bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Microelectrode Velocity Effects and Aquatic Eddy Covariance Measurements under Waves
Authors: Reimers Clare E. , Özkan-Haller H. Tuba , Albright Andrea T. , Berg Peter
Published: December 2015

Interest in validating the eddy covariance (EC) technique under wave-induced flows led to a series of experiments in a 104-m-long large wave flume (LWF) using an acoustic Doppler velocimeter (ADV) and two oxygen microelectrodes (tips ~2 mm apart) mounted on a sturdy tripod. Four additional ADVs positioned within the flume provided comparative near-bed velocity measurements during experiments with irregular waves over a sand bed. These measurements revealed that modifications of local turbulence by the tripod frame were insignificant. However, errors in velocity measurements were at times observed for setups where the microelectrode tips protruded into the ADV’s measurement volume. Disparate oxygen microelectrode velocity effects (stirring sensitivities) combined with response time offsets were also identified as problems, adding biases to EC flux derivations. Microelectrode velocity effects were further investigated through modeling designed to mimic the LWF data, and through examination of a 12-h dataset from the Oregon shelf. The modeling showed that under progressive waves, an artificial EC flux, or bias, arises most severely when the velocity sensitivity of the microelectrode is unequal in opposing flow directions or augmented by horizontal currents, and the velocity and oxygen data are not perfectly aligned in time. Sensitivities to wave motions were seen in the oxygen measurements from the Oregon shelf, contributing to an average flux of +2.7 ± 0.6 mmol m−2day−1(SE,n= 22) at wave frequencies. Since overall EC fluxes equaled only −4.1 ± 1.8 mmol m−2day−1(SE,n= 22), sources of EC biasing coupled to waves cannot be ruled out as potential problems for estimating exact benthic oxygen fluxes under common continental shelf field conditions.
Sex Differences in Knee Flexion Angle During a Rapid Change of Direction While Running
Authors: Sheu Christopher L. , Gray Aaron M. , Brown David , Smith Brian A.
Published: December 2015

Background:

Females experience greater overall rates of athletic anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury than males. The specific mechanisms of the predisposition remain unclear.

Hypothesis:

Modeling of knee kinematics has shown that the more extended the knee joint, the greater the strain on the ACL. The authors hypothesized that female athletes would have a lesser degree of knee flexion than male athletes at initial ground contact while performing change-of-direction cutting maneuvers.

Study Design:

Controlled laboratory study.

Methods:

Twenty female and 20 male high school soccer athletes with at least 1 year of experience were recruited for the study. Athletes were excluded if they had a history of any major lower limb injury or current knee pain causing a reduction in training and/or competition. Reflective markers were attached at the greater trochanter of the femur, the lateral epicondyle of the knee, and the lateral malleolus of the ankle to enable motion capture. Each athlete performed 6 change-of-direction maneuvers in random order in front of 2 cameras. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine differences between the sexes from the motion data captured; P < .05 defined significance.

Results:

Statistically significant differences existed in knee flexion angles between male and female participants at the 90° and 135° cutting angles. At 90°, males and females showed initial contact knee flexion angles (mean ± SD) of 39.0° ± 6.8° and 29.3° ± 6.2°, respectively ( P < .0001), and mean maximum flexion angles of 56.4° ± 6.9° and 49.7° ± 7.0°, respectively ( P = .0036). At 135°, males and females showed mean initial contact knee flexion angles of 36.8° ± 7.9° and 29.7° ± 7.8°, respectively ( P = .0053), and mean maximum flexion angles of 60.7° ± 8.1° and 51.6° ± 9.4°, respectively ( P = .0017).

Conclusion:

The research conducted is intended to foster an awareness of injury disposition in female athletes and guide future endeavors to develop, test, and implement a proactive approach in lowering female noncontact athletic ACL injury rates. This project adds to the literature as wider side-cut maneuvers (≥90°) were studied, as compared with previous studies using small side-cut angles (<90°), offering a model for alternative sports actions.
Fluid overload and acute kidney injury: cause or consequence?
Authors: Ostermann Marlies , Straaten Heleen M. Oudemans-van , Forni Lui G.
Published: December 2015

There is increasing evidence that fluid overload and acute kidney injury (AKI) are associated but the exact cause-effect relationship remains unclear. Wang and colleagues analysed patients admitted to 30 intensive care units in China and found that fluid accumulation was independently associated with an increased risk of AKI and mortality. This commentary focuses on the close pathophysiological link between AKI and fluid overload and discusses the implications for clinical practice. It outlines some of the challenges, including the difficulty in diagnosing fluid overload reliably with current methods, and stresses the importance of personalised fluid therapy with physiological end-points to avoid the deleterious effects of fluid overload.
Is the “golden age” of the “golden hour” in sepsis over?
Authors: Wheeler Derek S.
Published: December 2015

