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This volume rediscovers Lenin as a strategic socialist thinker through close examination of his collected works and correspondence. Brie opens with an analysis of Lenin's theoretical development between 1914 and 1917, in preparation for his critical decision to dissolve the Constituent Assembly in January 1918 in a struggle for power. This led from the dialectics of revolutionary practice and social analysis to a new understanding of socialism, which is compared and contrasted to the alternative Marxist ideas and conceptions of the state posited by Karl Kautsky and Rosa Luxemburg.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted both natural and juristic persons worldwide, resulting in the loss of lives and livelihoods. This unprecedented crisis has also brought attention to the importance of human rights and has changed how they are understood. The debate surrounding human rights has long been contentious, with varying perspectives on what constitutes a fundamental right and how best to protect it. However, the pandemic has highlighted the need to balance human rights with public health concerns. One of the most significant human rights issues highlighted by the pandemic is the right to health. The pandemic has exposed inequalities in healthcare systems worldwide, with some countries struggling to provide (adequate) medical care. As a result, there is a growing debate on ensuring everyone has access to healthcare, particularly during a pandemic. The right to work also emerged as another human rights issue during the pandemic. The lockdowns and business restrictions have resulted in job losses and financial difficulties for many individuals and families. This has sparked a debate on the role of governments in protecting the right to work and ensuring that individuals have a source of income during a crisis. This is especially crucial in developing countries with high unemployment and informal economic activities. The pandemic has also emphasized the importance of the right to information. Governments worldwide have had to communicate critical information on the virus to their citizens, raising questions about the role of the media and the right to access information. Social media platforms have also played a crucial role in disseminating information about the virus, raising essential questions about censorship and the need to balance freedom of expression with public health concerns. Furthermore, the pandemic has highlighted the digital divide that exists in many countries, particularly in the global south. This has impacted the ability of those in underserved communities to receive reliable pandemic-related information in a timely manner. It is crucial to note the need to bridge the gap between human rights and the economy. Establishing a cohesive relationship between human rights and the economy is essential to creating a fair and just society. By harmonizing legal and economic structures with human rights, we can generate more opportunities for success while ensuring greater resilience and the ability to cope with future pandemics. Recognizing the significance of this matter and striving towards solutions is crucial to creating a sustainable, fair, and brighter future for all. In conclusion, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed critical human rights issues that will continue to shape the debate on human rights. It has demonstrated the need to balance different rights and interests, including the right to health, work, and information, with public health concerns. It is essential to ensure that human rights are not disregarded in times of crisis and that governments take a rights-based approach to policymaking to protect everyone's rights.

PurposeTo investigate whether COVID-19-ARDS differs from all-cause ARDS.MethodsThirty-two consecutive, mechanically ventilated COVID-19-ARDS patients were compared to two historical ARDS sub-populations 1:1 matched for PaO2/FiO2 or for compliance of the respiratory system. Gas exchange, hemodynamics and respiratory mechanics were recorded at 5 and 15 cmH2O PEEP. CT scan variables were measured at 5 cmH2O PEEP.ResultsAnthropometric characteristics were similar in COVID-19-ARDS, PaO2/FiO2-matched-ARDS and Compliance-matched-ARDS. The PaO2/FiO2-matched-ARDS and COVID-19-ARDS populations (both with PaO2/FiO2 106 ± 59 mmHg) had different respiratory system compliances (Crs) (39 ± 11 vs 49.9 ± 15.4 ml/cmH2O, p = 0.03). The Compliance-matched-ARDS and COVID-19-ARDS had similar Crs (50.1 ± 15.7 and 49.9 ± 15.4 ml/cmH2O, respectively) but significantly lower PaO2/FiO2 for the same Crs (160 ± 62 vs 106.5 ± 59.6 mmHg, p < 0.001). The three populations had similar lung weights but COVID-19-ARDS had significantly higher lung gas volume (PaO2/FiO2-matched-ARDS 930 ± 644 ml, COVID-19-ARDS 1670 ± 791 ml and Compliance-matched-ARDS 1301 ± 627 ml, p < 0.05). The venous admixture was significantly related to the non-aerated tissue in PaO2/FiO2-matched-ARDS and Compliance-matched-ARDS (p < 0.001) but unrelated in COVID-19-ARDS (p = 0.75), suggesting that hypoxemia was not only due to the extent of non-aerated tissue. Increasing PEEP from 5 to 15 cmH2O improved oxygenation in all groups. However, while lung mechanics and dead space improved in PaO2/FiO2-matched-ARDS, suggesting recruitment as primary mechanism, they remained unmodified or worsened in COVID-19-ARDS and Compliance-matched-ARDS, suggesting lower recruitment potential and/or blood flow redistribution.ConclusionsCOVID-19-ARDS is a subset of ARDS characterized overall by higher compliance and lung gas volume for a given PaO2/FiO2, at least when considered within the timeframe of our study.

