending with the incredibly witty "living well is the best revenge but sometimes writing well is even better". BECAUSE HE WOULD KNOW.
Look, putting anything out into the public means it's open for criticism, and Franco is as entitled as anyone else to give his opinion, I guess. But when creators are asked "what do you think of critics" and they roll their eyes, please know it's this kind of straw-man article that they're thinking of.
Also, as friend Dean brilliantly pointed out, saying you "don't watch much tv" and then spouting off for a thousand words on a show kind of makes you a hypocrite and a liar AND insufferable, doesn't it?
Attached - James Franco and, like, pretty much EVERYBODY, on the set of The End Of The World yesterday.


text:
CARSON, Calif. – David Beckham was back on the training field Tuesday morning, seeing full action in his first session with the LA Galaxy since he sprained his ankle in a game early in September.
The English star participated in a small-sided scrimmage, according to the club, and ran sprints with teammates during the latter part of practice after media was allowed to enter. But head coach Bruce Arena had nothing to say about whether he might play Sunday at Colorado.
"David is back in training. Yes," Arena said following Tuesday's session at the Home Depot Center. "Good to see him back on the field, yep. ... Day-to-day is the plan."
The hope is he will be ready for the Rapids, right?
"We'll see," he said. "Just going to take it day-to-day right now."
Beckham, who turned his left ankle in a 2-0 win over Vancouver on Sept. 1, spent the past three weeks doing rehab work in Santa Monica and in gym and rehab sessions in the bowels of the Home Depot Center.
He missed three games, including MLS home victories Sept. 14 over Colorado and the 4-2 triumph Saturday night against Toronto FC, which vaulted the Galaxy to second place in the Western Conference. He also missed last week's scorless draw at Puerto Rico on CONCACAF Champions League action, a match he likely wouldn't have played in regardless of his fitness.
Beckham, who scored the MLS Goal of the Week for Week 26 on a free kick in his last appearance, showed no signs of discomfort, nor that he was favoring the left ankle as he sprinted and later greeted and posed for pictures with a US Army soccer team invited to watch training.
He was not made available for comment, but teammates were happy to see him.
"Can only help, right?" fellow midfielder Mike Magee said. "Getting David Beckham back? I don't think that hurts you at all. Obviously, we always miss him on the field, but we've taken care of business while he's been gone, and the team's getting better."
When Beckham is back in the lineup, whether in Colorado or the following weekend at home against Real Salt Lake, Arena will have decisions to make in midfield. Juninho and Marcelo Sarvas have quickly built a strong central partnership, but Sarvas likely moves to the flank, given Juninho's form and history as Beckham's foil. Sarvas, Magee, newcomer Christian Wilhelmsson, and even rising second-year winger Hector Jiménez are in the mix for the wide positions.
"Everybody is in good form," Magee noted. "It's not like you can be pissed [if you go to the bench]. And David's a good player, too. I think he deserves to play."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
So while the U.S. continues to talk about the health care reform bill(s) (my comments come next week), the p/i show continues! First, some recent news articles on the issue:
Mon 22 Mar: Clinton accuses Israel of hurting U.S. credibility (AP)
Wed 24 Mar: Israel approves new building in East Jerusalem (AP)
Thurs 25 Mar: U.S. Fails to Persuade Israel on Housing Dispute (NY Times)
On to today's post!
Both the blogs in pt. 1 and pt. 2 on this topic talked about Israeli policy in relation to Palestine and Palestinians, and in this blog I want to focus mainly on whether or not those policies are actually positive for Israel's future, brought about by an Op-Ed by Uri Dromi, who was spokesman for the Israeli governments from 1992 to 1996, titled "Will Israel Join the March of Folly?"
Dromi begins this way:
"Barbara Tuchman, in her classic book "March of Folly," examined four cases in history when governments acted contrary to their own best interests: the Trojans who let the Greeks bring the fatal horse into their midst; the papacy, which allowed and even brought about the Protestant secession; the British who lost America, and America, which lost the war in Vietnam."
He continues shortly after with his thesis at hand:
"By expanding settlements instead of separating from the Palestinians while we still can, we Israelis are dooming ourselves to lose the Jewish and democratic state that has been won with so much sacrifice. In other words, we are immersed in our own march of folly. And we are doing it with our eyes open."
I went to a session last fall that detailed some strategies for talking with members of Congress about the Palestine/Israel issue and conflict, and one of the main points to suggested to use was that a sustained people, involving a Palestinian state, was in the best interests of the the U.S. and Israel. And that is Dromi's point, too. However, the current Israeli policies are running counter to that objective and leave Israel open to continued critism and possibly, in the end, it's own downfall.
This week continued the dispute of the last two, and Britain joined in the criticism, too (see Israel Absorbs Twin Rebukes From Top Allies).
Dromi's point comes to a head this way:
Consider the following scenario: The Palestinians decide to do nothing, just wait patiently until there is no way to divide the land anymore. The country just becomes one, binational state.
Then, assuming that the Israelis wouldn't dare or wouldn't be allowed by the rest of the world to run the country as an apartheid state, the Palestinians start voting in elections and running for Parliament.
Thus, the existence of a Jewish national state, which many people do desire (I'm not against it, actually; I just want justice for all), is no more. Do you see why the U.S. needs to continue it's rebukes?
So while the settlements in the West Bank may pose the most problems for a Palestinian state, as I said in pt. 2, Jerusalem is likely the final sticking point for any agreement. It may be that Palestinians will not even begin peace talks until settlement construction and home takeovers in East Jerusalem cease, and with the current Israeli policy of a unified Jerusalem, can peace ever happen?
This Map of Settlements Around Jerusalem shows one reason the Palestinians are so mad. If you click on the map, you can see a red dotted line that demarcates what Israel claims to be Jerusalem, much of which is on the Palestinian side of the 1967 Green Line. I counted a dozen settlements Israel considers part of Jerusalem that are on what many would consider the Palestinian side of the boundary for a future state. There are also Palestinian towns inside this boundary, and even one in the bottom left corner you can see that is planned to be encircled by the wall/barrier Israel is constructing. (Read about that town, the village of Al-Walaja, here.)
It would be impossible to simply reverse the last 40+ years since the 1967 Six-Day War. However, if Israel continues forward with it's current policy, Israel as a Jewish state may soon cease to exist. If that's not how you want the future shaping up, I suggest you make your voice heard and do something about it.
(Also, I have here a link to another Op-Ed I thought I'd want to write more on by Michael B. Oren, Israel's ambassador to the United States which mainly just says that the U.S. and Israel are best buds and it needs to remain that way (especially from an Israeli perspective). Read his take on things here:
For Israel and America, a Disagreement, Not a Crisis)


text:
SlicerAutodesk, Inc.
Slicer for Autodesk® Fusion 360™ is a tool to turn your digital 3D models into appealing artefacts. It slices and converts 3D models into 2D patterns that you can cut out of any flat material. Slicer for Fusion 360 also creates 3D instructions you can interact with, to help build a model.
Create a model in Fusion 360 and with a few clicks, you can send your model to Slicer for Fusion 360. Apply various slicing techniques to your model and create 2d plans in EPS, DXF or PDF formats that you can cut using a Laser cutter or CNC machine.
Slicer for Fusion 360 can be used as standalone or as an add-in for Fusion, and lets you use different construction techniques to build your model based on 2D slices and animated assembly instructions.
If you download with Firefox, please make sure you remove the .zip extension that Firfox adds when downloading a .exe. Then just open the .exe and the install will begin.
Note: This app uses a custom installer (and not the standard App Store installer).
このバージョンについてバージョン 1.0.0, 2020/06/18
カスタマ レビュー
|テクニカル ヘルプを表示
Slicer for Fusion 360 Can't export dxf!YUANZHONG HU | 7月 29, 2020 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
Slicer for Fusion 360 Can't export dxf!Not sure why, this software can't save any files!返信
Guillermo Melantoni (公開元) | 8月 03, 2020
In order to export dxf, you need to hace created slices and go to Get Plans
No me deja instalarloAdolfo Trujillo | 7月 28, 2020 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
No puedo instalarlo dado que me dice que es un software .PKG imposible hacerlo返信
Guillermo Melantoni (公開元) | 8月 03, 2020
Bajaste la version para Mac. Donde dice Mac o Windows, deberias bajar la opcion para Windows.
