Accurate assessment of the brake torque on a rope-braked cycle ergometer

Sports Engineering - A Monark cycle ergometer is a device globally used in physiological studies to measure the work and energy levels of exercising humans. In this paper a rope-braked cycle...     

Developing the evidence base for UK film strategy: the research process at the UK Film Council

The UK Film Council established a Research and Statistics Unit in order to gather data relating to film to inform the development of UK Film Council strategy and to provide an information service to the industry, government, the arts and cultural sector and the wider research community. The Research and Statistics Unit draws data from both official and unofficial sources and commissions its own special-purpose studies to gather information relevant to the strategic objectives of the Council. Key tasks are the measurement of the size of the market for film and the various elements of the film value chain, the performance of films supported by the UK Film Council and the performance of UK films in general. Special-purpose research projects currently include a detailed survey of the film production workforce, a study of the economic impact of the UK screen industries and studies of the social impact of local cinemas and the experience of Black- and Minority-led film production companies. A range of industry and official partners are collaborating in these studies. The Research and Statistics Unit also provides statistical and policy analysis relating to the wider policy environment of UK film, including issues such as the future of film tax incentives. This analysis has been developed within the HM Treasury ‘Green Book’ framework with particular reference to understanding market failure in relation to film. Central to the market failure argument is the cultural value of film in both its qualitative and its quantitative aspects. UK Film Council research is placed in the context of the literature on hedonic pricing and contingent valuation. The industrial challenges of increasing cultural value are discussed. Finally, consideration is given to the potential of film to contribute directly to ‘public value’.     

Henry Holt a-spinning in his grave: Literary agenting yesterday and today

The role of the literary agent and the reception granted agents by publishers have changed markedly over the course of the twentieth century. Henry Holt’s views of agents, written in the first decade of the century, help define the status and activities of agents at that time. These are compared with the role of agents today, using archival sources, the book trade literature, and interviews. Thomas L. Bonn, review editor of this journal, is a librarian, Library at State University College at Cortland. He is the author ofUnder Cover: An Illustrated History of American Mass Market Paperbacks andHeavy Traffic and High Culture: The New American Library as Literary Gatekeeper. He is working on a study of American literary agents.