Approaching the socialist factory and its workforce: considerations from fieldwork in (former) Yugoslavia

The socialist factory, as the ‘incubator’ of the new socialist (wo)man, is a productive entry point for the study of socialist modernization and its contradictions. By outlining some theoretical and methodological insights gathered through field-research in factories in former Yugoslavia, we seek to connect the state of labour history in the Balkans to recent breakthroughs made by labour historians of other socialist countries. The first part of this article sketches some of the specificities of the Yugoslav self-managed factory and its heterogeneous workforce. It presents the ambiguous relationship between workers and the factory and demonstrates the variety of life trajectories for workers in Yugoslav state-socialism (from model communists to alienated workers). The second part engages with the available sources for conducting research inside and outside the factory advocating an approach which combines factory and local archives, print media and oral history

The peatland map of Europe

Based on the ‘European Mires Book’ of the International Mire Conservation Group (IMCG), this article provides a composite map of national datasets as the first comprehensive peatland map for the whole of Europe. We also present estimates of the extent of peatlands and mires in each European country individually and for the entire continent. A minimum peat thickness criterion has not been strictly applied, to allow for (often historically determined) country-specific definitions. Our ‘peatland’ concept includes all ‘mires’, which are peatlands where peat is being formed. The map was constructed by merging national datasets in GIS while maintaining the mapping scales of the original input data. This ‘bottom-up’ approach indicates that the overall area of peatland in Europe is 593,727 km². Mires were found to cover more than 320,000 km² (around 54 % of the total peatland area). If shallow-peat lands (< 30 cm peat) in European Russia are also taken into account, the total peatland area in Europe is more than 1,000,000 km2, which is almost 10 % of the total surface area. Composite inventories of national peatland information, as presented here for Europe, may serve to identify gaps and priority areas for field survey, and help to cross-check and calibrate remote sensing based mapping approaches

Does the presence of an unerupted lower third molar influence the risk of mandibular angle and condylar fractures?

It has been suggested that unerupted lower third molars (M3) increase the fragility of the mandibular angle and simultaneously decrease the risk of condylar fracture. However, it is unknown whether this applies regardless of the direction and point of impact of the traumatic force. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of an unerupted M3 on the fragility of the angle and condyle in terms of a force acting from different directions and affecting different regions of the mandible. Computed tomography scans of a human mandible and finite element methodology were used to obtain two three-dimensional models: a model with, and the other without an unerupted M3. A force of 2000 N was applied to three different regions of the models: the symphysis, ipsilateral body, and contralateral body, respectively. When the force was applied to the mandibular body, the results revealed increased angle fragility in cases with unerupted M3. When the force was applied to the symphysis, the condyle region showed higher fragility, irrespective of the presence of an unerupted M3. In summary, fragility of the angle and condyle regions depends on the presence of an unerupted M3 and on the direction and point of impact of the force

The peatland map of Europe

Based on the ‘European Mires Book’ of the International Mire Conservation Group (IMCG), this article provides a composite map of national datasets as the first comprehensive peatland map for the whole of Europe. We also present estimates of the extent of peatlands and mires in each European country individually and for the entire continent. A minimum peat thickness criterion has not been strictly applied, to allow for (often historically determined) country-specific definitions. Our ‘peatland’ concept includes all ‘mires’, which are peatlands where peat is being formed. The map was constructed by merging national datasets in GIS while maintaining the mapping scales of the original input data. This ‘bottom-up’ approach indicates that the overall area of peatland in Europe is 593,727 km2. Mires were found to cover more than 320,000 km2 (around 54 % of the total peatland area). If shallow-peat lands (&amp;lt; 30 cm peat) in European Russia are also taken into account, the total peatland area in Europe is more than 1,000,000 km2 which is almost 10 % of the total surface area. Composite inventories of national peatland information, as presented here for Europe, may serve to identify gaps and priority areas for field survey, and help to cross-check and calibrate remote sensing based mapping approaches. © 2017 International Mire Conservation Group and International Peatland Society