The Influence of Product Markets on Industrial Relations

Product markets are the foundation on which industrial relations institutions are built. Trade union strength is partly dependent upon the state of the labour market, but it is imperfections in the product market that are the precondition of their winning benefits for their members. Sectoral agreements consequently formed the basis for collective bargaining in most industrialised countries. But international competition has destroyed this for much of the private sector. Quasi-markets have undermined it for much of the public sector. The paper assesses the empirical economic literature on the impact of product markets. It considers enthnographic insights into how competitive pressures feed through to managerial behaviour. It concludes with alternative strategies – co-operative bargaining, legislative intervention, and consumer campaigns – that seek to defend labour standards from competitive erosion

Industrial Relations in Britain under New Labour, 1997 - 2010: A post mortem

A revival of trade unions was widely expected when Blair’s New Labour government took over from the Conservatives in Britain in 1997. This did not occur. Collective bargaining continued to retreat. The paper discusses the implications of the changing economic context for the government’s legal innovations, notably statutory trade union recognition and a minimum wage. It describes the consequences for industrial relations. It concludes that New Labour’s legacy may lie in its nurturing of the institutions of social partnership and the use of conciliation

Fragments of the earliest land plants

The earliest fossil evidence for land plants comes from microscopic dispersed spores. These microfossils are abundant and widely distributed in sediments, and the earliest generally accepted reports are from rocks of mid-Ordovician age (Llanvirn, 475 million years ago). Although distribution, morphology and ultrastructure of the spores indicate that they are derived from terrestrial plants, possibly early relatives of the bryophytes, this interpretation remains controversial as there is little in the way of direct evidence for the parent plants. An additional complicating factor is that there is a significant hiatus between the appearance of the first dispersed spores and fossils of relatively complete land plants (megafossils): spores predate the earliest megafossils (Late Silurian, 425 million year ago) by some 50 million years. Here we report the description of spore-containing plant fragments from Ordovician rocks of Oman. These fossils provide direct evidence for the nature of the spore-producing plants. They confirm that the earliest spores developed in large numbers within sporangia, providing strong evidence that they are the fossilized remains of bona fide land plants. Furthermore, analysis of spore wall ultrastructure supports liverwort affinities

Dutch parallel corpus: a balanced parallel corpus for Dutch-English and Dutch-French

status: publishe

Solar cycle variation in solar f-mode frequencies and radius

Using data from the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) covering the period from 1995 to 1998, we study the change with solar activity in solar f-mode frequencies. The results are compared with similar changes detected from the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) data. We find variations in f-mode frequencies which are correlated with solar activity indices. If these changes are due to variation in solar radius then the implications are that the solar radius decreases by about 5 km from minimum to maximum activity.Comment: To appear in Solar Physic

Localised enamel hypoplasia of human deciduous canines: genotype or environment?

The document attached has been archived with permission from the Australian Dental Association (9th Jan 2008). An external link to the publisher’s copy is included.A discrete area of defective enamel formation that appears on the labial surface of the crowns of deciduous canine teeth has been described in both recent and prehistoric human population, with reported frequencies varying from 1 to 45 per cent. Suggestions about the aetiology of this localized hypoplasia range from genotypic factors to environmental conditions and systemic effects. The major aims of this study were to describe the frequency of occurrence and pattern of expression of the lesion in Australian Aboriginal and Caucasian ethnic groups, and to clarify the role of genetic factors by examining a sample of twins. The study sample consisted of dental casts of 181 pairs of Australian Caucasian twins, 215 Aborigines and 122 Caucasian singletons, together with 253 extracted deciduous canines. Examination of dental casts and extracted teeth was undertaken under 2X magnification with emphasis being placed upon location and expression of the lesion. The defect was observed in 49 per cent of twins and 44 per cent of Aborigines, but only 36 per cent of singletons. The percentages of affected teeth in each group were: 18 per cent in twins, 17 per cent in Aborigines and 13 per cent in Caucasians. A significant proportion of the defects occurred on the mesial aspect of the labial surface, in the middle area incisocervically, with the majority in the lower jaw. Anumber of significant differences in frequency were observed between groups, sexes, arches and sides. The results confirm some of the findings of previous studies, but also suggest that none of environmental, genetic or systemic factors can be ruled out as being involved in aetiology of the defect. The higher incidence of the lesion occurring on the mesial aspect of the labial surface is suggestive of physical trauma. Also, the vulnerability of the prominent developing mandibular canine, with its thin or missing labial covering of bone, would be expected to lead to higher prevalence of the lesion in the lower jaw. Although not definitive, the results of concordance analyses in twins were suggestive of a possible genetic predisposition in the formation of the lesion. Further research with a greater clinical orientation and emphasis on determing specific aetiological factors within any given environment in different ethnic groups may provide better insight into the ambiguous aetiology of the hypoplastic enamel defect.Sue Taji, Toby Hughes, Jim Rogers, Grant Townsen