Hollywood’s Raid on Entebbe : Behind the Scenes of the United States-Israel alliance

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Diplomatic History following peer review. Under embargo until 8 December 2018. The version of record: Tony Shaw, and Giora Goodman, ‘Hollywood’s Raid on Entebbe: Behind the Scenes of the United States-Israel Alliance’, Diplomatic History, dhx090, December 2017, is available online at: doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/dh/dhx090. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: [email protected] article examines the popular cultural dimensions of the U.S.-Israeli alliance. Focusing on the fierce competition that took place between American and Israeli filmmakers to re-enact the Israeli military's Entebbe raid of July 1976, it demonstrates that Hollywood and Israel enjoyed an extraordinarily close relationship in the 1970s. The article argues that Hollywood's "Entebbe episode" points to the importance of investigating the role of propaganda and public diplomacy in the Arab-Israeli conflict and to the value of exploring the hidden complexities of America's pro-Israel community.Peer reviewe

Hollywood's Changing Takes on Terrorism : Reviewing John Huston's We Were Strangers (1949)

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version. The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 52 (2), April 2017, published by SAGE Publishing.Scholarship on the cinematic representation of terrorism has grown increasingly sophisticated recently, deepening the debate about the mass media's relationship to political violence. This article contributes to this debate by taking a long view of Hollywood's treatment of terrorism and by examining, in particular, how US filmmakers' definition of terrorism has varied significantly from the early twentieth century through to the present day. The article focuses on a neglected film about Cuban terrorism made during the post-Second World War Red Scare, John Huston's We Were Strangers. Huston's thriller was the first Hollywood production that not only depicted terrorists as heroes but also appeared to justify the killing of innocent civilians for political purposes. By detailing the production of We Were Strangers, the article gives an insight into the obstacles that US filmmakers have typically met when touching on the subject of terrorism – obstacles that, in the case of We Were Strangers, helped hobble the film aesthetically and politically. By analysing the reception of We Were Strangers, the article points to the risks in jumping to conclusions about the impact that screen images of terrorism have had – or might now have – on critical and public opinion.Peer reviewe

The Cold War on Film - Then and Now : Introduction

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television on 18 February 2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/01439685.2015.1134105.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

The Work of Lionel Britton

This thesis is the first long study of the forgotten novelist and playwright Lionel Britton, whose creative works were all published in the 1930s. Throughout, the emphasis is on his only published novel, the very long and experimental Hunger and Love (1931). The Lionel Britton Collection at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, U. S. A., along with many unpublished materials of Britton's, holds former states of the novel, and I use a large amount of this material in my thesis; I suggest reasons why the content of the typescripts was gradually changed from the 1920s to 1930. Another vital issue is Britton's status as a working-class author, and it is my contention that Hunger and Love is an important working-class novel, although it has been almost totally neglected by the critics recovering this sub-genre. My thesis also addresses modernism in working-class fiction, a subject which has all too often been ignored by the almost automatic foregrounding of realism, and is a strong feature of Hunger and Love. Following this, my thesis broadens out to cover political minorities represented as outsiders in literature, and deals with the unmarried woman, the homosexual and the non-white, comparing them with the working-class protagonist in Hunger and Love. The concluding chapter involves the utopias and dystopias of minority groups, with special reference to Britton's Brain (1930) and Spacetime Inn (1932), which as plays are very unusual to the science fiction genre

Playing our part: the work of graduate and registered mental health nurses. An independent review by the Foundation of Nursing Studies

