Early independent production entrepreneurs in UK television: agents of a neo-liberal intervention

This essay focuses on the operation of the UK independent television production sector in the context of the entrepreneurial aspirations of company owners in the 1990s. The calculative practices used running these small and medium sized companies are examined and the experiences in managing them are mapped as they negotiated an evolving fitness landscape. Analysis is provided of the strategies adopted including the need to develop reputation and relational contracts to secure a constant flow of commissions. Conclusions are drawn about this transitional phase of entrepreneurship in this sector ahead of Government intervention in the market through imposing new terms of trade between independent production companies and broadcasters

The Transnational Investigation of Organised Modern Slavery: A Critical Review of the use of Joint Investigation Teams to Investigate and Disrupt Transnational Modern Slavery in the United Kingdom

In 2015 the United Kingdom (UK) introduced the Modern Slavery Act to help improve the response to the threat posed by the trafficking of human beings both within the UK and across its borders. Herewith, this paper presents a rapid evidence assessment of the development of joint investigation teams and their role in human trafficking investigations from a UK perspective. There is little publicly available information about the role of joint investigation teams and this paper addresses that knowledge gap by analysing existing policy-oriented data and situating the findings within the context of other international responses to human trafficking

Determinants of satisfaction with information and additional information-seeking behaviour for the pertussis vaccination given during pregnancy

Objectives: Information search and processing is critical to the vaccine decision-making process. However, the role of drivers of information satisfaction and search is not fully understood. Here, we investigated the predictive potential of psychosocial characteristics related to satisfaction with information and additional information-seeking about the pertussis vaccine currently recommended during pregnancy. Design: Cross-sectional online questionnaire study. Methods: A UK based sample of 314 women who had given birth during the previous six months was recruited to participate. The questionnaire included measures of the psycho-social predictors: trust, coping strategies, attitude towards vaccine information-seeking behaviour and risk perception of vaccination during pregnancy, and measures of two outcome variables: satisfaction with information received from a health care professional and whether participants engaged in vaccine information-seeking behaviour. Results: Trust in health care professionals, a perceived behavioural control of own vaccine information-seeking behaviour, and an engaged problem-focused strategy for coping with stress were significant predictors of satisfaction with official information given by a health care professional. 40% of women sought out additional information about vaccination however, none of the psychosocial factors measured significantly predicted the behaviour. Conclusions: We found that high trust in health care professionals, a perceived ability to seek out accurate information about vaccines and actively focusing on problems as a means of coping with stress, drives satisfaction in official vaccine information. We also developed measures of these variables that could be used in further research

Music video and commercials production in the UK screen industries: An overlooked dynamo of innovation and success

This report evaluates the significance of the AHRC-funded “Fifty Years of British Music Video” research project and its written and digital outputs on existing knowledge of the UK screen industries. It notes that heretofore music video, like advertising, has been a neglected domain of research commissioned by the British Film Institute and of work archived by the BFI’s National Film Archive. It has also been overlooked in reports commissioned by the Government into the UK’s creative industries. Yet the project’s research findings, taken in collaboration with other past and present research on British film and television, suggest that the sector has played a crucial role in talent development and innovation. The report urges the need for further research in this area

Handmaidens of consolidation in the UK television production sector

This article analyses the role of intermediaries in the evolution of the UK TV production sector tracking the processes which in the past two decades have underpinned consolidation in the UK TV production sector. The research involved elite interviews with executives at ten UK Independent production companies and two financial intermediaries as well as trade bodies and civil servants. The epistemic work of intermediaries shape transactions in a way that aligned with the buyers’ desire to grow their portfolio of companies by establishing the fitness of companies for acquisition. Through classification, clustering and sorting, they confirm the notion (Knorr Cetina and Preda 2001, 30–31) that knowledge can be treated as a commodity – ‘a more or less valid representation of the world which is “inscribed in and constitutive of economic objects as relevant to the practical activities of economic agents” and purposefully assembled

Effects of Iron Compounds Fed to Gestating And Lactating Sows on the Hematology and Performance of the Baby Pig

The objective of this experiment was to determine the efficacy of certain iron products fed to gestating and lactating sows in preventing baby pig anemia by increasing placental and mammary transfer of iron. Hemoglobin levels and baby pig weights were for evaluation

Can a witness report hearsay evidence unintentionally? The effects of discussion on eyewitness memory

When eyewitnesses are exposed to misinformation about an event from a co-witness, they often incorporate this misinformation in their recall of the event. The current research aimed to investigate whether this memory conformity phenomenon is due to change in the witness's memory for the event, or to social pressures to conform to the co-witness's account. Participants were shown a crime video and then asked to discuss the video in groups, with some receiving misinformation about the event from their discussion partners. After a one week delay some participants were warned about possible misinformation before all participants provided their own account of the event. In Study 1, participants made remember/know judgments about the items recalled, and in Study 2 they indicated the source of their memories. Co-witness information was incorporated into participants' testimonies, and this effect was not reduced by warnings or source monitoring instructions, suggesting memory change may have occurred. However, there was some indication that remember/know judgments may help distinguish between "real" memories and co-witness information