Lithological controls on the expansion of unbound aggregates in Dublin, eastern Ireland: two contrasting cases

Pyrite-bearing unbound fills, widely used in eastern Ireland have heaved, causing serious structural damage to thousands of buildings. This study compares calcareous mudstones that degenerated rapidly, causing severe structural damage, with argillaceous limestones that did not. Framboidal pyrite in the mudstones is widely dispersed – every aggregate particle contains abundant framboidal pyrite. Oxidation of this produced sulfuric acid that reacted with calcite producing supersaturated solutions of CaSO4 and CO2 gas. It is suggested that the latter exerted pressures approaching 5 MPa within rock particles, creating micro-fractures into which gypsum crystallised. Antitaxial growth of gypsum continued expansion, a process analogous to the formation of mineral veins in rocks. Heave of the fill took place since all the loadbearing particles expanded. The limestones have a lower pyrite content, which occurs mainly in the shaly seams and is concentrated in the fines; limestones suffered similar oxidation, but the coarser aggregate remains unaltered, and gypsum is mainly pore-filling; little expansive force was generated. It is concluded that the actual amount of pyrite present is a less important factor controlling expansion of unbound fills than its crystal size, and its distribution throughout the aggregate.

Job Destruction and Closures in Deindustrializing Britain: The Uses and Decline of Workplace Occupations in the 1980s

This article considers the uses and decline of workplace occupations in the 1980s. Developing the contribution by Alan Tuckman on the rise of occupations in the 1970s, attention is given to the structural factors that can explain the reasons why workers’ uses of the tactics have declined since the period. Focusing on the wider context and two contrasting cases (the 1980 Gardner and 1984 Cammell Laird occupations), this article advances six key reasons why this decline has taken place. First, the decline of manufacturing and rising unemployment in the 1980s; second, an overall decline in strikes more generally in terms of their incidence and duration; third, anti-union legislation and policing; fourth, the lack of a positive demonstration effect with regard to ‘successful’ examples of occupations in the 1980s; fifth, the decline of debates around alternative forms of ownership, including nationalization and the incipient workers’ control/cooperatives movement; and sixth, the decline of the far left and the networks that had sustained occupations to some extent in the 1970s and 1980s.

Two Paediatric Patients with Encephalopathy and Concurrent COVID-19 Infection: Two Sides of the Same Coin?

There is increasing evidence that SARS-CoV-2 has neurotropic potential. We report on two paediatric patients who presented with encephalopathy during COVID-19 illness. Both patients had ADEM-like changes in their neuroimaging, negative SARS-CoV-2 RNA PCR in CSF, and paucity of PIMS-TS laboratory findings. However, the first patient was positive for serum MOG antibodies with normal CSF analysis, and the second had negative MOG antibodies but showed significant CSF lymphocytic pleocytosis. We concluded that the first case was a typical case of demyelination, which could have been triggered by different cofactors. In the second case, however, we postulated that the encephalopathic process was triggered by SARS-CoV-2, as no other cause was identified. With these two contrasting cases, we provide evidence that SARS-CoV-2-associated encephalitis can show ADEM-like changes, which can present during the postinfectious phase of COVID-19 illness. As ADEM is a relatively common type of postinfectious encephalitis in children, the distinguishing line between the two conditions of encephalitis and ADEM can be relatively fine. The development of more reliable diagnostic tools (e.g., anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in CSF) might play an assisting role in the differentiation of these encephalopathic processes.