Playing our Part was completed early in 2017 just as the UK Prime Minister announced a call to action on mental health. The Foundation of Nursing Studies (FoNS) welcomes any renewed political focus on the mental health agenda. We believe graduate and registered mental health nurses are well placed to play a significant part in public mental health and wellbeing, and this report offers some proposals to optimise this role. It is important to note that the report focuses on the work of graduate and registered mental health nurses; in doing so and in suggesting ways of improvement, we are clear the beneficiaries must be people who experience mental illness. This work did not set out to comment on health and social care funding or its impact on mental health frontline services, but debate and arguments on funding and poor service provision featured constantly during the course of the work. There are significant moves to change health and social care through new workforce roles across the UK in response to mental health policies. The existing workforce must accommodate and adapt to these changes and work alongside those in the new roles. However, supervision requirements and new partnerships will need to be thought through with purpose. From the perspective of this report, it is important that workforce planners, employers and healthcare professionals do not focus on delivering numbers and creating ‘new’ workforce personnel without proper consideration of the deployment and redeployment of graduate and registered mental health nurses. Meanwhile, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is undertaking a wide-ranging consultation on nursing and midwifery competencies and standards. Graduate and registered mental health nurses are concerned this could lead to a single ‘generic’ nurse registration, meaning they will lose their specialist identity. This cannot occur without new legislation so the NMC’s consultative work throughout 2017 will not change the different fields of registration. However, legislation will be needed to accommodate the new nursing associate role – now to be regulated by the NMC – so single registration could be brought forward at that point. A clear evidence base will be needed to support any move to ‘absorb’ mental health nursing in this way, 65 years after it was recognised as a specialist registration (Carr et al., 1980). In this report the term ‘we’ is often used. To be clear, this shorthand indicates that FoNS is reporting the views of respondents and consultees with expertise in mental health services, education, research and clinical practice; the views are not necessarily those of the Foundation. In undertaking this work, we have had to navigate the complexities of the health and social care system and professional regulation, but we hope we have cut through these to add clarity to the potential future role of graduate and registered mental health nurses. It is in this spirit of facilitating progress that FoNS is pleased to present this report

El rendimiento mejora en ausencia de espectadores: datos pareados de luchadores de artes marciales mixtas durante la COVID-19

[ES] Durante la COVID-19, los deportistas han tenido que competir sin público. Se ha demostrado que el rendimiento deportivo y cognitivo puede aumentar o disminuir al competir con o sin espectadores, lo se ha denominado "facilitación social". Este estudio investigó este efecto mediante un experimento naturalista debido a la pandemia actual, en un deporte, las artes marciales mixtas (MMA), en el que nunca había sido analizado. Se construyó una variable de rendimiento y se recopilaron datos de 86 luchadores que compitieron durante la COVID-19, comparándolos con sus historiales de competiciones anteriores. En total, se analizaron 586 combates. Se exploró la distribución de datos y los supuestos estadísticos, encontrando una distribución no normal. Seguidamente, se realizó un test de homogeneidad marginal y un test de Rangos con Signo de Wilcoxon. Los resultados mostraron que los luchadores de MMA que ganaron su combate sin audiencia mostraron un peor rendimiento en combates anteriores, con espectadores. Este estudio profundiza en la noción de efectos de facilitación social y sugiere que puede existir la necesidad de incorporar de forma proactiva alternativas de entrenamiento, que podrían mitigar la disminución de rendimiento en luchadores propensos a sufrir este efecto negativo debido a estímulos externos, como son los espectadores. Sin embargo, debido a las observaciones limitadas en la condición de sin espectadores, los resultados de este estudio deben interpretarse con cautela y considerarse muy preliminares.[EN] uring COVID-19, athletes have been forced to compete in the absence of audience. Athletic and cognitive performance have been shown to be both incremented and decremented when competing either with or without audience, something that has been termed ‘social facilitation’. The current study sought to investigate this effect in a naturalistic experiment due to the current pandemic, in a sport in which the effect has never been examined; mixed martial arts (MMA). A performance variable was constructed, and data from 86 fighters who competed during COVID-19 were collected and compared to previous competition history. In total, 586 bouts were analyzed. Data distribution and assumptions were explored in which non-normal distribution was found. Subsequently, a test of marginal homogeneity and a Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test were performed. The results showed that MMA fighters who won their bout without audience displayed poorer performance’s in previous bouts, which were attended by audience. The current study further explores the notion of social facilitation effects and suggests there may be a need to pro-actively incorporate training alternatives that could mitigate performance decrements in fighters who are prone to negative effects due to external stimuli, such as an audience. However, due to the limited observations in the non-audience condition the study results should be interpreted cautiously and considered highly preliminary.[PT] Durante a COVID-19, os atletas foram forçados a competir na ausência de público. Foi demonstrado que o desempenho atlético e cognitivo aumenta e diminui ao competir com ou sem público, algo que foi denominado “facilitação social”. O presente estudo procurou investigar esse efeito num experimento natural devido à pandemia atual, num desporto em que o efeito nunca foi examinado: artes marciais mistas (MMA). Uma variável de desempenho foi construída e dados de 86 lutadores que competiram durante a COVID-19 foram recolhidos e comparados com o histórico de competições anteriores. No total, 586 lutas foram analisadas. A distribuição dos dados e os pressupostos foram explorados, nos quais foi encontrada uma distribuição não normal. Posteriormente, foi realizado um teste de homogeneidade marginal e um teste de Wilcoxon Signed Ranks. Os resultados mostraram que lutadores de MMA que venceram a luta sem público apresentaram piores desempenhos nas lutas anteriores, que contaram com a presença do público. O estudo atual explora ainda a noção de efeitos de facilitação social e sugere que pode haver uma necessidade de incorporar proativamente alternativas de treino que poderiam mitigar decréscimos de desempenho em lutadores que são propensos a efeitos negativos devido a estímulos externos, como uma audiência. No entanto, devido às observações limitadas na condição de não público, os resultados do estudo devem ser interpretados com cautela e considerados altamente preliminares

