Influence of ischemic core muscle fibers on surface depolarization potentials in superfused cardiac tissue preparations: a simulation study

Thin-walled cardiac tissue samples superfused with oxygenated solutions are widely used in experimental studies. However, due to decreased oxygen supply and insufficient wash out of waste products in the inner layers of such preparations, electrophysiological functions could be compromised. Although the cascade of events triggered by cutting off perfusion is well known, it remains unclear as to which degree electrophysiological function in viable surface layers is affected by pathological processes occurring in adjacent tissue. Using a 3D numerical bidomain model, we aim to quantify the impact of superfusion-induced heterogeneities occurring in the depth of the tissue on impulse propagation in superficial layers. Simulations demonstrated that both the pattern of activation as well as the distribution of extracellular potentials close to the surface remain essentially unchanged. This was true also for the electrophysiological properties of cells in the surface layer, where most relevant depolarization parameters varied by less than 5.5 %. The main observed effect on the surface was related to action potential duration that shortened noticeably by 53 % as hypoxia deteriorated. Despite the known limitations of such experimental methods, we conclude that superfusion is adequate for studying impulse propagation and depolarization whereas repolarization studies should consider the influence of pathological processes taking place at the core of tissue sample

Beveridge on idleness

Beveridge's wartime proposals to eliminate idleness relied on the precepts of Keynesian economics and substantial extensions in the powers of central government to regulate industry and labour. Using convention theory, this paper demonstrates how these stipulations proved politically untenable. With the disappearance of full employment in the 1980s, the labour market problems Beveridge encountered in his youth have re-emerged accompanied by old problems of working poverty. Established forms of labour market analysis are obsolescent and employment rights disappear. The paper suggests a more decentralized and variable analysis of relations between work and idleness may offer a way forward

Systemic unfairness, access to justice, and futility: a framework

This article develops a conceptual framework for access to justice as a ground of judicial review in English law. We identify a hitherto undertheorised strand of cases which enable courts to review policy within proper constitutional bounds: the doctrine of systemic unfairness, which focuses on risks inherent in a system as a whole. In the context of access to justice, the relevant systemic risk is one of futility: a rational litigant’s inability to vindicate a meritorious claim. Proving the required facts in the context of judicial review proceedings is not an easy task. Litigants must look beyond the realisation of harm to the mechanisms which put access to justice at risk. It is only where the combined impact or cost of system-level risk is particularly severe that a policy-level challenge will succeed on access to justice grounds

Employee shareholder 'Status': Dismantling the contract of employment

On 1 September 2013, a new Employee Shareholder status came into force in the UK. Under its provisions, employees can be denied access to key employment rights such as unfair dismissal protection and redundancy pay in return for a shareholding in their employer valued at a minimum of £2,000. This article sets out the details of the new status, and evaluates its impact from several angles. The notion of the employee shareholder is difficult to square with the existing frameworks of UK Employment and Company Law; it is also unnecessary and exceedingly complex and thus fails to live up to the Coalition Government's proclaimed goals. Whilst extensive uptake is unlikely in consequence, the Employee Shareholder status nonetheless represents an unprecedented attack on the very core relationship of employment law, the contract of employment: divorced from employment protective norms, it loses its key public-regulatory function, the distribution of risk between workers and their employing entities. As a result, employment rights become subject to market forces in negotiation between workers and their employers. © Industrial Law Society; All rights reserved

What if your boss was an algorithm? Economic incentives, legal challenges, and the rise of artificial intelligence at work

Rapid advancements in automation will have a profound impact on labour markets. This paper focuses on a comparatively overlooked aspect of debates surrounding automation and the future of work: the rise of algorithmic management, enabled by hitherto infeasible forms of data collection and processing. As AI-driven decision-making is quickly becoming an important element of most employer functions, from hiring workers through to daily performance monitoring, received models of the legal regulation of employment relationships are faced with complex challenges – some of which, such as the rules of privacy and data protection, can be addressed through the careful adaptation and development of existing standards, whereas others, including notably management accountability for key workplace decision, may require a fundamental rethink of existing norms