The so-called “golden hour” of trauma resuscitation has been applied to a number of disease conditions in the intensive care unit (ICU) setting. For example, the “golden hour” as applied to the treatment of critically children and adults with severe sepsis and septic shock is based upon early recognition, early administration of antibiotics, and early reversal of the shock state. However, several clinical studies published over the last decade have called into question this time-honored approach and suggest that overly aggressive fluid resuscitation may cause more harm than good. Perhaps we are finally leaving the “Golden Age” of the “golden hour” and entering a new age in which we are able to use a more personalized approach to fluid management for patients with severe sepsis/septic shock.
On ϕ-contractions in partially ordered fuzzy metric spaces
Authors: Wang Shuang
Published: December 2015

Under some weaker conditions, some coincidence point and common fixed point theorems are established in partially ordered fuzzy metric spaces using weakly compatible mappings. By using the theorems, we obtain some coupled and multidimensional fixed point results, which are generalization and improvement of very recent theorems in the corresponding literature. In order to illustrate our main results, we give three examples.
Betting on Secession: Quantifying Political Events Surrounding Slavery and the Civil War
Authors: Calomiris Charles W. , Pritchett Jonathan
Published: December 2015

Lincoln's election produced Southern secession, war, and abolition. Using a new dataset on slave sales, we examine connections between news and slave prices for the period 1856–1861. By August 1861, slave prices had declined by roughly one-third from their 1860 peak. That decline was similar for all age and sex cohorts and thus did not reflect expected emancipation without compensation. The decision to secede reflected beliefs that the North would not invade and that emancipation without compensation was unlikely. Both were encouraged by Lincoln's conciliatory tone before the attack on Fort Sumter, and subsequently dashed by Lincoln's willingness to wage all-out war. (JEL D72, D74, D83, G14, H77, N31, N41)
The Market Impacts of Pharmaceutical Product Patents in Developing Countries: Evidence from India
Authors: Duggan Mark , Garthwaite Craig , Goyal Aparajita
Published: December 2015

In 2005, as the result of a World Trade Organization mandate, India implemented a patent reform for pharmaceuticals that was intended to comply with the 1995 Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Exploiting variation in the timing of patent decisions, we estimate that a molecule receiving a patent experienced an average price increase of just 3–6 percent, with larger increases for more recently developed molecules and for those produced by just one firm when the patent system began. Our results also show little impact on quantities sold or on the number of pharmaceutical firms operating in the market. (JEL K33, L11, L13, L65, O14, O34, O38)
Generalized Social Marginal Welfare Weights for Optimal Tax Theory
Authors: Saez Emmanuel , Stantcheva Stefanie
Published: December 2015

This paper proposes to evaluate tax reforms by aggregating money metric losses and gains of different individuals using “generalized social marginal welfare weights.” Optimum tax formulas take the same form as standard welfarist tax formulas by simply substituting standard marginal social welfare weights with those generalized weights. Weights directly capture society's concerns for fairness without being necessarily tied to individual utilities. Suitable weights can help reconcile discrepancies between the welfarist approach and actual tax practice, as well as unify in an operational way the most prominent alternatives to utilitarianism such as Libertarianism, equality of opportunity, or poverty alleviation. (JEL D60, D63, H21, H23, I38)
Social Network: a Cytoscape app for visualizing co-authorship networks
Authors: Kofia Victor , Isserlin Ruth , Buchan Alison M.J. , Bader Gary D.
Published: December 2015

Networks that represent connections between individuals can be valuable analytic tools. The Social Network Cytoscape app is capable of creating a visual summary of connected individuals automatically. It does this by representing relationships as networks where each node denotes an individual and an edge linking two individuals represents a connection. The app focuses on creating visual summaries of individuals connected by co-authorship links in academia, created from bibliographic databases like PubMed, Scopus and InCites. The resulting co-authorship networks can be visualized and analyzed to better understand collaborative research networks or to communicate the extent of collaboration and publication productivity among a group of researchers, like in a grant application or departmental review report. It can also be useful as a research tool to identify important research topics, researchers and papers in a subject area.
Reconciling Techno-simplicity and Eco-complexity for future food security
Authors: Poggio Santiago L. , Macfadyen Sarina , Bohan David A.
Published: December 2015

Ecological intensification has been proposed as a paradigm for ensuring global food security while preserving biodiversity and ecosystem integrity. Ecological intensification was originally coined to promote precise site-specific farming practices aimed at reducing yield gaps, while avoiding negative environmental impacts (techno-simplicity). Recently, it has been extended to stress the importance of landscape complexity to preserve biodiversity and ecosystem services (eco-complexity). While these perspectives on ecological intensification may seem distinct, they are not incompatible and should be interwoven to create more comprehensive and practical solutions. Here, we argue that designing cropping systems to be more diverse, across space and time would be an effective route to accomplish environmentally-friendly intensification of crop production. Such a novel approach will require better integration of knowledge at the landscape level for increasing agro-biodiversity (focused on interventions outside fields) with strategies diversifying cropping systems to manage weeds and pests (focused on interventions inside fields).
Insect Fauna Associated with Exposed Pig Carcasses in Southern Brazil
Authors: Ries Ana Carolina , Blochtein Betina
Published: December 2015