Useful but frustratingnick szumowski | 7月 07, 2020 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
Can do some cool stuff with this but please fix the sign in issues and or the signout from Fusion 360 issues.返信
it doesn't support complex models?Delfino Espiridion | 6月 13, 2020 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
I've tried the program and it's very helpful, but i cannot open complex models with it... it gives the warining "MESH COULD NOT BE IMPORTED" and then it closes. Some help please!返信
Aaron Robinson | 7月 23, 2020
I had the same problem, with model that had complex surfaces. Then I discovered an online cloud based mesh repair service. Every 3D file that I have had 'fixed' thru this (free) service works perfectly in Slicer. look at www.service.netfabb.com : )
Crashes oftenTimothy Cole | 6月 07, 2020 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
It's an awesome program when it works but it crashes about 90% of the time. It does this on all of my computers, no error message other than "Slicer has stopped responding."返信
cannot install on macOS 10.15.4Damon Hamm | 5月 26, 2020 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
Perhaps the installer just needs to be repackaged using Apple's latest security model?返信
Sign in problem and some graphic need to upgradeBrijesh Madaliya | 5月 23, 2020 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
I can't get to sign-in on slicer. It shows only white box fot sign-in. Also need to improve some features to easily sliced part. And rather thand undo command need to add feature command menu so we can easily remove or add it.返信
How Can I install SlicerAhmed Fany | 4月 28, 2020 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
Hi sir Could Explain How to add this Program to Fusion360
thank you very much返信
Guillermo Melantoni (公開元) | 5月 01, 2020
At this point the application has an issue that can't be resolved, which would not make it fully functional inside Fusion. Basically when you start it from inside Fusion 360, it closes Fusion during sign up of Slicer. My suggestion is to export an STL from Fusion 360 into your local drive, save the Fusion file, and open Slicer as an independent application. Then you can use it fully, even if it doesn't sign in.
ThanksBrayan Martinez | 4月 25, 2020 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
Me sirvió demasiado, solo es saberla usar.
Aunque puede mejorar en algunos puntos, así como está es funcional.返信
No inicia el programa slicerFabri7633 Fabri7633 | 4月 02, 2020 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
Hola , yo intale la aplicacion Slicer y cuando quiero abrirla en Fusion 360 me dice que la tengo que instalar pero ya lo hice. repeti esta operacion varias veces y no logro hacerla funcionar返信
Guillermo Melantoni (公開元) | 4月 06, 2020
Estas intentando usarlo como standalone? Si abris Slicer por separado, te va a dar un par de mensajes de error que se pueden ignorar, y funciona 100% localmente. Si precisas algo de Fusion 360, podes exportar un STL de Fusion e importarlo en Slicer.
Exporting doesn't workAlex Palmer | 2月 07, 2020 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
Exporting to a EPS, PDF, or DXF just doesn't work, When you export it to either of the three it doesn't appear anywhere in your folders. I'm hoping there's a similar program that can be used.返信
Guillermo Melantoni (公開元) | 4月 06, 2020
The export is local, so I can't see how it can't work, unless the slices are in red on the side, meaning that they have issues. Just in case, when you export some of these formats, it creates a zip file, so you might need to look for that. I just made it work both on MacOS and Win 10.
:/valeria chaparro | 2月 04, 2020 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
tengo un proble, no se puede leer nada dentro de programa, el numerodeletra de todo el programaesta demasiado pequeño返信
alternativeC G | 1月 26, 2020 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
Bei mir funktioniert es leider nicht. Was kann ich tun? Gibt es eine alternative?返信
Felix Cavazos | 4月 08, 2020
Leider nicht. Tut mir leid. Uberprufen Sie auf einen anderen Computer
Marcos Luiz | 5月 23, 2020
yes, find parametric 3d in sketchup or other software
Slicer is not working at all!Tom Van Waeyenberge | 1月 20, 2020 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
once opening the program slicer for fusion, it ask to log into A360 and accept the terms. If I try to do this, it does not work. I have a professional autodesk account and it does not comply.
Ignoring this question seems to keep the slicer program open but once I try to import a file (STl or simular) Slicer immediatly closes without any warning or question and even all other autodesk programs that were running are being closed. I get the error message that licence could not found on the other autodesk programs. Then I need to log into my autodesk .account again to be able to work with Autocad or Inventor.
Even trying to work only with slicer without any of the other autodesk programs running, slicer also closes down immediatly after importing a STL file. So basiccally, this program is not working at all返信
Roy Moore | 2月 05, 2020
I am experiencing this same issue. too bad. I had high hopes for this. :(
FailAdal Aram | 12月 13, 2019 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
Each time that I want to make an slice, Fusion Logout, it's frustrating返信
Guillermo Melantoni (公開元) | 12月 16, 2019
Agreed and understood, but the code for Slicer relies on an old platform that we can't update, so we can't do anything about it except retire the application. Since a significant amount of people use Slicer standalone (without another Autodesk product), this is less of a problem.
Logs out out of Fusion360 without saving or asking when staring SlicerHenrik Henrik | 12月 10, 2019 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
The only way I got Slicer to read the STL is to export it from Fusion from "tools" (can not load mesh in stand alone, no explenation why, just error message), I get a message to log in to verify account. If I try to do this I get to a page that does not contain log-in relevant information. Regardless of what happends I get logged out from Fusion and none of my work was saved or available from recovery. Since I can not save without logging in to my Autodesk account in this software is useless unles you want to slice one file and then start over. In BOTH softwares.返信
Guillermo Melantoni (公開元) | 12月 11, 2019
There is a known issue around log in on Slicer. When log in fails, it also logs out any other Autodesk product that happens to be logged in. The solution is to export an STL from Fusion 360, save and close. Once this happens, open Slicer and go past the log in error. Slicer can work 100% logged out (and offline) and import the STL. Although not ideal, it's a perfectly functional workaround.
mesh could not be imported!林 杨 | 12月 09, 2019 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
Modeling from recap is available, and other STLS cannot be used. Prompt: mesh could not be imported!返信
Guillermo Melantoni (公開元) | 12月 11, 2019
You might need to heal the mesh in a mesh editing product before opening in Slicer. If it's not watertight, you won't be able to import properly.
0 sheet generated messageBobby Antic | 11月 16, 2019 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
This is terrible, I've tried every possible angle and size and always get the 'Number of sheet generated is 0' error message. Maybe add suggested size or settings.返信
Guillermo Melantoni (公開元) | 12月 11, 2019
Did you use a custom material that's too thin? It can also happen if the mesh is not completely watertight.
I can´t open itDaniela Saucedo | 11月 16, 2019 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
The software doesn´t work, immediately closes, i can´t do anything. Please, help me返信
Guillermo Melantoni (公開元) | 12月 11, 2019
If it closes immediately it might be a graphic card problem. If you have onboard graphics, it will likely close.
Currently BrokenRyan Truby | 11月 11, 2019 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
Impossible to sign into Slicer to import files from Fusion 360.返信
Guillermo Melantoni (公開元) | 11月 12, 2019
You don't need to sign in to import files from Fusion. The sign in component in Slicer is broken and we don't have a team in place to update it. That said, the product operates 100% offline with no need to sign in. One thing that might work better is to export an STL from Fusion and then open Slicer and import it.
evan rust | 11月 14, 2019
I am having the same issue.
ainurseri ainurseri | 6月 26, 2020
The same with me. I can´t even import stl files i´ve already created with fusion.
New version of slicer?Jacobo Jacobo | 10月 01, 2019 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
Is Slicer avaliable for the new version of Fusion 2.0.6440
There is no 'make' option in the new version and I can't find another way to get it to open. Thank you.返信
Simon Labrecque | 10月 02, 2019
Had to search for it myself; it's under Design workspace -> Tools tab -> Make -> Slicer.
Every Other SliceKyle Bess | 9月 08, 2019 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
Is there a way to only export everyother stacked slice?返信
Guillermo Melantoni (公開元) | 11月 12, 2019
You can delete every other stacked slice by clicking on it, and then Export. Not exactly what you asked, but it does the trick.
Any chances it will be available someday to 3ds max??Elliot Thomazini | 7月 30, 2019
would love to use it in 3ds max!!!返信
Guillermo Melantoni (公開元) | 7月 30, 2019
Hi Elliot. Simply export STL or OBJ from 3ds Max and import it into Slicer.
Love it.Juan Cornielles | 4月 08, 2019 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
It's very fast to do if you have the base 3d model.
Is a great software that can be better. I would like to be able to modify the pieces and add new pieces in addition to the construction technique.
