Chinese labour in the global economy: an introduction

This Introduction outlines the main purpose of this special issue volume: to analyse new forms of resistance by Chinese workers against conditions of super-exploitation. After an assessment of the new international division of labour, we provide an overview of Chinese production in the global economy, followed by an introduction of the contributions to this volume

Acute life-threatening extrinsic allergic alveolitis in a paint controller

Background Occupational diisocyanate-induced extrinsic allergic alveolitis (EAA) is a rare and probably underestimated diagnosis. Two acute occupational EAA cases have been described in this context, but neither of them concerned hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) exposure. Aims To investigate the cause of a life-threatening EAA arising at work in a healthy 30-year-old female paint quality controller. Methods Occupational medical assessment, workplace evaluation, airborne and biological monitoring and immunodermatological tests. Results Diagnosis of EAA relied on congruent clinical and radiological information, confirmed occupational HDI exposure and positive IgG antibodies and patch tests. The patient worked in a small laboratory for 7 years, only occasionally using HDI-containing hardeners. While working with HDI for 6 h, she developed breathlessness, rapidly progressing to severe respiratory failure. Workplace HDI airborne exposure values ranged from undetectable levels to 4.25 p.p.b. Biological monitoring of urinary hexamethylene diamine in co-workers ranged from <1.0 to 15.4 μg/g creatinine. Patch tests 8 months later showed delayed skin reaction to HDI at 48 h. Subsequent skin biopsy showed spongiotic dermatitis with infiltration of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Conclusions We believe this is the first reported case of acute life-threatening EAA following exposure to HDI. Low concentrations of airborne HDI and relatively high urinary hexamethylene diamine suggest significant skin absorption of HDI could have significantly contributed to the development of this acute occupational EA

Commodification and ‘the commons’: the politics of privatising public water in Greece and Portugal during the Eurozone Crisis

In response to the Eurozone crisis, austerity and restructuring has been imposed on the European Union’s (EU) peripheral member states in order to receive financial bailout loans. In addition to cuts in funding of essential public services, cuts in public sector employment and further liberalisation of labour markets, this has also included pressure towards the privatisation of state assets. And yet, workers have not simply accepted these restructuring pressures. They have organised and fought back against austerity and enforced privatisation. Based on a historical materialist perspective and following a strategy of incorporated comparison, in this paper we will comparatively assess the struggles against enforced water privatisation in Greece and Portugal set against the background of the structuring conditions surrounding the Eurozone crisis

Uneven and combined development and unequal exchange: the second wind of neoliberal ‘free trade’?

With capitalist social relations emerging in a prior system of absolutist states in Europe, the outward expansion of capitalism through conditions of uneven and combined development became dependent on the existence of multiple political entities. States in turn are brought into relations of unequal exchange within the global economy. This article analyses the way in which current neoliberal ‘free trade’ policies are related to these fundamental capitalist dynamics, deepening further processes of uneven and combined development as well as unequal exchange

Investigating the Bivalve Tree of Life -- an exemplar-based approach combining molecular and novel morphological characters.

To re-evaluate the relationships of the major bivalve lineages, we amassed detailed morpho-anatomical, ultrastructural and molecular sequence data for a targeted selection of exemplar bivalves spanning the phylogenetic diversity of the class. We included molecular data for 103 bivalve species (up to five markers) and also analysed a subset of taxa with four additional nuclear protein-encoding genes. Novel as well as historically employed morphological characters were explored, and we systematically disassembled widely used descriptors such as gill and stomach ‘types’. Phylogenetic analyses, conducted using parsimony direct optimisation and probabilistic methods on static alignments (maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference) of the molecular data, both alone and in combination with morphological characters, offer a robust test of bivalve relationships. A calibrated phylogeny also provided insights into the tempo of bivalve evolution. Finally, an analysis of the informativeness of morphological characters showed that sperm ultrastructure characters are among the best morphological features to diagnose bivalve clades, followed by characters of the shell, including its microstructure. Our study found support for monophyly of most broadly recognised higher bivalve taxa, although support was not uniform for Protobranchia. However, monophyly of the bivalves with protobranchiate gills was the best-supported hypothesis with incremental morphological and/or molecular sequence data. Autobranchia, Pteriomorphia, Heteroconchia, Palaeoheterodonta, Archiheterodonta, Euheterodonta, Anomalodesmata and Imparidentia new clade ( = Euheterodonta excluding Anomalodesmata) were recovered across analyses, irrespective of data treatment or analytical framework. Another clade supported by our analyses but not formally recognised in the literature includes Palaeoheterodonta and Archiheterodonta, which emerged under multiple analytical conditions. The origin and diversification of each of these major clades is Cambrian or Ordovician, except for Archiheterodonta, which diverged from Palaeoheterodonta during the Cambrian, but diversified during the Mesozoic. Although the radiation of some lineages was shifted towards the Palaeozoic (Pteriomorphia, Anomalodesmata), or presented a gap between origin and diversification (Archiheterodonta, Unionida), Imparidentia showed steady diversification through the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic. Finally, a classification system with six major monophyletic lineages is proposed to comprise modern Bivalvia: Protobranchia, Pteriomorphia, Palaeoheterodonta, Archiheterodonta, Anomalodesmata and Imparidentia

The liver in amoebic disease

During the past 8 years, 305 cases of amoebic disease have been examined at the Department of Diagnostic Radio-isotopes of the H. F. Verwoerd Hospital, Pretoria. Analysis of the data obtained by means of scintigraphy in 247 of these patients indicates that in vivo scintigraphy of the liver is a valuable method for the investigation of many aspects of the disease. Our observations on the localisation of the abscesses, the relationship between localisation and the frequency of complications, the macroscopical changes in the liver during the disease, the presence of a generalised reaction of the liver parenchyma to amoebae in some cases, and the healing rate of abscesses under different types of treatment, are reported in this article.S. Afr. Med. J., 48, 308 (1974)

Limits on axion and light Higgs boson production in Y(1S) decays

We have searched for axion and light Higgs boson production in the channel Y(1S) → (a0 or h0)+gamma, where the non-interacting axion a0 and the Higgs boson h0 do not decay in the detector. We find no evidence for an axion and give an upper limit, Br(Y(1S) -&gt; a0 gamma) &lt;4.0x10(-5) (90% CL), for long-lived axions. Combining our limit with the previous search in J/Psi decays, we are able to rule out the axion in the standard model with first order QCD corrections. Our Y(1S) data also rule out a Higgs boson with mass m&lt;86 MeV

Monetization methods for evaluating investments in electricity system resilience to extreme weather and climate change

Extreme weather events and associated damages have been increasing and these trends are expected to continue. Actions are being taken to enhance electricity system resilience. However, the justification for capital investments on resilience requires utilities to justify that the economic benefits outweigh the costs. This paper reviews the types of resilience measures being analyzed in cost-benefit analyses and addresses opportunities for improvement in characterizing the benefits for investments that enhance the resilience of electricity systems