Creativity and commerce: Michael Klinger and new film history

The crisis in film studies and history concerning their legitimacy and objectives has provoked a reinvigoration of scholarly energy in historical enquiry. 'New film history' attempts to address the concerns of historians and film scholars by working self-reflexively with an expanded range of sources and a wider conception of 'film' as a dynamic set of processes rather than a series of texts. The practice of new film history is here exemplified through a detailed case study of the independent British producer Michael Klinger (active 1961-87) with a specific focus on his unsuccessful attempt to produce a war film, Green Beach, based on a memoir of the Dieppe raid (August 1942). This case study demonstrates the importance of analysing the producer's role in understanding the complexities of film-making, the continual struggle to balance the competing demands of creativity and commerce. In addition, its subject matter - an undercover raid and a Jewish hero - disturbed the dominant myths concerning the Second World War, creating what turned out to be intractable ideological as well as financial problems. The paper concludes that the concerns of film historians need to engage with broader cultural and social histories. © 2010 Taylor & Francis

Peer Effects in Drug Use and Sex Among College Students

Past research suggests that congregating delinquent youth increases their likelihood of problem behavior. We test for analogous peer effects in the drug use and sexual behavior of male ( n = 279) and female ( n = 435) college students, using data on the characteristics of first-year roommates to whom they were randomly assigned. We find that males who reported binge drinking in high school drink much more in college if assigned a roommate who also binge drank in high school than if assigned a nonbinge-drinking roommate. No such multiplier effect is observed for females, nor are multiplier effects observed for marijuana use or sexual behavior for either males or females. Students who did not engage in these behaviors in high school do not appear to be affected by their roommates’ high school behavior.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44594/1/10802_2005_Article_3576.pd

Vulnerability and adaptation of US shellfisheries to ocean acidification

Ocean acidification is a global, long-term problem whose ultimate solution requires carbon dioxide reduction at a scope and scale that will take decades to accomplish successfully. Until that is achieved, feasible and locally relevant adaptation and mitigation measures are needed. To help to prioritize societal responses to ocean acidification, we present a spatially explicit, multidisciplinary vulnerability analysis of coastal human communities in the United States. We focus our analysis on shelled mollusc harvests, which are likely to be harmed by ocean acidification. Our results highlight US regions most vulnerable to ocean acidification (and why), important knowledge and information gaps, and opportunities to adapt through local actions. The research illustrates the benefits of integrating natural and social sciences to identify actions and other opportunities while policy, stakeholders and scientists are still in relatively early stages of developing research plans and responses to ocean acidification.This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the Nature Publishing Group and can be found at: http://www.nature.com/nclimate/index.html

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

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Mapping and characterisation of key biotic and physical attributes of the Torres Strait ecosystem: CRC-TS task number: T2.1 final report