I would like too have referential point to place the direction of the slices more precisely.
This "slicer app" could be part of another software more complex to be abe to use snaps?返信
More options for Thickness, PleaseYerry Batista | 1月 23, 2019 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
I'm trying to construct a 3D object from videogames for cosplay, a Halo Rifle to be specific. The minimum thickness I could get is 2 mm, to construct the object with pizza box carton... BUT I will love to contruct the object with cereal box carton wich is 0.5 to 1 mm.
It would be great if you can build the object using any thickness of the material, even with paper sheets.
Daniel Carmichael | 8月 10, 2019
There is no lower limit on material thickness that I can find, I have successfully sliced models as thin as 0.01".
Sooo close to being perfectJeffrey Dohnt | 12月 30, 2018 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
Firstly, I LOVE this program and thanks for making it free, but its a non-issue if we could pay for improvements, a fair few of us would!
Others have mentioned better tab options and I totally agree. Also, nesting... SERIOUSLY! NESTING!....PLEASE! ...How can you expect people to print/cut these out using your page sizes (A4, A3 etc) when the nesting is all out to hell with even the simplest & smallest models?
Here are the main improvements needed to take on Pepakura (also cos I'm a Mac guy - you can approach the mac universe properly with a fully-working program that would rival them).
1) Better tabs. Give options for tab thickness (width and/or length) to allow for easier construction. The only one that would work with any kind of paper media would be jigsaw type or laced if we could get the lacing all the way along the edges.
2) Better auto construct - i.e. divides up 3D objects for folded paper without 100000 errors and expecting us to rotate, click on ADD and DELETE cuts with the MOST random or outcomes. I have spent 5 hours trying to get a deer head and antlers to work but it simply won't... no matter how much I adjust the vertex count.
3) Exporting with layers so it can easily be cut, creased and worked with. The sides are coloured but if there is an error, the effected side has a different colour, this would mean - to have it laser cut, I would have to export it to EPS DXF and manually adjust the colour of potentially 1000's of lines to get the colour coded layers to work properly.
Hit me up on email if you like? I'm desparate to get this program improved for folding paper craft and other uses.返信
Best AddOn for my purposesSimon Pranter | 12月 14, 2018 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
I really love this AddOn. The only issue I have is that it doesn´t respond well if you have Z-Up. :(返信
Guillermo Melantoni (公開元) | 12月 17, 2018
Hi Simon, If you import directly from Slicer, you can define Up axis. When sending from Fusion we used the default orientation as a good first guess.
badbocah emprutd | 10月 17, 2018 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
bad in 64 bit . menu on the screen doesnt look perfect返信
me too win 10 64 surface book 2 15' 4K display but I Wait for a few minutes ,system prompted to script errors,and Click on the software is normal after confirmation..................
yesBimboum Lailialala | 7月 31, 2018 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
Bonjour, un putain de grand merci, armé de deux lasers je m'éclate avec votre programme, seul bémol, au niveau des assemblages, certain modes sont impossibles il faut pas mal modifier l'orientation à cause des probleme de collision , à part ça c'est un délire, merci返信
ThanksSergey Bob | 7月 22, 2018 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
Useful and nice for working ! Thanks !!!返信
Request new optionDaniele Ravagni | 7月 22, 2018 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
The software works well, nothing to say so far. But I would have a request ... perhaps stupid, but why can not apply also to "3D Slices" in "Construction techniques" the possibility of having the tools of "Radial Slices" and / or "Interlocked Slices"? Printable parts could be obtained with 3D printers that can be assembled together and with a blunt contour, not edgy, more faithful to the original object. I'm thinking about the puzzles that will have more faithful and "soft" finish to the original non-sliced object.返信
Has a lot of potentialNishant Agarwal | 6月 29, 2018 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
This is a great peice of software which can yet be made so much better. I request the dev team to please release more updates with better features. Some suggestions that I can think of as of now are to add better nesting, give automatic joints if the peice exceeds the length of material, give more editing options within the construction techniques etc.
If developed thoroughly this software could be an artist's dream.返信
good but can be betterFernando Fer | 5月 23, 2018 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
Hi, here a few things that I would like to see improved:
First would be nice to have the program integrated in to fusion and
have the interface more like it is in fusion.
Then The model should be imported in its original size, and then it could be rezized may be a grid would help for scaling. so the "original size" button should not be there.
Then the size of the numbers on the laser sheet are to big, that would be a waste of money or
a waste of time to cut.
may be would be good to have the alternative to name the pieces by my own or renumbered, would be also good to place numbers or text on the laser sheet.
those numbers or letters could be bold (engraving) or linears.
Also would be good to manage layers, change colors, and change lineweight. For laser cutting the lines should be very fine.
An other idea is to select from the laser sheet any 2d drawing entity
and change it to a surface for engrave. engrave should be a solid color surface like solid hatch in Autocad.
Suat Karagöz | 9月 07, 2018
There a topic about wrong numbers on Fusion 360 forum but no one say "we wil fix it" =D https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-design-validate/slicer-folded-panels-plans-are-wrong/m-p/6965278
GREAT PLUG IN - A must haveJohn Gerrity | 4月 27, 2018 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
This is an absolutely awesome plugin Thanks so much!返信
<3Harald M | 4月 19, 2018
AwesomeMaria Arsenie | 3月 22, 2018 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
This add-on is great !返信
GreatHalit Tuvay | 3月 06, 2018 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
It worths too much as a man who is the retired engineer and a hobbyist like me. Many thanks, AUTODESK!返信
Software i waited for!Ralph X | 2月 18, 2018 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
This is what i need to Laser 3D Objects! the menü button is a bit buggy (slow) in the mac application but i dont care, i love it!返信
Nice and sleazy. Does it every time :-)Jens-Volker Schmidtke | 1月 25, 2018
Great addon返信
So far so goodZachary Schroeder | 11月 29, 2017 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
Awesome software add-on. Keep of the good work.返信
Get Parts button cant seeMeph J | 10月 16, 2017 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
i only see a problem on my labtop using windows 10 you cant see the last button Get Parts. would be nice to see a fix for this problem返信
As useful as eyedrops that cannot be placed in the eyeSummer Scott | 8月 03, 2017 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
Using STLs is ridiculous and makes it pretty useless if you are trying to import it back into F360 and especially if you are going to try to do anything in CAM in F360. A nice concept but just very frustrating once you realize how completely uselessly it integrates with F360 and CAM.返信
Chris Wilson | 9月 19, 2017
Ref: Summer scott: Not sure why you're saving it back as an STL mesh. The slicer can save the nested parts as an EPS, DXF, PDF as well as re-export the whole thing sliced in OBJ to nest yourself. I use it to CAM on the bottom tab on the left when you go to make it there are options to save the nested parts along the bottom DXF works great for 2D contouring cuts. I understand how CAD/CAM can be frustrating, but I would suggest asking how to do something in the future first v.s blasting the team that provided this awesome plug-in for free that was made exactly for re-exporting for CAM functions. I would also suggest you look at the dogbone slot option if you're using a router vs laser so you can get flush slots with no post hand operations.
Amelia Airhead | 10月 25, 2017
They (AutoDesk) seem to be confused. 123D Design and 123D Make were deprecated and users directed to use Fusion360. This app, named "Slicer", is not what is known as a slicer in 3D printing - it's 123D Make's functionality - which is sent to CNC or paper printer. Frustrating, since they stopped supporting their other tools.