The knowledge of insect patterns visiting decomposing carcasses and the analysis of parameters related to their presence help determine the post-mortem interval (PMI). This information depends on regional studies because the diversity of insects and the environmental conditions interfere in this process. The aim of the study was to analyze the insect fauna that colonizes carcasses of pigs exposed in different stages of decomposition in the study area. The experiment was conducted in southern Brazil using three domestic pigs (Sus scrofa Linnaeus) that were killed on site. Adult insects associated with carcasses were sampled daily using an insect net, manual collection and pitfall traps. Statistical tests were performed to evaluate the diversity of insects. During the process of decomposition (14 days), Scarabaeidae (25%) and Calliphoridae (23%) species were the most abundant of all of the samples. The diversity of insects is distinguishable when all parameters are analyzed. The Black Putrefaction (IV) stage exhibited the highest diversity according to the applied methods. The succession pattern was established from the species dominance index: Fresh stage - Lucilia eximia Wiedemann (Diptera, Calliphoridae); Chromatic and Bloat - Chrysomya albiceps (Wiedemann) (Diptera, Calliphoridae); Black Putrefaction and Skeletonization - Aphodiinae sp. 1 (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae).Entomofauna Associada a Carcaças de Suínos Expostas no Sul do BrasilResumo. O conhecimento dos padrões de insetos que visitam carcaças em decomposição e a análise dos parâmetros relacionados a sua presença auxilia na determinação do intervalo post-mortem (IPM). Estas informações dependem de estudos regionais, pois a diversidade de insetos e as condições ambientais interferem neste contexto. O objetivo do estudo foi analisar a entomofauna que coloniza carcaças expostas em diferentes estágios de decomposição na área de estudo. O experimento foi conduzido no sul do Brasil utilizando três porcos domésticos (Sus scrofa Linnaeus), abatidos no local. Insetos adultos associados às carcaças foram amostrados diariamente com rede entomológica, coleta manual e armadilhas pitfall. Foram realizados testes estatísticos para avaliar a diversidade de insetos. Durante o processo de decomposição (14 dias), espécimes de Scarabaeidae (25%) e Calliphoridae (23%) foram os mais abundantes, considerando-se a totalidade das amostras. A diversidade de insetos é distinguível quando são analisados todos os parâmetros. A fase de Putrefação negra (IV) exibiu a maior diversidade de acordo com os métodos aplicados. O padrão de sucessão foi estabelecido a partir do índice de dominância das espécies: fase Fresca - Lucilia eximia Wiedemann (Diptera, Calliphoridae), fase Cromática e de Inchamento – Chrysomya albiceps (Wiedemann) (Diptera, Calliphoridae), e fase de Putrefação Negra e de Esqueletização – Aphodiinae sp. 1 (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae).
Diaspididae (Hemiptera, Coccoidea) in sori of two fern species
Authors: Santos Marcelo Guerra , Wolff Vera Regina dos Santos
Published: December 2015

Abstract. This note reports the presence of two scale insects species  Hemiberlesia palmae (Cockerell) and Pinnaspis strachani (Cooley) (Coccoidea, Diaspididae), associated respectively with Asplenium serratum L. (Aspleniaceae) and Niphidium crassifolium (L.) Lellinger (Polypodiaceae). It is the first record of a fern species as host plant of Hemiberlesia palmae (Cockerell). In both fern species, the diaspidids were found nearby the sori.Duas Espécies de Cochonilhas (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) Associadas com Soros de Samambaias Resumo. A presente comunicação relata a presença de duas espécies de cochonilhas Hemiberlesia palmae (Cockerell) e Pinnaspis strachani (Cooley) (Coccoidea, Diaspididae), associadas respectivamente com Asplenium serratum L. (Aspleniaceae) e Niphidium crassifolium (L.) Lellinger (Polypodiaceae). É o primeiro registro de uma samambaia como planta hospedeira de Hemiberlesia palmae.  Nas duas espécies de samambaias, os diaspidídeos encontravam-se concentrados principalmente ao redor dos soros.
Cerambycidae (Insecta, Coleoptera) de Morro do Chapéu, Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, Brasil
Authors: Nascimento Francisco Eriberto de Lima , Bravo Freddy
Published: December 2015