Using nonequilibrium fluctuation theorems to understand and correct errors in equilibrium and nonequilibrium discrete Langevin dynamics simulations

Common algorithms for computationally simulating Langevin dynamics must discretize the stochastic differential equations of motion. These resulting finite time step integrators necessarily have several practical issues in common: Microscopic reversibility is violated, the sampled stationary distribution differs from the desired equilibrium distribution, and the work accumulated in nonequilibrium simulations is not directly usable in estimators based on nonequilibrium work theorems. Here, we show that even with a time-independent Hamiltonian, finite time step Langevin integrators can be thought of as a driven, nonequilibrium physical process. Once an appropriate work-like quantity is defined -- here called the shadow work -- recently developed nonequilibrium fluctuation theorems can be used to measure or correct for the errors introduced by the use of finite time steps. In particular, we demonstrate that amending estimators based on nonequilibrium work theorems to include this shadow work removes the time step dependent error from estimates of free energies. We also quantify, for the first time, the magnitude of deviations between the sampled stationary distribution and the desired equilibrium distribution for equilibrium Langevin simulations of solvated systems of varying size. While these deviations can be large, they can be eliminated altogether by Metropolization or greatly diminished by small reductions in the time step. Through this connection with driven processes, further developments in nonequilibrium fluctuation theorems can provide additional analytical tools for dealing with errors in finite time step integrators.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

IT Governance and Portfolio Management: An Exploration of the Superior IT Project Investment Portfolios

In this study, we explore the characteristics with the IT project investments for improving the IT portfolio superiority. Our methodology is based on the computational modeling approach. The preliminary findings implicate that a firm could manage to improve on the selectivity, heterogeneity, and scalability in the IT project investments for portfolio selection

Innovation and adaptation in the Ontario grape and wine industry: An integrated, transdisciplinary response to climate change

With scientific consensus supporting a 4oC increase in global mean temperature over the next century and increased frequency of severe weather events, adaptation to climate change is critical. Given the dynamic and complex nature of climate change, a transdisciplinary approach toward adaptation can create an environment that supports knowledge sharing and innovation, improving existing strategies and creating new ones. The Ontario wine industry provides a case study to illustrate the benefits of this approach. We describe the formation and work of the Ontario Grape and Wine Research Network within this context, and present some preliminary results to highlight the opportunities for innovation that will drive the successful adaption of the Ontario grape and wine industry.Thank you to all our partners in The Ontario Grape and Wine Research Network. The support of the Ontario Research Fund for Research Excellence Funding (Round 5), Ontario Grape and Wine Research Inc., the Wine Council of Ontario, the Grape Growers of Ontario, and the Winery and Growers Alliance of Ontario is gratefully acknowledged