Summer Scott | 10月 29, 2017
Lol Chris Wilson you obviously completely missed the point. You have to convert into STL to import into Slicer. You work with the faceted models in slicer and when you export to DXF or any other format what was a perfect arc in F360 is now a million straight lines roughly representing an arc. This makes fusion very laggy, It makes CAM a massive PITA and also means operations that use centerpoints and the like no longer work. Perhaps you should research the topic before getting all better than thou on someone. I don't know why I tried to type this. My last comment from a month and a half ago never got published so I assume this one won't either.
needs a lot of improvementColby Parsons | 6月 22, 2017 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
I am grateful that the functions of 123d Make were retained, and that they are free, but there are a LOT of things that I would like to see improved. The installation process has numerous bugs (install window freezing up entirely, then later at the end of the countdown, etc.). Instructions do not include the fact that one must go into Add-Ins to activate before that is accessible in Fusion. Within Slicer itself there I have found no way to save defaults, and each time Fusion sends a file it opens a new instance, so I end up changing settings over and over and over. Even if the program would offer the option of opening with the same settings it had the last time it was used, that would save so much time. The same goes for material settings. When you create a new material, it doesn't automatically select that for you (something I always found frustrating in 123D Make). Every single time I create a new material, it is because I need that for what I am working on right now. It would make sense for the default action to be that the program would auto-select the new material you make instead of making you go back into that setting area again. Little impediments like that degrade the user experience and make it harder for those of use using these tools for teaching. For "slice direction" it would be great to have an expanded inferface on the left where all angles could be controlled. And finally, I would love to see a better set of options for paper tabs -- there is not a single option for basic paper flaps like the kind Pepakura uses. It would be so nice to be able to have my students just use this program when they need that functionality. The eye icon button at the top of the tool bar would be better if it worked as a toggle (having it the way it is makes no sense to me). I know this software came from a product meant to be "user-friendly", but to me programs are more friendly when I have a few controls in a "settings" area. To me, simplification of interface design often sacrifices control for appearance and the idea of simplicity (simplicity can be frustrating if it does not do what you want). Perhaps you can give us a bit more control without sacrificing too much of the look you want. I really hope you are listening for this kind of feedback and willing to make some upgrades. Doing so will make me more likely to use your software in my classes. --Colby返信
Amelia Airhead | 11月 02, 2017
Regarding: "Instructions do not include the fact that one must go into Add-Ins to activate before that is accessible in Fusion." Thank you! I was going squirrelly trying to figure out why it wasn't "working".
Looks as good as it was when it still was 123d makeTom De Weyer | 6月 22, 2017 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
I only mis one feature, the options of placement on a sheet. Where is the nested option? kind regards, tom返信
Guillermo Melantoni (公開元) | 6月 22, 2017
Hi Tom. Nesting had some issues and we needed to go out with Slicer before 123D Make's back end shut down. Many people work on nesting on the apps they use for cutting. We are gathering feedback on the main issues people see, so we can get back with a fix or enhancements.
AwesomeShalom Ormsby | 6月 12, 2017 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
It's great to have this functionality in Fusion. Thanks!返信
Silent Command Parameters for DeploymentIt Office | 5月 25, 2017 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
What are the silent command line parameters if any for this? How can this be deployed silently? I would like to try deploy this in a lab of 20 machines via AD which would be great instead of having to install this manually.返信
Still pretty buggySean Cusack | 5月 13, 2017 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
Unlike 123D Make - slicer automatically resizes any incoming STL or OBJ files creating a pretty big headache for me if I'm trying to do any secondary processing. Also, the plugin always seems to fail in Fusion 360, so I've been having to export an STL or OBJ from fusion and open manually in Slicer. Not the biggest beef, but why write a plugin if it doesn't work?返信
Guillermo Melantoni (公開元) | 5月 16, 2017
Hi Sean, 123D Make also resized by default to an object no bigger than 8 inches on the maximum side of the bounding box. Depending the type of object you are sending and what you are trying to do with Slicer, it avoids performance issues when someone applies a construction technique without having checked sizes. It has not been a big deal in Make since we added that option (probably around v 1.3). If it becomes an issue for many people, we can consider defaulting to real size. The other problem for that approach is that if the mesh is not coming from Fusion 360, we don't have a notion of units in the STL. Regarding the plug-in, this is the first report of it not working. Where does it fail? if you start a post in the forum we can follow up better. Or if not, just send me an email to firstname.lastname@example.com Thanks!
fantastikCelil Bayar | 5月 13, 2017 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
its make easy to prototype返信
InstallChristian Maury López | 4月 20, 2017 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
Where are the instructions to install返信
Nice Add OnJeff Watkins | 3月 22, 2017 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
I really like slicer and have many ideas bouncing around for it. I used it for a simple cardboard phone holder to test the cuts on a laser but I'm working on some projects for my CNC. Hopefully Nesting will be added to Slicer and updated in 123D Make to fit and rotate the nested pieces for more efficient material usage. Thanks!返信
Great addonTilleddroy Tilleddroy | 3月 22, 2017 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
generates dxf files for laser cutting without going to cloud返信
Great follow up and intergartion after 123MakeMakairsjop Makairsjop | 3月 22, 2017 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
I was worried about the future without the really great 123Make app, and glad to see that it is intregrated with Fusion 360. It models me from maker to proffesional user in the 3D world!返信
Great for laser cuttingChipgriffin Chipgriffin | 3月 10, 2017 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
This is a great addon for making cardboard/wood mockups/models with a laser. One star off for the nesting. It could be more efficient.返信
I Love this app and I constantly use it.Ryan Cannon | 3月 01, 2017 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
I cannot wait to see what comes next in the coming updates!返信
Way to go AutodeskAadithya Sathya | 2月 26, 2017 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
I come from Coimbatore , India and here we have lots of Pattern makers for Wood . Seriously this will be a very helpful tool from them .. I will post some models in the forums very soon after trying this app on a customer model .. Happy to know that Autodesk has created this ... Expecting lots from you Autodesk返信
thanks merci beaucoupAissa Francois | 2月 23, 2017 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
fantastic add-on返信
Beautiful add-onS Inanc | 2月 16, 2017 確認済みダウンロード (これは何ですか?)
Very useful and a pleasure to play with. Thanks a lot.返信


text:
Services on Demand
Related links
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South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences
On-line version ISSN 2222-3436
Print version ISSN 1015-8812
S. Afr. j. econ. manag. sci. vol.16 n.2 Pretoria Jan. 2013
Managing postgraduate research service quality: developing and assessing a conceptual model
Krishna GovenderI; Shaun RamroopII
IDepartment of Management Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal
IIDepartment of Statistics, University of KwaZulu-Natal
This paper reports on the conceptual development and empirical evaluation of a postgraduate (PG) research service quality management model, through conducting an electronic survey among a cohort of master's and doctorate graduates at one of the top three research universities in South Africa, using specifically developed and validated research instruments.
By fitting the data from a sample of 117 graduates to a conceptual model using structural equation modelling, it became evident that the PG research students' perception of the Organisational Climate for Research (OCR) is associated with their perception of the PG Research Service Quality (PGSQUAL), the PG Service Experience (SERVEXP) and their perception of their Role (RC). However, no association was found between the students' perception of the research climate (OCR) and their satisfaction (SERVSAT) with the research service; the service experience (SERVEXP) and postgraduate research service quality (PGSQUAL); service satisfaction (SERVSAT) and postgraduate service quality (PGSQUAL).
The aforementioned findings imply that higher education institutions need to create a research climate which is supportive of service quality, and better manage the research climate, so that the PG students are clear about their role, which will eventually translate to a better PG service experience and improved perception of PG service quality.
Key words: organizational climate, service satisfaction, service experience, service quality, postgraduate
1 Introduction
Every time a customer interacts with a service organisation (by phone, mail, technology or in person), a service encounter occurs. This interaction according to Bettencourt and Gwinner (1996:3) becomes the focal point in consumers' evaluation of the entire service organisation, since service experiences are developed as a result of these encounters, and each encounter provides an opportunity not only for the service organisation to either impress or disappoint the service customer, but for the customer to develop perceptions of the service experience and quality. Given that education is a service, and the PG research education environment has become increasingly competitive (Angell, Heffernan & Megicks, 2008), postgraduate-based research focusing on the PG service encounter has been surprisingly negligible. This void is even more concerning since there is intense competition for PG students who not only generate greater income, but also improve a particular university's ranking.
To address the void, by drawing heavily on the services marketing (quality) literature, a conceptual model of the PG research service encounter is developed, and relationships among the PG research students' perception of their role and the research climate on their service experience, service satisfaction and service quality are postulated and assessed. The aforementioned objective was addressed by:
• suggesting a conceptual model of the PG research service encounter and proposing relationships among the PG research students' perception of their role, the research climate, the service experience, service satisfaction, and service quality;
• developing and validating research instruments to assess the PG research students' perception of their role, the research climate, their service experience, service satisfaction, and service quality; and • evaluating the proposed conceptual model using structural equation modelling.
The study is organised as follows: following a brief discussion of the literature on the PG service encounter, more specifically the PG students' participation (role), the research service climate, the research service experience and research service quality, several relationships are proposed among the aforementioned variables. Thereafter, the research methodology used to explore the proposed relationships, together with an explanation of the development of various research instruments follows. The empirical findings, including an explanation of the process of validation of the research instruments, as well as reporting the results of the data analysis, and a discussion thereof follows. The paper concludes by identifying some limitations of this exploratory study and proposing scope for future research.