Resumo. É apresentada uma lista das espécies de Cerambycidae do município de Morro do Chapéu, Bahia, Brasil, coletados no projeto Programa de Pesquisa em Biodiversidade do Semiárido (PPBio/Semiárido) e depositados na Coleção Entomológica do Museu de Zoologia da Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana (MZFS). Foram coletados 34 exemplares de 29 espécies distribuídas em 16 tribos e duas subfamílias. Oito das espécies listadas são registros novos para o estado sendo três para o bioma Caatinga. São fornecidas informações de distribuição e ilustrações das espécies.Cerambycidae (Insecta, Coleoptera) from the Morro do Chapéu, Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, BrazilAbstract. We present a species list of Cerambycidae from the municipality of Morro de Chapéu, Bahia, Brazil, based on specimens collected by the Project Programa de Pesquisa em Biodiversidade do Semiárido (PPBio/Semiárido) and deposited at Coleção Entomológica do Museu de Zoologia da Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana (MZFS). Thirty-four specimens were collected in 29 species belonging to 16 tribes and two subfamilies. Eigth species are new record to the state Bahia and three for the Caatinga biome. In the list is included informations about distribution and a photo of each species is provided.
Why Do Borrowers Make Mortgage Refinancing Mistakes?
Authors: Agarwal Sumit , Rosen Richard J. , Yao Vincent
Published: December 2015

Refinancing a mortgage is often one of the most important financial decisions people make. Borrowers choose the interest rate differential at which to refinance, and when that differential is reached, they need to take the steps to refinance before rates change again. Using a simple closed-form solution approximation of the optimal refinancing rule and a unique panel data set including information from a large secondary market participant on refinancing, we find that approximately 57% of borrowers refinance suboptimally—50% choose the wrong rate, 17% wait too long to refinance, and 10% do both. Financially sophisticated borrowers make smaller mistakes, refinancing at rates closer to optimal and waiting less after mortgage rates reach their trigger rates. Evidence suggests borrowers learn from their refinancing experiences.

This paper was accepted by Amit Seru, finance.
Brazilian unions face globalisation: learning to negotiate in regional blocs and global networks
Authors: Leonardo Mello e Silva
Published: December 2015

This paper discusses how Brazilians trade unions have been reacting to globalisation by analysing their participation in two different, though interrelated, initiatives. The first of these is the process of implementation of the Mercosul Southern Cone Common Market and the prominent role the unions played within it from its inception. The focus here is on how trade unions boosted the social agenda as a core issue in Mercosul's integration policy. The second initiative is the development of international company-based union networks which are now widespread in Brazil. What will be considered in both cases is the increasing importance of the actual practice of negotiation for the ongoing pattern of labour relations in Brazil, whether this is between state agencies and workers’ representatives, or between companies and their own workers. The paper points to the difficulties and opportunities for the union movement in each case.
Solidarity across cyberspace: Internet campaigning, labour activism and the remaking of trade union internationalism
Authors: Bruce Robinson
Published: December 2015

Global communication through the Internet has provided new possibilities for trade union solidarity action across national boundaries. Email campaigns are one form of this. Taking the example of an email campaign in support of imprisoned Eritrean trade unionists, this paper examines the social organisation and information flows underlying such campaigns. These throw light on the effectiveness of such actions, their capacity to overcome inequalities in access to ICTs and current debates on the role of the Internet in the remaking of trade union internationalism managing to develop a certain social power.
Review article: reflections on international labour studies in the UK
Authors: Peter Waterman
Published: December 2015

Reflecting personally on the contribution of the UK to international labour studies over the past forty years and his own role in this history, Peter Waterman reviews some recent publications and websites from both inside and outside the official trade union movement. These are:

Tony Pilch (ed) Trades Unions and Globalisation, London: Smith Institute. 86 pp. ISBN 1-905370-14-8

Sheila Cohen, Ramparts of Resistance: Why Workers Lost Their Power and How to Get it Back, London: Pluto, 248 pp. ISBN 13-978-0-7453-1529-4 (pb)

Ronaldo Munck, 2006. Globalisation and Contestation: The Great Counter-Movement, London: Routledge. 176 pp. ISBN-10 0415376564

Angela Hale and Jane Wills (eds). Threads of Labour: Garment Industry Supply Chains from the Workers’ Perspective, Oxford: Blackwell, 288 pp. ISBN-10: 1405126388

Paul Mason, Live Working or Die Fighting: How the Working Class Went Global, London: Harvill Secker. 304 pp. ISBN 978-0-436-20615-3

NewUnionism
http://www.newunionism.net/

Union Ideas Network
http://www.uin.org.uk/
The new gold rush: the new multinationals and the commodification of public sector work
Authors: Ursula Huws
Published: December 2015

