Dallas Bower: a producer for television's early years, 1936-39

Having worked in the film industry as a sound technician and then director, Dallas Bower (1907-99) was appointed in 1936 as one of two senior producers at the start of the BBC Television service. Over the next three years Bower produced as well as directed many ground-breaking live programmes, including the opening-day broadcast on 2 November 1936; the BBC Television Demonstration Film (1937, his only surviving pre-war production); a modern-dress Julius Caesar (1938), in uniforms suggestive of a Fascist disctatorship; Act II of Tristan and Isolde (1938); Patrick Hamilton’s play Rope (1939), utilising extended single camera-shots camera-shots; numerous ballets, among them Checkmate (1938); and ambitious outside broadcasts from the film studios at Denham and Pinewood. Developing the working practices of producing for the theatre, film industry and radio, Bower was a key figure in defining the role of the creative television producer at the start of the medium. Among his innovations, according to his unpublished autobiographical fragment ‘Playback’ (written 1995), was the introduction of a drawn studio plan for the four cameras employed in all live broadcasts from Alexandra Palace. Using Bower’s writings (among them his 1936 book Plan for Cinema), his BECTU History Project interview, the BBC Written Archives and contemporary industry coverage, this article reconstructs the early development of the role of staff television producer in order to consider the questions of autonomy, agency and institutional constraints at the BBC in the pre-war years

Impact of agricultural management on soil aggregates and associated organic carbon fractions: analysis of long-term experiments in Europe

Inversion tillage is a commonly applied soil cultivation practice in Europe, which often has been blamed for deteriorating topsoil stability and organic carbon (OC) content. In this study, the potential to reverse these negative effects in the topsoil by alternative agricultural management practices are evaluated in seven long-term experiments (running from 8 to 54 years the moment of sampling) in five European countries (Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy and UK). Topsoil samples (0–15 cm) were collected and analysed to evaluate the effects of conservation tillage (reduced and no tillage) and increased organic inputs of different origin (farmyard manure, compost, crop residues) combined with inversion tillage on topsoil stability, soil aggregates and, within these, OC distribution using wet sieving after slaking. Effects from the treatments on the two main components of organic matter, i.e. particulate (POM) and mineral associated (MAOM), were also evaluated using dispersion and size fractionation. Reduced and no-tillage practices, as well as the additions of manure or compost, increased the aggregates mean weight diameter (MWD) (up to 49 % at the Belgian study site) and topsoil OC (up to 51 % at the Belgian study site), as well as the OC corresponding to the different aggregate size fractions. The incorporation of crop residues had a positive impact on the MWD but a less profound effect both on total OC and on OC associated with the different aggregates. A negative relationship between the mass and the OC content of the microaggregates (53–250 µm) was identified in all experiments. There was no effect on the mass of the macroaggregates and the occluded microaggregates (mM) within these macroaggregates, while the corresponding OC contents increased with less tillage and more organic inputs. Inversion tillage led to less POM within the mM, whereas the different organic inputs did not affect it. In all experiments where the total POM increased, the total soil organic carbon (SOC) was also affected positively. We concluded that the negative effects of inversion tillage on topsoil can be mitigated by reducing the tillage intensity or adding organic materials, optimally combined with non-inversion tillage methods.</p

Breaking the Intimate Screen: Pre-Recording, Special Effects and the Aesthetics of Early British Television

The technological constraints of early British television encouraged drama productions which emphasised the immediate, the enclosed and the close-up, an approach which Jason Jacobs described in the title of his seminal study as 'the intimate screen'. While Jacobs' book showed that this conception of early British television drama was only part of the reality, he did not focus on the role that special effects played in expanding the scope of the early television screen. This article will focus upon this role, showing that special effects were not only of use in expanding the temporal and spatial scope of television, but were also considered to be of interest to the audience as a way of exploring the new medium, receiving coverage in the popular press. These effects included pre-recorded film inserts, pre-recorded narration, multiple sets, model work and animation, combined with the live studio performances. Drawing upon archival research into television production files and scripts as well as audience responses and periodical coverage of television at the time of broadcast, this article will focus on telefantasy. This genre offered particular opportunities for utilising effects in ways that seemed appropriate for the experimentation with the form of television and for the drama narratives. This period also saw a variety of shifts within television as the BBC sought to determine a specific identity and understand the possibilities for the new medium. This research also incorporates the BBC's own research and internal dialogue concerning audiences and how their tastes should best be met, at a time when the television audience was not only growing in terms of number but was also expanding geographically and socially beyond the moneyed Londoners who could afford the first television sets and were within range of the Alexandra Palace transmissions. The primary case study for this article will be the 1949 production of H.G.Wells’ The Time Machine, which incorporated pre-recorded audio and film inserts, which expanded the narrative out of the live studio performance both temporally and spatially, with the effects work receiving coverage in the popular magazine Illustrated. Other productions considered will be the 1938 and 1948 productions of RUR, the 1948 production of Blithe Spirit, and the 1950 adaptation of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Despite the focus on telefantasy, this article will also include examples from other genres, both dramatic and factual, showing how the BBC's response to the changing television audience was to restrict drama to a more 'realistic' aesthetic and to move experimentation with televisual form to non-drama productions such as variety performances.<br/

Genetic quality assurance and genetic monitoring of laboratory mice and rats: FELASA Working Group Report