2 The PG service encounter, the PG students' role, service experience and service quality
Although, in PG research supervision, face to face interaction or personalisation between the student and research supervisor is vital to the outcome of the service experience, there are many opportunities for things to go wrong when the student and supervisor interact, since both parties experience and respond to each other's mannerisms, attitude, competence, mood, language and so on, resulting in incidents which may be trivial or important to a successful encounter. The important or 'critical' incidents according to Bitner, Booms and Mohr (1994) are interactions that are either satisfying or dissatisfying which provide an opportunity for the customers, through their service experience, to form an opinion of the service quality.
When customers participate in the service production and delivery process, each customer who assumes partial work responsibilities may not perform a portion of the work, since they do not understand the service offering or their role in the service encounter. This reasoning can be extended to the weak PG student who for example, may have a poor command of the English language, and thus depend on the supervisor to correct the grammar and other writing style aspects. According to Hsieh and Yen (2005:892) this could result in the service providers' job stress which may by deduction be transferred to the service performance on the part of the study leader or service employee, and result in a poor service experience for the student or customer.
Although some researchers (Levitt, 1972; Chase, 1978) argue that less direct contact between the customer and the service production system can contribute to efficiency, others (Mills, Chase &Margulies, 1983) concur that services can be delivered most efficiently if customers are viewed as 'partial' employees and if their participative roles are designed to maximise their contributions to the service delivery process. According to McCulloch (2009:171) a more appropriate metaphor to characterise the relationship between the student and the higher education service provider is one of 'co-production', since students, lecturers and others who support the learning are viewed as being engaged in a cooperative enterprise, focused on production, dissemination and application of knowledge.
Dann (2008:333) cautions that PG research supervision is a complex service encounter drawing on the pedagogical structures of higher education and the interpersonal dynamics of a highly customised service delivery. Within this relationship, there is a duality of responsibility (and roles) for the successful completion of the research project between the PG student and supervisor. Thus, the PG experience cannot be attributed entirely to the student, the supervisor or the institution, since service experiences are the outcomes of interactions between organisations, related systems and processes, service employees and customers (Bitner, Faranda, Hubbert & Zeithaml, 1997:193).
Some researchers (Singh, Vebreke & Rhoads, 1996) contend that, when an individual has gained an appropriate understanding of his/her role and the roles of other members of the role set, it is possible to formulate accurate role expectations. Some researchers (Boshoff & Mels, 1995) concur that role ambiguity affects the service employee's performance which spills over to the perception of service. Considering that the service customer is a quasi-employee, the aforementioned may be equally true about the PG research student who is the 'service customer' in this study.
In order to explore the PG research students' role further, and more especially its association with the PG service experience, it is proposed that:
P1: There is a positive relationship between the PG students' perception of their Role (RC) and their perception of the PG service experience (SERVEXP).
P2: There is a positive relationship between PG students' perception of their Role (RC) and their overall satisfaction (SERVSAT) with their PG service.
According to Schneider and Bowen (1995), since the interaction which takes place between the service organisation, its employees and customers during the service encounter can often not be clearly specified beforehand, the climate of the organisation offers an ad hoc means of specifying the activities which should be carried out. Given the aforementioned, especially the implied importance of the organisational climate, the next section will briefly expand on the concept organisational climate so as to properly locate its relevance in the PG research service encounter, and explore its association with the PG students' perception of the PG research service quality, the PG research service experience, and PG service satisfaction.
The postgraduate research climate, the service experience and service quality
Over the years, several explanations have emerged about the dimensions that constitute the organisational climate construct, and Tyagi (1982) identifies several organisational climate variables which were found to be antecedents of attitude and performance. The antecedents are: job challenge and variety, job importance, task conflict, role overload, leadership consideration, organisational identification, and management concerns and awareness. Attitude and performance, Tyagi (1982) argues may influence the service in terms of delivery (performance) and quality.
Bock, Zmud, Kim, and Lee (2005:90) argue that 'to move from a culture for hoarding knowledge in order to gain power, towards one that rewards the sharing of knowledge (with PG students), we need to create a climate for service that fosters long-lived, trusting relationships'. The sharing of knowledge is a necessary trait for fostering a positive PG research climate, where both PG students and PG research supervisors could prosper.
When a product is not 'immediately' available (such as a PG degree), the service firms must rely on managing the tangibles such as the setting and contact personnel, to create a positive image for their intangible offering. Since PG service encounters do not take place in a vacuum but in a specific milieu, in order to manage PG service quality it is therefore important, to understand what happens during the PG service encounter, more especially, how the research service climate influences the perceptions of service quality, the service experience and service satisfaction.
Le Blanc and Nguyen (1997) ascertain that service quality is derived mainly from reputation, a factor which they propose is tied closely to management's capacity to foster an organisational climate directed at serving the needs of its customers, and to the image of the business school. Schneider, White and Paul (1998) stress that the service climate focuses the service employees' efforts and competencies in service delivery which, in turn, yields positive experiences for customers as well as positive customer perceptions of service quality. Dietz, Pugh and Wiley (2004) also assert that when excellent service is an important theme in an organisation, a positive service climate exists.
For the purpose of this study, the research climate is defined as the research student's perceptions of organisational policies, practices and procedures which promote a climate which recognises and rewards service to PG research students. This definition by implication suggests 'customer orientation' as an important facet of the research climate, and that much rests on the perceptions of the individual research supervisor, which influences his/her service delivery behaviour. Thus, the research climate which manifests itself through the organisational climate will depend on the fundamental support provided by HEIs through resources, training, managerial practices and assistance required to perform effectively (Schneider et al., 1998).
When employees form climate perceptions about the organisation, and about its subunits (school/department), they consider different elements of their work environment, forming distinct perceptions of the organisation-targeted and unit-targeted service climates. Consistent with the service climate theory, according to which a sub-unit's positive service climate facilitates delivery of excellent service and improves customer perceptions and reactions, this paper assumes that with specific reference to the PG research environment, the climate for research service (OCR) at the school/department level is developed from the university's research service climate. Since PG students interact more with the sub-unit (discipline/department/school) employee (supervisor), they are likely to develop their perception of the research climate through these interactions.
The organisational climate as it pertains to the higher education environment and, more especially, the PG students' perception and the impact thereof on the service of the supervisor, and the PG students' research service experience have not received much attention by researchers. In order to explore this further, it is postulated that:
P3 : There is a positive relationship between the postgraduate research students' (PGS') perception of the PG research climate (OCR) and their perception of their Role (RC).
P4: The PGs' perception of the OCR is associated with their perception of the overall research service quality (PGSQUAL).
P5: The PGs' perception of the OCR is associated with their perception of their overall research service experience (SERVEXP).
P6: The PGs' perception of the OCR is associated with their perception of their overall research service satisfaction (SERVSAT).
Service quality, service experience and service satisfaction
Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1988) argue that customer satisfaction is a precursor of service quality, and conclude that perceived quality is a form of attitude related, but not equivalent to customer satisfaction. However, according to Alridge and Rowley (1998), perceived quality is derived from the consumers' overall evaluation of the service, and quality can be distinguished from satisfaction, in that quality is a general attitude, whereas satisfaction is linked to specific transactions, and perhaps satisfaction with a series of transactions leads to perceptions of good quality.
The service quality SERVQUAL-SERVSAT-SERVPERF relationship has also been the topic of several studies, inter alia, Cronin and Taylor (1992). Some researchers (Bolton & Drew, 1991) argue that customer satisfaction is an antecedent of service quality, whilst others (Hoisington & Naumann, 2003; Carrilat, Jaramillo & Mulki, 2009) assert that service quality leads to customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions. Cronin and Taylor (1992) argue that the distinction between satisfaction and quality is important because service providers need to know whether their objective should be to deliver satisfied customers, who will then develop a perception of high service quality, or whether they should aim for high service quality aimed at customer satisfaction.
In order to further explore the relationships among service quality, service experience and service satisfaction, with specific reference to the PG research service encounter, it is postulated that:
P7: The PGs' perception of the PGSQUAL is associated with their SERVEXP.
P8: The PGs' perception of the PGSQUAL is associated with their SERVSAT.
P9: The PGs' perception of their SERVEXP is associated with their SERVSAT.
The postulated relationships (P1-P9) which are depicted as a conceptual model in Figure 1, were empirically evaluated following the methodology described next.