The Torres Strait Protected Zone (TSPZ) is a unique area of ecological and cultural significance, shared under an international treaty with Papua New Guinea. As a joint management area, activities such as commercial fishing and traditional hunting occur with primary natural resource conservation goals. Managers need information on habitats and biodiversity distribution and risks to ensure these activities are conducted sustainably. However, while broad seabed habitat information was available for much of the TSPZ from past projects, there were significant gaps and very limited species level data. From 2003 to 2006, the Torres Strait Mapping and Characterisation Project has mapped habitats and their associated biodiversity across the length and breadth of the Protected Zone to provide information that will help managers with regional planning and to ensure that fisheries are ecologically sustainable, as required by environmental protection legislation.\ud \ud Comprehensive information on the biodiversity of the seabed was acquired by visiting almost 200 sites, representing a wide range of known environments, during two 1-month-long voyages on two vessels and deploying several types of devices such as: towed video and digital cameras, an epibenthic sled and a research trawl to collect samples for more detailed data about plants, invertebrates and fishes on the seabed. Data were collected and processed from ~100 km of towed video and >10,000 photos, and from sorting and identification of ~2,000 benthic samples, ~1,200 seabed fish samples, and ~200 sediment samples. The project has analysed this information and produced all of the outputs as originally proposed; these included:\ud \ud • Images and videos of seabed habitat types and fishes, including more than 120 substratum and biological habitat component types. An inventory of more than 3,600 species of benthos, bycatch and fishes, with catalogued museum voucher specimens, many of which were new species, and a database of almost 25,000 records of species distribution and abundance on the seabed.\ud \ud • Identification of the key environmental variables likely to be important in structuring seabed distributions, and predictive models of bio-physical relationships between seabed species, their assemblages and the physical environment.\ud \ud • Maps of the distribution and abundance of ~250 seabed species throughout the TSPZ region.\ud \ud • Estimates of the likely extent of past effects of trawling on benthos and bycatch over the entire TSPZ region, which indicated that trawl effort had a significant effect on the biomass of 8.2% of ~250 species mapped; with negative change of -3% to -18% for 3.5% of species and positive change of +3% to +63% for 4.7% of species.\ud \ud • Estimates of exposure to trawl effort showed that about 80% of the ~250 species mapped had low or very low exposure, and at the other extreme about 21 species had moderate-high to very-high exposure - of these species, after taking relative catch rates into account, six had moderate-high to very high estimates of proportion caught annually and 13 had moderate-low. The remainder (237) had low or very low estimates of proportion caught annually.\ud \ud • Indicators based on qualitative recovery ranks showed that about 9 species stood out as being at higher relative risk. Another, additional, quantitative absolute sustainability indicator showed that one species exceeded a limit reference point while three others exceeded one or two conservative reference points. Another 10 species were also listed due to uncertainty in parameters though they were below the sustainability reference points. Further research is recommended to address key uncertainties in estimates of these indicators.\ud \ud A key output from the project is the identification, by means of the trawl exposure and sustainability indicators, of species at risk or potentially at risk from trawling. Different species were highlighted by different indicators, though there was some overlap. One indicator was both quantitative and directly related to sustainability, with biologically based reference points - while one species appeared to be at risk and another three species exceeded conservative reference points, there is uncertainty that requires a more precautionary response. Hence, the top ranked species for all indicators were listed and recommended to be considered for stakeholder consultation regarding future action; options may include clarification of the identified uncertainties, monitoring of species at risk, and management interventions that reduce risk or combinations of these actions.\ud \ud It is also recommended that long-term monitoring of trends in ecological condition of identified key seabed habitats and constituent species be implemented to assess responses to regional pressures, including climate change. Candidate habitats should include those that have been demonstrated to be particularly biodiverse such as vegetated areas and epibenthic gardens. The seabed may well be vulnerable to climate change as there is an expectation that the thermocline may deepen and upwellings may become weaker and less frequent, with potential consequences for productive habitat dependent on nutrients from such sources.\ud \ud Further work is needed to address the uncertainties in the risk assessments that arise from uncertainties in estimates of catchability and natural mortality rates. Currently, the uncertainty is such that several additional species could exceed the reference points and many species with unknown mortality might be of concern. It is also possible that clarification of these uncertainties may show that species currently thought to be at risk or potentially at risk may be demonstrated to be of no sustainability concern. Thus, it is recommended that further studies of catchabilities and natural mortality rates be conducted to address this key uncertainty for affected species. Such results are likely to have wide application in risk assessments being conducted in multiple jurisdictions.\ud \ud Many fisheries in Australia are conducting qualitative approaches to Ecological Risk Assessments. However, the results of the more quantitative sustainability indicators applied here raise concerns about the reliability of the qualitative approaches, which have not been benchmarked because of the lack of a suitable test bed. Such a test bed is now available with this Torres Strait seabed mapping and characterisation dataset and an assessment of the performance of the qualitative methods is warranted. This seabed mapping dataset also provides an opportunity to develop condition and trend and vulnerability indicators for seabed communities and ecosystems that are needed to meet the increasing requirement for ecosystem-based management approaches.\ud \ud A follow on project supported by the Marine and Tropical Science Research Facility is quantifying visible species from the available towed camera video to fill significant gaps in areas that were too rough for sampling and are currently lacking species information.\ud \ud Another project supported by the Commonwealth Environment Research Fund National Marine Biodiversity Hub will use the Torres Strait seabed mapping dataset in comparisons with other datasets to test the inter-regional utility of physical variables and cross-taxonomic patterns as surrogates for application in marine planning at a national scale.\ud \ud Other further opportunities include: sorting and identification of remaining samples that could not be completed within the scope of the project, and taxonomic work to properly identify the more difficult specimens. These activities would provide full utilization of the samples and deliver additional value, with expected benefits for greater understanding of the seabed ecosystem, fishery sustainability, and ongoing regional marine planning