This article describes the growth of the new ‘public services industry’ and outlines the way in which government-provided services can be transformed into commodities and opened up as new fields of activity for private companies. Pointing out that many of these companies have become major transnational enterprises, it then goes on to introduce the other articles in this collection, which focus on the commodification, corporatisation and privatisation of a range of public and government support services, including health, education, transport, energy and water supply, telecommunications, waste disposal, customer services, IT support and postal services. Many of these articles focus on the impact of restructuring on industrial relations, labour processes, working conditions and occupational identities and conclude that these developments are associated with the intensification and casualisation of work, derecognition of unions and continuing elaborations of the international division of labour.
Commodification, casualisation and intensification of work in liberalised European postal markets
Authors: Christoph Hermann  , Torsten Brandt  , Thorsten Schulten
Published: December 2015

This article argues that liberalisation and privatisation of public services have led to a commodification of public sector work and labour relations. Using the example of European postal services it describes the process of liberalisation, privatisation and the resulting changes in company strategies and organisation. It argues that commercialisation has not only changed the nature of service provision, but has also caused a far-reaching intensification and casualisation of employment in the European postal sector.
The impact of hospital privatisation on industrial relations and employees: the case of the Hamburg hospitals
Authors: Nils Böhlke
Published: December 2015

The privatisation of Hamburg's State Enterprise Hospitals (LBK Hamburg) represents a defining moment in a general trend in the German hospital sector. Carried out in 2005, this privatisation had a far-reaching impact on industrial relations in the hospitals as well as on the working conditions of the employees. These developments cannot only be attributed to the privatisation per se, however; increases in the workloads of hospital workers can also be observed in public clinics. Nevertheless, the deterioration of established collective bargaining procedures and working condition in the privatised clinics have been dramatic, representing an important turning point for hospital employees and their trade union representatives. Drawing on case study research involving interviews with a range of stakeholders, this article describes the privatisation process and its impact on working conditions, employment and industrial relations.
Working at the interface: call-centre labour in a global economy
Authors: Ursula Huws
Published: December 2015

Introducing this volume, this paper describes the contradictory nature of many aspects of call-centre work, drawing on the results of the EC-funded STILE project to demonstrate the difficulties of classifying call-centre workers. The lack of a clear objective ‘place’ in the technical division of labour and the social order for this transient and poorly-defined workforce is mirrored by a subjective failure, on the part of call-centre workers, to identify themselves as such. This makes it difficult to develop stable collective occupational identities that could form a basis for organisation and representation. Such conflicts are exacerbated by call-centre workers' position ‘at the interface’ between companies and their customers and between the local and the global. Many are also having to deal with the difficult transition from other types of work to call-centre work as the process of ‘callcenterisation’ sweeps through the public sector as well as private companies. The paper concludes by noting that, despite many similarities between call centres across the globe, national industrial relations systems and other aspects of particular locations still make a significant difference to the working conditions of call-centre workers.
Experiencing depersonalised bullying: a study of Indian call-centre agents
Authors: Premilla D'Cruz  , Ernesto Noronha
Published: December 2015

This article uses the concept of depersonalized bullying to explain the way in which call-centre agents employed in international call centres in Mumbai and Bangalore, India experience their work as an oppressive regime. The characteristics of this bullying regime can be attributed to the service level agreement between employers and clients which determines organisational practices. Call-centre agents' professional identities and material gains facilitate their acceptance of their tough work conditions, causing them to participate in their own oppression. As well as clarifying the concept of depersonalised bullying, the article highlights the critical role of capitalist labour relations in workplace bullying, allowing for a contextualised and politicised understanding to emerge.
Double workload: a study of the sexual division of labour among women telemarketing operators in Brazil
Authors: Claudia Mazzei Nogueira
Published: December 2015

This paper discusses the sexual division of labour both in the workplace, that is, in the space of production, and in the home, which is termed the space of reproduction. The author discusses the close relationships that exist between the division of tasks in domestic labour of women workers and their functions in the world of work. The study draws on in-depth qualitative research in a telemarketing company. The aim of this study of telemarketing operators was to obtain a deeper understanding of how these workers experience the dimensions of their work in terms of the sexual division of labour in both production and reproduction. The term ‘productive work is not used in the strict Marxist sense of work that directly creates surplus value but in a more generic sense, to designate the salaried act of working, whether in productive or unproductive work, as it is performed in capitalist society. The expression ‘reproductive space’ refers to the domestic sphere.
Resisting Call Centre Work: The Aliant Strike and Convergent Unionism in Canada
Authors: Enda Brophy
Published: December 2015