3 Methodology
In order to empirically evaluate the postulated relationships (P1-P9), an electronic survey was conducted among a cohort of master's and doctorate graduates of a large research university over a month (April-May 2011) using QuestionPro (www.QuestionPro.com). The name list with e-mail contact details of the graduates was obtained from the university graduations office, and the electronic version of the questionnaire was sent via e-mail to all 816 graduates, who were asked to follow a link to the survey website. This was supported by hard copies of the questionnaire accompanied by an explanatory letter explaining the objectives of the survey, distributed at the graduation venues in special envelopes together with the degree certificates. Although the graduates were asked to either return the completed questionnaire or complete the electronic survey within a month from the date of the graduation, the majority chose to complete the electronic survey.
Research instruments
In order to address the research objectives, existing validated questionnaires (Parasuraman et al., 1988) used in similar previous studies in the business environment were adapted for use in the postgraduate research service encounter.
4 PG Service quality: PGSQUAL
Although there is substantial research evidence in the literature to support the use of the SERVQUAL (Parasuraman et al., 1988) instrument in measuring education service quality, this instrument has not been without criticism (Cronin & Taylor, 1992; Alridge & Rowley, 1998:200). Some of the criticisms (Alridge & Rowley, 1998:200) include the need to ask the same questions twice, and the fact that the instrument captures a snapshot of perceptions at one point in time. To overcome some of the criticisms, Alridge and Rowley (1998) opted to survey perceptions only and exclude expectations in their survey of student satisfaction. According to Hair (2006:11), the work carried out so far using SERVQUAL in a higher education context would seem to suggest that the instrument can be used successfully, as long as the modifications are kept to a minimum. However, the aforementioned author further states that there is little or no research specifically using SERVQUAL on PhD students or on PG research supervisors.
In their quest to develop better research instruments which are also more appropriate to the nature of the service, some researchers (Drennan, 2008) report on the PREQ (Postgraduate Research Questionnaire) which was introduced in Australia in 2002 against a background of increased attention on quality and accountability in the Australian higher education sector. The PREQ is a multidimensional measure of graduate students' experience of research and research supervision, and is based on the principle that the student's perception of research supervision, infrastructural and other support, intellectual climate, goals and expectations will influence their evaluations of the outcomes achieved as a consequence of their research experience (Drennan, 2008:490).
Other researchers such as Ginns, Marsh, Behnia, Cheng and Scalas (2009) further adapted the PREQ to develop the SREQ (Student Research Experience Questionnaire) to investigate PhD students' evaluations, in which the focus was on the overall postgraduate experience at the broad level of university and disciplines (faculties and departments) within a university, rather than at the effectiveness of the individual supervisor.
For the purpose of this study, the PGSQUAL (postgraduate research service quality) instrument was developed primarily by adapting the SERVQUAL instrument which encapsulates the perceptions-expectations gap covering all five service quality dimensions, and incorporating certain elements from the PREQ and SREQ questionnaires, as was done in previous studies (Stodnick & Rogers, 2008; Dann, 2008; Drennan, 2008). The final PGSQUAL instrument comprised 26 items resulting from adaptations which entailed making minor changes to the SERVQUAL statements to fit the context, combining expectations and perceptions, and incorporating certain elements of the PREQ and SREQ. With respect to the 26 items pertaining to specific aspects of the PG research service quality, the respondents were requested to indicate, on a 5-point Likert scale, whether the service quality was 'better' or 'worse' than expected, where 1 = Worse than expected and 5 = Better than expected.
Postgraduate research climate: OCLIMAR
To ascertain the PG research students' perception of the research climate (the organisational climate for research) the OCLIMAR instrument was developed by adapting Kelley's (1987) scale originally developed on exploratory research of Parasuraman et al. (1988) and further adapted by Govender (1998). A further development of the 22-item scale entailed incorporating certain relevant aspects of PREQ (Ginns et al., 2009) which resulted in a 24 OCLIMAR questionnaire.
The respondents were required, in terms of their perceptions of the importance the university placed upon various characteristics of the research service it provided, to indicate their agreement or disagreement with each of the 24 statements, expressed on a 5-point Likert scale, where 1 = Strongly Disagree; 2 = Disagree; 3 = Neither Agree nor Disagree; 4 = Agree and 5 = Strongly Agree.
PG research students' role perception
By adapting the Role Ambiguity/Role Clarity scale of Chonko, Howell, and Bellenger, (1986) a 6-item Role Clarity measurement instrument (Appendix A) was developed. Respondents were requested to indicate, with reference to their role as PG research students, how certain they were about each statement on a Likert scale where 1=Completely Uncertain; 2=Uncertain; 3=Neither Certain nor Uncertain; 4=Certain; 5=Completely Certain.
PG research students' overall research service experience: SERVEXP
According to Alridge and Rowley (1998:198), work on approaches to the evaluation of the student experience can be divided into two loosely bound categories, namely, methods that focus on assessing teaching and learning, and methods that assess the total student experience. Since the PG research students' experience is also a useful perspective to adopt for an approximation of student satisfaction in marketing terms and, based on the principles underlying the SREQ (Ginns et al., 2009) instrument, a 6-item SERVEXP questionnaire (Appendix B) was developed for specific use in this study.
The respondents were requested, with reference to their PG experience, to indicate their level of agreement with each of the 6 statements on a 5-point Likert scale, where 1=Strongly Disagree; 2=Disagree; 3=Neutral; 4=Agree and 5=Strongly Agree.
PG research students' overall service satisfaction: SERVSAT
Considering that the intention was to get an overall (summary) measure of the level of satisfaction with the PG research service, a single item Likert type question, with the following 5-point response categories: Strongly Disagree; Disagree; Neutral; Agree; and Strongly Agree, was used. The question read as follows: Overall, I was satisfied with the quality of my PG research experience.
5 Empirical findings
5.1 Response rate
The survey was conducted over a month (April-May 2011), during which period, weekly e-mail reminders were sent, encouraging the graduates to participate by completing the questionnaire.
Of the 816 graduates surveyed, 220 (26.96 per cent) respondents viewed the questionnaire, 120 of them (54.55 per cent) attempted it, and only 117 of these (53 per cent) completed the survey. It became evident from the data extracted via the electronic survey instrument (QuestionPro.com), that the average time taken to complete the questionnaire was 17 minutes.
The sample comprised 58 per cent black graduates, 23.2 per cent white graduates, 16.1 per cent Indian graduates, and the rest were unclassified. The majority of the graduates completed masters degrees, 35.1 per cent coursework master's and 37.7 per cent the full research master's degree and, the remaining respondents (27.2 per cent) had completed doctorates.
5.2 Reliability of the research instruments
Reliability has to do with the precision of the measurement procedure, and Coakes and Steed (2003:140) state that although there are a number of different reliability coefficients, one of the most commonly used is the Cronbach's alpha, and a value of 0.7 or higher is regarded as good, in that similar results will be obtained if this survey is conducted among a larger sample of respondents. The Cronbach's alpha values for the various research instruments reflected in Table 1, reveal good internal consistency or homogeneity of the items within the research instruments. The Cronbach's alpha value could not be calculated for the overall PG service satisfaction (SERVSAT) since it comprised a single item only, and a minimum of two items is required (Coaks & Steed, 2003).
5.3 Validity of the research instruments
Although, within the ambit of research instrument validity assessment, there are several aspects of validity are that are pertinent, considering that the research instruments were adapted from previous studies where they were validated, only face validity was considered in this study.
Face validity simply means that researchers are taking the validity at face value by looking at whether an instrument (questionnaire) appears to measure the target variable (Cronbach & Meehl, 1955). For example the PGSQUAL instrument is intended to measure the PG service quality and comprises 26 questions that pertain to PG service quality. At face value, these questions definitely measure the service quality as perceived by PG research students and, combined with the fact that they are also adapted from previous studies that measure service quality, the face validity of the PGSQUAL (and other research instruments) used was assured.
5.4 Dimensionality
The concept of dimensionality is inseparable from the study of measurement scales. Stevens (1946:677) states that scales of measurement in the broadest sense are the assignment of numerals to objects or events according to rules. The fact that numerals can be assigned under different rules leads to different kinds of scales and different kinds of measurement. The nature of a phenomenon in a scale determines its dimensionality. Scales can have a number of dimensions whilst a dimension can be thought of as a number line. The Likert-type scale that was used (the research instruments) in the current scientific setting is classified as a uni-dimensional scale measuring the perceptions of PG research students. For example, the PG service quality instrument (PGSQUAL) is made up of 26 items each having the same Likert scale. This scale was used in previous studies by researchers such as Stodnick and Rogers (2008), Dann (2008), and Drennan (2008). With respect to the 26 items pertaining to specific aspects or constructs of PG research service quality, the respondents were requested to indicate on a 5-point Likert scale whether the service quality was 'better' or 'worse' than expected, where 1 = Worse than expected and 5 = Better than expected.