Social quality thinking emerged from a critique of one-sided policies by breaking through the limitations previously set by purely economistic paradigms. By tracing its expansion and presenting different aspects of social quality theory, this volume provides an overview of a more nuanced approach, which assesses societal progress and introduces proposals that are relevant for policy making. Crucially, important components emerge with research by scholars from Asia, particularly China, eastern Europe, and other regions beyond western Europe, the theory's place of origin. As this volume shows, this rich diversity of approaches and their cross-national comparisons reveal the increasingly important role of social quality theory for informing political debates on development and sustainability.

Aim The few fish species able to reproduce across wide osmotic ranges either plastically acclimate sperm performance to, or are locally adapted to, different salinities. The invasive round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) is spreading in Eurasia and the Americas, into both fresh and brackish water. We aim to understand if reproduction in different salinities is affected by an ability to acclimate. Location Brackish and freshwater systems of northern Europe and the Baltic Sea. Methods We cross‐exposed round gobies of freshwater and brackish origin to 0 and 16 practical salinity units (PSU), and the fish were given nest boxes in which to spawn. After 4 weeks, we measured their sperm performance in both 0 and 16 PSU; fertilization success of each egg clutch was measured through visual analysis of eggs. Clutches were split and allowed to develop in both 0 and 16 PSU salinity, and reproductive success (zygote development) was measured 20 ± 1 days later. Responses were analysed using generalized mixed models. Results After a month, the fish showed no plasticity in sperm performance to their acclimation salinity, regardless of their origin. Sperm velocity was highest in the salinity similar to the males’ origin. Significantly lower fertilization success was measured for individuals that reproduced outside their salinity of origin despite recurring spawning events in all treatment groups. Among fertilized eggs, zygote development was similar regardless of salinity treatment of either eggs or parents. Main Conclusions Short‐term acclimation to new salinities does not affect sperm performance in the round goby. Alternative hypotheses such as local adaption should be further investigated. Limits to the species’ reproductive success, and therefore invasion processes, are likely dependent on environment‐phenotype matches. Fish of brackish origin spawned successfully in freshwater, pointing to an increased risk of introducing populations of brackish origin into freshwater.

The ratio of Pa to Fi (P/F) defines acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) severity and suggests appropriate therapies. We investigated 1) whether a 150-mm-Hg P/F threshold within the range of moderate ARDS (100-200 mm Hg) would define two subgroups that were more homogeneous; and 2) which criteria led the clinicians to apply extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in severe ARDS. At the 150-mm-Hg P/F threshold, moderate patients were split into mild-moderate (n = 50) and moderate-severe (n = 55) groups. Patients with severe ARDS (Fi not available in three patients) were split into higher (n = 63) and lower (n = 18) Fi groups at an 80% Fi threshold. Compared with mild-moderate ARDS, patients with moderate-severe ARDS had higher peak pressures, Pa , and pH. They also had heavier lungs, greater inhomogeneity, more noninflated tissue, and greater lung recruitability. Within 84 patients with severe ARDS (P/F < 100 mm Hg), 75% belonged to the higher Fi subgroup. They differed from the patients with severe ARDS with lower Fi only in Pa and lung weight. Forty-one of 46 patients treated with ECMO belonged to the higher Fi group. Within this group, the patients receiving ECMO had higher Pa than the 22 non-ECMO patients. The inhomogeneity ratio, total lung weight, and noninflated tissue were also significantly higher. Using the 150-mm-Hg P/F threshold gave a more homogeneous distribution of patients with ARDS across the severity subgroups and identified two populations that differed in their anatomical and physiological characteristics. The patients treated with ECMO belonged to the severe ARDS group, and almost 90% of them belonged to the higher Fi subgroup.