Countering the more placid depictions of call-centre work on offer from academic literature, this paper illuminates the labour antagonisms currently being produced within this growing form of employment. It brings into sharper focus one of the ways in which call centre workers are organising to protect and their interests, by describing their participation in the emerging model of ‘convergent’ trade unionism of the Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) and their 2004 strike against the Canadian telecommunications company Aliant. The five-month strike was provoked by a set of processes that characterised the transformation of the Canadian telecommunications sector in the 1990s, including the privatisation of public telephone companies, corporate convergence, and the restructuring of the labour process at the telecommunications companies that emerged. Drawing on the descriptions offered by a group of call-centre workers who are members of Local 506 of the CEP, the paper focuses on the transformation of the Aliant customer contact labour process from its ‘help-desk’ functions towards conditions prevailing within non-unionised outsourced call centres across New Brunswick, and recounts the 2004 strike. It concludes by assessing the significance of these events for unionised call-centre workers in the Canadian telecommunications sector and reflecting on how convergent unionism might be extended to include non-unionised workers at outsourced call centres across the region.
Employment in call centres in Bulgaria
Authors: Vassil Kirov  , Kapka Mircheva
Published: December 2015

In recent years, Bulgaria has become an important destination for call-centre outsourcing of client services from abroad. Thousands of new jobs in call centres have been created in the capital and the largest Bulgarian cities. This remarkable development has not yet been a subject of serious analysis. For this reason this article aims to present a summary of the development of the call-centre industry in Bulgaria, focusing on employment in the sector. In particular, the authors, focus on the characteristics of the workers who are sought, recruitment policies and training in call centres, working environments, remuneration practices and workplace representation of employees. The analysis makes it possible to draw some conclusions about the characteristics of employment in call centres in Bulgaria and how this compares with employment in the sector in other countries.
Against erosion of labour standards: global reorganisation of value chains and industrial relations in the European motor industry
Authors: Josep Banyuls  , Thomas Haipeter
Published: December 2015

This paper analyses the impacts of globalisation on the systems of industrial relations in the motor industry in a comparative perspective. Globalisation, in the form of the global reorganisation of the value chain, has been a key development in this industry since the 1990s. This development has been characterised by the creation of global production networks at the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), the final producers, the internal reorganisation of the companies, involving higher productive flexibility, decentralisation and financialisation, and the restructuring of the value chain, involving a reduction of vertical integration and new forms of network relationships between OEMs and their suppliers. These developments raise a number of questions: Are regime competition and reorganisation undermining national or industry labour standards? What types of standards are in danger and to what extent? Or are there existing or emergent counter forces that can weaken or even prevent a process of erosion of these standards? In order to address these questions, this paper investigates the contents, forms and levels of collective agreements, the roles and strategies of the actors in collective bargaining and possible fragmentations along the value chain. This is achieved by means of a comparative analysis of the developments in four countries: Germany, Italy, Spain and Hungary.
Employment challenges to the knowledge economy in Europe: the case of IT services
Authors: Isabelle Berrebi-Hoffmann  , Damian Grimshaw  , Michel Lallement  , Marcela Miozzo
Published: December 2015

This paper investigates the employment challenges facing the fast-expanding IT services sector in Europe and contributes to debates about what policy reforms are required to nurture the so-called knowledge economy. The IT services sector is highly internationalised and strongly concentrated in all the four countries examined - Austria, France, Germany, and the UK. Nevertheless, policy reform is unlikely to follow a universal route, since the development of IT services has been strongly shaped by its interaction with each country's specific national employment model. The article investigates three employment challenges, namely the country system of skill formation, forms of collective employee and employer representation, and patterns of worker mobility and use of non-standard employment contracts. While important, national employment models do not determine the character of the sector and the paper identifies several points of tension and contradiction that raise questions about the future sustainability of knowledge economy sectors.
Offshoring and the new insecurities: towards new types of ‘white collar consciousness’ in Germany in globalised working environments
Authors: Andreas Boes  , Tobias Kämpf
Published: December 2015

This paper looks at the effects of the globalisation and economisation strategies of IT companies on the work experiences, consciousness and ‘interest orientations’ of highly-qualified employees in the field of software development and services. Drawing on a range of qualitative research projects, the authors explore the ways in which the interest orientations of white-collar workers in the IT industry have changed. They conclude that a new insecurity is emerging concerning work content and job stability even on the part of these highly-qualified employees. They mostly ascribe this to the pressures of internationalisation and, more specifically, to the offshoring strategies of companies. As a result, the traditional ‘focus on contribution’ of highly-quaified workers is being eroded. This change in interest orientation is complex and partially contradictory. Nevertheless, there is a distinct tendency toward a new employee orientation among these white-collar workers. It remains to be seen in what direction this orientation will develop and, more specifically, what forms of action will emerge in pursuit of these perceived interests.
From conflict to consensus: European neoliberalism and the debate on the future of EU social policy
Authors: Stefan Bernhard
Published: December 2015