Factor analysis was conducted using the Principal Components method with Varimax rotation to determine the validity of the items comprising the questionnaires developed to measure the variables whose relationship in the conceptual model is being investigated (Kline 1994; Johnson & Wichern, 2007).
Table 2 reflects the results of the factor analysis of the PGSQUAL research instrument. Although the literature (Kline, 1994), suggests that a factor loading of 0.3 or greater can be considered to be significant, given the large number of items in the PGSQUAL instrument, factor loadings of 0.4 or higher were considered to be significant, otherwise the number of items in the data set will not have be reduced, and the key reason for conducting a factor analysis, which is to reduce the number of items to a possible set of common factors of items, will have been defeated.
It is evident from Table 2 that all the 26 items loaded onto two factors with loadings exceeding 0.4. FACTOR 1, which was labelled 'Research Supervisor', comprised the following PGSQUAL items: SQ1-SQ16; SQ18 and SQ 23. FACTOR 2, which was labelled 'Institutional Support', comprised items SQ17; SQ19-25 and SQ26. The aforementioned two factors produced acceptable Cronbach's alpha values (0.978 and 0.910 respectively), which implied that the two factor PGSQUAL instrument revealed good internal consistency (Nunnaly & Bernstein, 1994).
The outcome of the factor analysis for the OCLIMAR instrument reflected in Table 3 reveals that three factors explain 67.48 per cent of the cumulative variance. With reference to the eigenvalues, three factors were extracted since their eigenvalues were larger than 1.
It is also evident from Table 3 that the 24 items of the OCLIMAR instrument loaded onto three factors. These factors were named 'Postgraduate Service Orientation' comprising items OCR1, OCR8, OCR11-OCR17, OCR19, OCR21 and OCR24; 'Postgraduate Research Support' comprising items OCR2, OCR7, OCR9, OCR18, OCR20 and OCR22-OCR23; and 'Postgraduate Information' comprising items OCR3-OCR6. These three factors produced Cronbach's alpha values of 0.954; 0.894 and 0.884 respectively, which implies that they are reliable (Nunnaly & Bernstein, 1994).
With reference to the Role Clarity, Service Experience and Service Satisfaction questionnaires, the researchers did not undertake a factor analysis since all three instruments had less than 10 items each (Coaks & Steed, 2003), and were therefore treated as uni-dimensional constructs.
6 Discussion of empirical findings
Before any of the structural equation modelling (SEM) was done, the data had to be manipulated since the variables compromised several items, for example, postgraduate service quality (PGSQUAL) compromised 26 items. The average of the 26 items was then taken to create a uni-dimensional variable for PGSQUAL. The average of the all the items that comprised the RC, OCR, SERVEXP and SERVSAT instruments were also calculated, to create uni-dimensional variables which are referred to as formative measures in the context of the structural equation modelling (SEM) literature (Hardin & Marcoulides, 2011). These variables were then used in the structural equation and multiple regression modelling processes.
The conceptualised model in Figure 1 was fitted to the sample data using AMOS. Byrne (2010:75-80) reports several goodness of fit statistics that are standard AMOS outputs and, some namely, chi-square, Relative Fit Index (RFI), Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) and, Incremental Fit Index (IFI), were considered, since most of them are interrelated, and lead to the same conclusion regarding the fit of the model to the sample data.
The RFI which should be close to 0.95 if the model fits the data well and, the RMSEA which should be less than 0.05 and, have a p-value greater than 0.05 based on a narrow confidence interval from the RMSEA (called PCLOSE in the AMOS output), indicating superior fit of the model (Byrne, 2010:80). The IFI which addresses issues of parsimony and sample size of the model relative to the data, which, according to Byrne (2010:79) is also a measure of the goodness of fit, should be close or more than 0.95, if very adequate model fit is to be achieved.
It became evident that the chi-square test statistic was 0.022 with 1 degree of freedom, and a p-value = 0.883, which is non-significant at the 5 per cent level, thus implying that the conceptual model fitted to the research data was indeed a good one (Byrne, 2010:76; Bollen, 1989:263). Furthermore, the RFI was 0.967, the RMSEA was 0.009 with a p-value (PCLOSE) of 0.899, and the IFI was reported as 0.969, all further confirming an excellent fit of the model. Table 4 shows that the organisational climate for research (OCR) significantly influences the PG students' role clarity (RC) (p-value = 0.000), thus supporting P3. There is also a significant association between the OCR and the PG students' overall research service experience (SERVEXP) (p-value = 0.000), supporting P5.
The aforementioned findings confirm that, irrespective of the nature of the service or service organisation, the perception of the organisational climate is important in clarifying the role of the service customer, and impacting on the service experience. More specifically with regard to PG research education, some researchers (Bock, Zmud, Kim & Lee, 2005) argued that it is necessary to create a climate for service that fosters the sharing of knowledge which is a necessary trait for fostering a positive research climate, where both PG research students and PG research supervisors could prosper.
The other significant relationships that exist at the 5 per cent level are OCR and PGSQUAL (p-value=0.000), SERVEXP and PGSQUAL (p-value=0.003), and PGSQUAL and SERVSAT (p-value=0.032).
In line with previous research, inter alia, Davidson (2003) which states that, even though organisations achieve their level of service quality, they must strive to achieve customer satisfaction, in this study there also seems to be a direct association between SERVSAT and PGSQUAL.
The model (Figure 2) also revealed that there are a number of insignificant relationships at the 5 per cent level, and these include Role Clarity and Service Experience (RC and SERVEXP), Role Clarity (RC) and Overall Service Satisfaction (SERVSAT), Service experience (SERVEXP) and Overall Service Satisfaction (SERVSAT), and Organisational Climate for Research and Overall Service Satisfaction (OCR and SERVSAT). The aforementioned findings confirm that the following propositions were not supported in this study: P1, P2, P6 and P9. The insignificance of the postulated relationships can be attributed to a host of scientific reasons which may include sample size, multi-collinearity or suppressor variables (Maassen & Bakker, 2001).
Several researchers, inter alia Draper and Smith (1998) and Chatterjee and Price (1991), state that multiple regression is also a good model building tool to explore relationships between an independent (y) variable against a group or set of dependent, explanatory or (x) variables. In view of the aforementioned, the data was also fitted to three different multiple regression models. The three multiple regression models were based on the proposed path analysis model in Figure 1.The relationships and dependencies between the respective variables allowed for the identification of a response/dependent variable as well as independent/explanatory variables. The 3 models are stated below:
Model 1:
PG SERVICE EXPERIENCE= β0+ β1 ROLE CLARITY+ β2*PG RESEARCH CLIMATE+ε
Model 2:
PG SERVICE QUALITY= β 0+ β 1*PG RESEARCH CLIMATE+ β 2*PG RESEARCH
EXPERIENCE +ε
Model 3:
PG SERVICE SATISFACTION β 0+ β1*ROLE CLARITY+ β2*PG RESEARCH CLIMATE+ β3*PG RESEARCH EXPERIENCE+ β4*PG SERVICE QUALITY +ε
Table 5 reflects the summary results of Model 1 which was stated as: PG SERVICE EXPERIENCE= β0+ β1 ROLE CLARITY+ β2*PG RESEARCH CLIMATE+ε.
It is evident from Table 5 that the adjusted R2 is about 18.6 per cent, implying that the Role Clarity (RC) and the PG Research Climate (OCR) account for 18.6 per cent of the variation in explaining the PG Service Experience (SERVEXP) of PG research students.
Table 6 reflects the ANOVA results for the following hypothesis:
H0: β0= β1=β2 = 0, against
Hi : at least one of the βi is not zero.
From Table 6, it is evident that, at the 5 per cent significance level, H0 is rejected, and it can thus be concluded that at least one of the multiple regression coefficients is not zero.
Table 7 reflects the estimated regression coefficient for Model 1. The fitted model is thus: PG SERVICE EXPERIENCE=2.686+ 0.345*RESEARCH CLIMATE+0.056*ROLE CLARITY.