Genetic quality assurance (QA), including genetic monitoring (GeMo) of inbred strains and background characterization (BC) of genetically altered (GA) animal models, should be an essential component of any QA programme in laboratory animal facilities. Genetic quality control is as important for ensuring the validity of the animal model as health and microbiology monitoring are. It should be required that studies using laboratory rodents, mainly mice and rats, utilize genetically defined animals. This paper, presented by the FELASA Working Group on Genetic Quality Assurance and Genetic Monitoring of Laboratory Murines, describes the objectives of and available methods for genetic QA programmes in rodent facilities. The main goals of any genetic QA programme are: (a) to verify the authenticity and uniformity of inbred stains and substrains, thus ensuring a genetically reliable colony maintenance; (b) to detect possible genetic contamination; and (c) to precisely describe the genetic composition of GA lines. While this publication focuses mainly on mouse and rat genetic QA, the principles will apply to other rodent species some of which are briefly mentioned within the context of inbred and outbred stocks. </jats:p

Genetic quality assurance and genetic monitoring of laboratory mice and rats: FELASA Working Group Report

Genetic quality assurance (QA), including genetic monitoring (GeMo) of inbred strains and background characterization (BC) of genetically altered (GA) animal models, should be an essential component of any QA programme in laboratory animal facilities. Genetic quality control is as important for ensuring the validity of the animal model as health and microbiology monitoring are. It should be required that studies using laboratory rodents, mainly mice and rats, utilize genetically defined animals. This paper, presented by the FELASA Working Group on Genetic Quality Assurance and Genetic Monitoring of Laboratory Murines, describes the objectives of and available methods for genetic QA programmes in rodent facilities. The main goals of any genetic QA programme are: (a) to verify the authenticity and uniformity of inbred stains and substrains, thus ensuring a genetically reliable colony maintenance; (b) to detect possible genetic contamination; and (c) to precisely describe the genetic composition of GA lines. While this publication focuses mainly on mouse and rat genetic QA, the principles will apply to other rodent species some of which are briefly mentioned within the context of inbred and outbred stocks

Genetic quality assurance and genetic monitoring of laboratory mice and rats: FELASA Working Group Report

International audienc

Genetic quality assurance and genetic monitoring of laboratory mice and rats: FELASA Working Group Report.

Genetic quality assurance (QA), including genetic monitoring (GeMo) of inbred strains and background characterization (BC) of genetically altered (GA) animal models, should be an essential component of any QA programme in laboratory animal facilities. Genetic quality control is as important for ensuring the validity of the animal model as health and microbiology monitoring are. It should be required that studies using laboratory rodents, mainly mice and rats, utilize genetically defined animals. This paper, presented by the FELASA Working Group on Genetic Quality Assurance and Genetic Monitoring of Laboratory Murines, describes the objectives of and available methods for genetic QA programmes in rodent facilities. The main goals of any genetic QA programme are: (a) to verify the authenticity and uniformity of inbred stains and substrains, thus ensuring a genetically reliable colony maintenance; (b) to detect possible genetic contamination; and (c) to precisely describe the genetic composition of GA lines. While this publication focuses mainly on mouse and rat genetic QA, the principles will apply to other rodent species some of which are briefly mentioned within the context of inbred and outbred stocks

Supplemental material for Genetic quality assurance and genetic monitoring of laboratory mice and rats: FELASA Working Group Report

Supplemental Material for Genetic quality assurance and genetic monitoring of laboratory mice and rats: FELASA Working Group Report by Fernando Benavides, Thomas Rülicke, Jan-Bas Prins, James Bussell, Ferdinando Scavizzi, Paolo Cinelli, Yann Herault and Dirk Wedekind in Laboratory Animals</p

Impact of agricultural management on soil aggregates and associated organic carbon fractions: Analysis of long-term experiments in Europe

Abstract. Inversion tillage is a commonly applied soil cultivation practice in Europe, which though has been blamed for deteriorating topsoil stability and organic carbon (OC) content. In this study, the potential to reverse these negative effects in the topsoil by alternative agricultural management practices are evaluated in five long-term experiments (running from 8 to 54 years the moment of sampling) in Europe. Topsoil samples (0–15 cm) were collected and analysed to evaluate the effects of conservation tillage (reduced and no-tillage) or increased organic inputs of different origin (farmyard manure, compost, crop residues) combined with inversion tillage on topsoil stability, soil aggregates and within these, OC distribution. Effects from the treatments on the two main components of organic matter i.e., particulate (POM) and mineral associated (MAOM), were also evaluated. Reduced and no-tillage practices, as well as the additions of manure or compost, increased the aggregates mean weight diameter (MWD) and topsoil OC, as well as the OC corresponding to the different aggregate size fractions. The incorporation of crop residues had a positive impact on the MWD but a less profound effect on OC content both on total OC and on OC associated with the different aggregates. A negative relationship between the mass and the OC content of the microaggregates (53–250 μm) was identified in all experiments. There was no effect on the mass of the macroaggregates and the occluded microaggregates (mM) within these, while the corresponding OC contents increased with less tillage and more organic inputs. Inversion tillage led to less POM within the mM, whereas the different organic inputs did not affect it. In all experiments where the total POM increased, the total soil organic carbon (SOC) was also affected positively. We concluded that the negative effects of inversion tillage on topsoil can be mitigated by reducing the tillage intensity or by adding organic materials, optimally combined with non-inversion tillage methods. </jats:p