This paper focuses on the debate on EU social policy from the 1980s to the present. It argues that neoliberals have retained and extended their hegemony in a changing discursive setting. In the 1980s, neoliberal ideas clearly dominated but there was also an anti-neoliberal position calling for a stronger ‘positive’ social integration in Europe. From the 2000s onwards, however, the situation has changed. The debate on social integration has shifted from an antagonist constellation, where those in favour of positive market-correcting social integration opposed those in favour of a predominantly negative economic integration, to a consensual constellation, where it is seen as common sense that social issues are important so long as they improve competitiveness and are regulated only at a national level. Since anti-neoliberal arguments have lost their pervasive power, neoliberal hegemony has become even more thorough. Under this regime, opponents of the Lisbon strategy of European neoliberalism are forced to participate in fragmented conflicts in separate policy fields. This obliges them to comment on detailed policy questions rather than on major integration issues, thus losing the opportunity to debate the major lines of EU integration. The context for discussing EU social policy perspectives is now twofold: long-term political visions of EU social policy are treated within a neoliberal consensus; whilst the envisioning of short-term policy, relating to national social policies is treated in European policy fields regulated by the Open Method of Coordination. Ambitions that are directed both at market-regulating policies and at the European level, fall through the lattice of the Lisbon strategy.
Collective bargaining and the flexibilisation of employment in Italy
Authors: Alessia Vatta
Published: December 2015

This paper compares the 1993 Accord between the Italian government and social partners with the 2009 Framework Agreement on the Reform of Collective Bargaining. The former was decisive for the institutionalisation of collective bargaining and the introduction of flexibility into the domestic labour market, while the latter has been more contestedm seeming to reflect increasing difficulties in the relationships between the main actors in Italian employment policy. The paper discusses the role of the different channels used to innovate work regulation in Italy, assesses the attitude of the actors involved, and suggests a possible direction for future policy initiatives.
Getting the message: Communications workers and global value chains
Authors: Catherine McKercher  , Vincent Mosco
Published: December 2015

This introductory essay addresses the meaning of terms like ‘knowledge’, ‘communications’ and ‘cultural’ labour in an era of increasingly global value chains. It takes up different ways to think about such labour, ranging from mainly creative work to work anywhere in the value chain that produces communication and information technology, and from one side of the creative/technical divide to the other. It also considers the changing relationship of these forms of labour to global capitalism. The essay concludes that knowledge workers are learning a lot from one another and are using what they learn to unite in many interesting ways.
Network labour and non-elite knowledge workers in China
Authors: Jack Linchuan Qiu
Published: December 2015

This paper offers a preliminary analysis of Chinese non-elite knowledge workers, their use of information technologies as tools of employment as well as worker organisation, and the emergent process of network labour formation. It opens by presenting a conceptual framework for understanding non-elite knowledge workers, their social contexts, types, and the interrelationships among these types, paying special attention to new types of digital work (call centres, SMS authoring, and online game gold farming), their process of emergence and patterns of spatial distribution. It then sketches out the main linkages between grassroots workers’ groups in mainland China and labour organisations outside showing that, even though bottom-up transnational labour organisation is still quite limited at the present stage, informal networking through new digital tools is full of potential. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for a new informational politics.
Blogging the Writers Strike: Identity, Interaction and Engagement for Collective Action
Authors: Nina O'Brien
Published: December 2015

This study examines the role of weblogs as sites for negotiating collective identity, arguing that strategic deployment of blogs may encourage greater identification with collective actions by a wider variety of individuals. This case study of the Writers Guild of America blog United Hollywood, shows that its structure and publication policies were successful in mobilising a variety of stakeholders to identify as a collective. Qualitative analysis of form and content suggests that the communality provided by the blog allowed the WGA to leverage benefits of traditional institutional collective action space and to augment these with benefits provided by hybrid forms of online organisation.
The global cartooning labour force, its problems and coping mechanisms: the travails of the marginalised cartoonist
Authors: John A. Lent
Published: December 2015

Cartoonists, whether print or film, have faced dismal working experiences historically and globally. At times, they have been denied credit for and ownership of their creations, were paid poorly, and laboured under insecure, strenuous, and isolated circumstances. They have also faced the wrath of oppressive governments, political correctness gone awry, and conglomerate takeovers of cartooning/animation industries, with resultant self-censorship, disemployment, and narrowing of job opportunities. This article, drawing on interviews and documentary sources, surveys the state of cartooning in a number of countries around the world. In addition to describing the problems cartoonists face, it finds signs of resistance and solidarity.
Informalisation and the social relations of production: Insights from urban Karnataka, 1990–2005
Authors: Thomas Barnes
Published: December 2015

This article draws upon evidence from urban centres in the Indian state of Karnataka in order to explore the impact of informalisation on labour. It is argued that informalisation is best understood by outlining specific changes to the social relations of production. This issue is approached by comparing and contrasting Marxist claims about class formation with findings from an analysis of Economic Census data. The Economic Census has recorded a rise in waged labour in informal enterprises in urban Karnataka and a rise in sole trading in own-account establishments. It concludes by pointing towards the need for further research into the growing employment of ‘informal workers’ in the formal economy.
Work discipline and corporate training in modernising large companies in Argentina
Authors: Claudia Figari
Published: December 2015