It is evident from Table 7 that for a unit change in the Role Clarity (RC), the PG SERVICE EXPERIENCE increases by 0.056 units, as long as the other variables remain constant. Likewise a unit change in the PG Research Climate (OCR), the PG SERVICE EXPERIENCE (SERVEXP) increases by 0.345 units, as long as the other variables remain constant. This implies that as the Role Clarity (RC) and the PG Research Climate (OCR) increases so too will the PG SERVICE EXPERIENCE increase. It is also evident that the PG Research Climate (OCR) is significant at the 5 per cent level and hence, is considered to influence the PG service experience. Furthermore, it is apparent that Role Clarity (RC) is not significant at the 5 per cent level in its influence on the PG Service Experience (SERVEXP). The variance inflation factors (VIF) for in the independent variables are both less than 10, thus implying that there is no multi-collinearity present in the model.
It is evident from Table 8 that the adjusted R2 is about 26.3 per cent, implying, that the PG Research climate (OCR) and PG Research Experience (SERVEXP) account for 26.3 per cent of the variation in the PG Service Quality (PGSQUAL).
Table 9 reflects the ANOVA results for the following hypothesis:
H0: β0= β1=β2 = β3= 0; against
H1: at least one of the βi is not zero.
From Table 9, it can be concluded that at the 5 per cent level we reject H0 and, conclude that at least one of the pi is not zero.
It is evident from the coefficient estimates in Table 10 that the fitted model could be stated as follows: PG SERVICE QUALITY= 0.866+0.346*RESEARCH CLIMATE+0.318* PG SERVICE EXPERIENCE, which implies that a unit increase in the Research Climate (OCR) results in an increase of 0.346 units in the PG SERVICE QUALITY, as long as all other variables in the model remain constant. Accordingly, a unit increase in the PG Service Experience (SERVEXP) results in an increase of 0.318 units in the PG Service Quality (PGSQUAL), holding all other variables in the model constant. It is also apparent that the Research Climate (OCR) and the PG Research Experience (SERVEXP) are both significant at the 5 per cent level, implying that they influence the PG Service Quality (PGSQUAL). The variance inflation factors (VIF) for in the independent variables are both less than 10, implying that there is no multi-collinearity present in the model.
The final model that was fitted to the data was stated as: PG SERVICE SATISFACTION = β0+ β1*ROLE CLARITY+ p2*PG RESEARCH CLIMATE+ β3* PG RESEARCH EXPERIENCE+ β4*PG SERVICE QUALITY +s. The aforementioned model produced a poor adjusted R2, and a non-significant ANOVA, thus implying that the data did not support this model and the results are therefore not reported. Attempts were made to transform the dependent variable and refit the model, but to no avail. Although other models such as the generalised linear model with a Poisson link might be supported would have resulted in an unnecessary increase by the data, it was not considered since this in the length of this paper.
The findings of the multiple regression models 1 and 2 are consistent with certain of the SEM findings in that the PG Research Climate (OCR) is significant in its influence on the PG Service Experience (SERVEXP) and the PG Service Quality (PGSQUAL). The regression diagnostics were also carried out for models 1 and 2 by examining the residuals, and the results revealed that none of the assumptions of the regression were violated. Firstly, a histogram of the residuals was investigated to check whether the normality assumption of the residuals holds and, secondly, a P-P plot was looked at. The residuals were seen to have a normal curve, and in the P-P plot a flattened S-shaped curve was noted in both models.
7 Concluding remarks, limitations of the study and recommendations for future research
As the attention to service quality in higher education heightens, there needs to be a corresponding increase in the use of its assessment tools. This study is another step towards improving the management of a specialised and very important sector, namely post graduate research. Attempting to improve the quality of the service significantly is a major undertaking for all organisations, and this is particularly true of PG research education. Given that Higher Education Institutions are charged with the responsibility of graduating students who are well grounded and can contribute to societal development and advancement, and also (in most countries) government research funding is contingent on 'on-time' PG student completion, this paper attempted to enhance our understanding of the PG service experience, by developing and evaluating a conceptual PG research service encounter model. However, as with all research, there are a few limitations to this study.
One of the challenges associated with electronic surveys is the lack of motivation. Alternate methods of reaching the respondents should be considered, and considering that the response rate was not very satisfactory, the findings should be interpreted with caution and merely regarded as indicative and exploratory.
It must be stressed that the sample size was a limitation of the study. Future research should ideally be based on a larger and a representative sample that can adequately span the population of postgraduate research students and facilitate greater generalisation.
The study is based on the respondents' recollections of past events, and it may be possible that these are not accurate. A suggestion could be for future research to be conducted whilst the PG students are still active, and nearing the completion of their research.
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Accepted: November 2012


text:
With a degree in photography and a minor in art,
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Monday, May 21, 2007
Simple Broccoli Soup with "Easy" Cheddar Croutons
The cheddar croutons you'll also see in the demo really make it special, as well as providing an excuse to use my culinary blow-torch!! The chewy, cheesy garnish is a perfect contrast to our minimalist soup approach.
I also hope that after watching this clip you seriously consider getting a good immersion blender, which are also sometimes called stick blenders. They are fairly cheap and an incredibly handy tool for making soup at home the simple pleasure it should be. It's also fantastic for making salad dressings and sauces, as you'll see in other clips. By the way, if you don't have one of these stick blenders, don't worry. Just carefully use your blender by blending a few small batches at a time to avoid the dreaded "flying scalding soup" situation. Enjoy.
2 heads broccoli
1 tbl butter
1 clove garlic
1 quart chicken stock
1/3 cup heavy cream
sliced bread
cheddar cheese
cayenne pepper
salt to taste
15 comments:
Thanks for the 2nd post of the day - I'm on my way to the store!
- May 21, 2007 at 2:08 PM
Thanks Chef John. My boys LOVE broccoli soup! I throw a potato in there to thicken it up just a tad and also use a bit of nutmeg.
I have to try your croutons...If it involves an open flame I'm on it.
- May 22, 2007 at 6:01 AM
- Matt said...
I saw the demo, bought the blender and made the soup. It came out great. The blender I bought on Amazon is a Cuisinart "Brushed Chrome Series". FYI -Only the bottom half is chrome. The top half is silver plastic. I froze half of the soup and next time I make it I'm going to seperate the freezer batch before I add the cream. - Matt
- May 31, 2007 at 1:24 PM
- Unknown said...
Hi John
Would you make this soup with carrots? If so, what is the carrots/stock ratio?
- September 2, 2008 at 11:34 AM
- Chef John said...
sure, just add enough stock to cover,after you puree you can add more stock to adjust.
- September 2, 2008 at 11:46 AM
how much is 1 quart into cups?
- November 13, 2008 at 5:45 AM
- Chef John said...
- November 13, 2008 at 5:38 PM
Would you mind telling me the brand name of the mini torch you used? I think you said it was a creme brulee torch. I've never made creme brulee or for that matter anything that requires a torch.
Can't wait to try this soup!
- April 22, 2009 at 8:45 PM
- Chef John said...
bed bath and beyond has them, i don't have the name of the brand.
- April 22, 2009 at 8:54 PM
New to the site and was wondering where I would find the directions for each receipe? Or do your followers just watch the video?
- April 2, 2011 at 4:33 PM
- Unknown said...
Delicious! I love this website! Thank you! We had stems left over and didn't want to waste them, made this with 2% milk and loved it!!
- January 4, 2013 at 9:35 PM
- Boogbite said...
This was so good! My husband makes your recipes all the time, but this was my first from Food Wishes. It's a keeper!
- March 10, 2013 at 10:59 PM
- Unknown said...
I loved the guy who wanted to know how many cups in a quart? Good soup!
- February 26, 2014 at 3:23 PM
- Amandee said...
what do you suggest as a pairing sandwich?
- January 19, 2016 at 6:01 PM
- Jessica said...
I'm a school teacher & reading a primary school in Florida. Last few minutes reading your blog post and understand that I have to need a blender to save my time to cook and making juice for my kids. So I think I buy a vitamix blender for blend fruits juice. I was searching post about best stick blender but I didn't find in your blog. My request to you please mention me a post about the best and cheap stick blender. I hope you will do it for me.
Waiting for your reply.
- July 23, 2019 at 11:56 AM


text:
Damn Shame: 17-Year-Old Dominican Kid Gets Killed For Accidentally Stepping On A Girl's Shoe! (Boyfriend Came Back & Stabbed Him) [English Subtitles]
In Dominican Republic
Subtitles by Jerry P
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