Although the concept is a familiar one, it tends not to be fully accepted that economics, and political economy in particular, is in fact a social science. Focusing today on capital and commodities, economics does so in the light of their being social relationships. Paul Boccara, on whose work this article centres its attention, focused especially on the following concept: that social relations—both in general, and in the form of market relations—are interwoven with, and are expressions of, the rules of a general though historically specific human nature. Furthermore, we find even in so-called free market societies a complex apparatus that controls economic regulations, making them possible as well as determining their thrust. The article will explain how political life shaped Boccara personally, and how he in turn influenced the development of political economy, basing it firmly on the methodology of Karl Marx while applying it in new ways. The article also reflects on the need to consider the current crisis as a crisis of civilisation, one whose economic core is to be found in over-accumulation and devaluation on a global scale.

Genetic data have great potential for improving fisheries management by identifying the fundamental management units—that is, the biological populations—and their mixing. However, so far, the number of practical cases of marine fisheries management using genetics has been limited. Here, we used Atlantic cod in the Baltic Sea to demonstrate the applicability of genetics to a complex management scenario involving mixing of two genetically divergent populations. Specifically, we addressed several assumptions used in the current assessment of the two populations. Through analysis of 483 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) distributed across the Atlantic cod genome, we confirmed that a model of mechanical mixing, rather than hybridization and introgression, best explained the pattern of genetic differentiation. Thus, the fishery is best monitored as a mixed‐stock fishery. Next, we developed a targeted panel of 39 SNPs with high statistical power for identifying population of origin and analyzed more than 2,000 tissue samples collected between 2011 and 2015 as well as 260 otoliths collected in 2003/2004. These data provided high spatial resolution and allowed us to investigate geographical trends in mixing, to compare patterns for different life stages and to investigate temporal trends in mixing. We found similar geographical trends for the two time points represented by tissue and otolith samples and that a recently implemented geographical management separation of the two populations provided a relatively close match to their distributions. In contrast to the current assumption, we found that patterns of mixing differed between juveniles and adults, a signal likely linked to the different reproductive dynamics of the two populations. Collectively, our data confirm that genetics is an operational tool for complex fisheries management applications. We recommend focussing on developing population assessment models and fisheries management frameworks to capitalize fully on the additional information offered by genetically assisted fisheries monitoring.

Marxist discourse around automation has recently become waylaid with breathless techno-pessimist dystopias and fanciful imaginations of automated luxury communism. This collection of essays by both established veterans of the field and new voices is a refreshingly sober materialist reflection on recent technological developments within capitalist production.It covers a broad range of digital aspects now proliferating across our work and lives, including chapters on the digitalisation of agriculture, robotics in the factory and the labour process on crowdworking platforms. It looks to how 20th century Marxist predictions of the ‘workerless factory’ are, or are not, coming true, and how ‘Platform Capitalism’ should be understood and critiqued.Through rich empirical, theoretical and historical material, this book is necessary reading for those wanting a clear overview of our digital world.

Oxygen uptake (MO2; mgO2 fish-1h-1) of fish groups was measured at temperatures between 10-19°C in an intermittent-flow respirometer to quantify the metabolic costs of spontaneous swimming patterns in the small clupeid Sprattus sprattus. Movements of individual fish within the school were tracked automatically during respirometry. Oxygen uptake was then related to mean swimming speeds and the number of sharp turns (>90°), which are common behavioural elements of spontaneous swimming in clupeid fish. Different possible model formulations for describing the relationship between respiration and swimming patterns were compared via the AIC. The final model revealed that costs for sharp turns at a frequency of 1 s-1 doubled the metabolic costs compared to those with zero turns but with likewise a moderate swimming speed of 0.28 body length -1. The cost for swimming doubled if the swimming speed was doubled from 0.28 to 0.56 BLs-1 but increased by a factor of 4.5 if tripled to 0.84 BLs-1. Costs for transport were minimal at a speed of 0.4 body lengths s-1 at all temperatures. New basic input parameters to estimate energy losses during spontaneous movements, which occur typically during foraging in this small pelagic fish, are provided.