The processes that have reinstalled and consolidated corporate hegemony over work have generated exclusion, an increase in preferential treatment and fragmentation among workers. During the 1990s, and especially as a result of the deep crisis that originated in the early 2000s in Agentina, a new situation has emerged, bringing into being a new labour/professional order and new disciplinary patterns at work, aimed at developing new subjectivities among workers. In this situation, corporate systems have been introduced based on the ‘continuous improvement’ doctrine. Drawing on recent research in large automotive, iron and steel and hydrocarbon production companies settled in Argentina, this article analyses the control and work discipline devices that prevail in this system and focuses on the relationships between these devices and corporate training processes. An environment is emerging in which a new mindset is being imposed, which is analysed here. In particular, the article investigates how corporate systems use training as part of their strategy to achieve corporate hegemony over work. Finally, it focuses on the limits of these corporate systems and the tensions within them. It also studies the views of workers regarding these modernisation policies, view which are significant because they express the tensions resulting from the implementation of the new corporate systems.
The restructuring of labour in Brazil in the 2000s: flexible work and the precarisation of working life
Authors: Giovanni Alves
Published: December 2015

This article argues that the precarisation of employment that has taken place in Brazil since the 1990s has been fundamentally different in kind from earlier forms of precariousness, which took place outside the formal economy. The new forms of precariousness are taking place within the sphere of the economy controlled by transnational corporations. Although they have only reached critical mass during the 2000s, the ground was prepared by ‘post neoliberal’ restructuring, including labour law reforms, that took place in Brazil during the 1990s and introduced new forms of flexible working. The article argues that the new condition of labour now emerging in Brazil, which is a structural feature of labour under global capitalism, is characterised by psychosocial dynamics that cause: first, class desubjectivation; second, a ‘seizure’ of the waged worker's subjectivity; and third, the reduction of living labour to the status of a workforce treated as goods. Comprehending these changes necessitates a related change in the theoretical and methodological framework in which the precariousness of work is studied, one that incorporates within its scope the issues of workers' health and the quality of working life.
The interplay of gender, work and family in Portuguese families
Authors: Marisa Matias  , Cláudia Andrade  , Anne Marie Fontaine
Published: December 2015

Portugal stands out in the European context of work and family relations for not fitting either into a traditional male breadwinner model or into a modern equitable model. Indeed, Portuguese society is characterised both by a high labour-market participation of both men and women and a gender-traditional division of domestic and caring work, where women do the majority of tasks. This paper reports on trends regarding the division of paid and unpaid labour over recent decades in Portugal. Challenging traditional sociological and demographic explanations, the scope of this review is to offer a psycho-social approach to the antecedents and outcomes of this division, as well as the processes individuals and families engage in to deal with multiple roles. Looking at the division of paid and unpaid labour through a gender lens, we conclude that, despite some changes in attitudes and practices, the display of gender roles still shapes both work and family relations in Portugal.
Unpaid work, capital and coercion
Authors: Norene Pupo  , Ann Duffy
Published: December 2015

Over the past several decades, household work has generated a dramatic outflow of research and theory on unpaid work. Here, the authors (who shared equally in the writing of this paper) examine multiple forms of unpaid work and propose that in the contemporary capitalist economy the key dimensions of unpaid work are: first, that it is not compensated in terms of direct payments by capital; second, that elsewhere in the economy the same activities are paid; and, lastly, that participation in unpaid work is directly related to socially constructed power relations. Within this framework, they point out the complex and dynamic interplay between unpaid work and patterns of social inequality. In conclusion, it is proposed that approaching unpaid work, and in particular domestic labour, in this broader context and in terms of more nuanced treatments of power provides a fuller understanding of the issues and suggests that unpaid work may be in the midst of dramatic expansion. The implications of this growth for individuals and societies around the globe warrant researchers' attention.
Domestic work in France and Italy: comparative case studies on the contemporary diffusion of informal employment
Authors: Elisabetta Pernigotti
Published: December 2015

The persistence of informal employment and its recent development in Western countries is often disregarded. This article argues that a gendered renewal of informal employment is taking place following global economic restructuring. Furthermore, it shows how informality might be recreated through the very policy initiatives that aimed at combating informality and structuring the highly feminised sector of care and domestic services. In spite of the differences in policy initiatives, qualitative analysis illustrates how the formalisation of these jobs remains partial, in France as in Italy, regardless of the absence or the presence of specific politics of regularisation. Industrial unemployment due to rural deindustrialisation is imposing on working-class women — formerly largely employed in factories — a new form of domesticity through a certain recognition of domestic and care work, between formality, ‘grey work’ and informality, which confines these same women to a universe that is family-based and precarious.