I Blog Therefore I Am

Twenty-five years since the publication of Intimate Strangers: The Culture of Celebrity, this essay reflects on the extraordinary changes in the nature of celebrity, including its radical democratization by way of the internet. Such changes reflect old dilemmas and pose new challenges as the internet and publishing worlds begin to merge and print culture is left behind.     

‘Illegal Migrants’, Gender and Vulnerability: The Case of the EU’s Returns Directive

Feminist legal efforts to make sense of the external migration policies of the European Union (EU) have focused almost exclusively on the EU’s initiatives against trafficking in women. This article examines one of the more neglected areas of EU immigration policy—the return of ‘illegal immigrants’. It analyses the so-called 2008 Returns Directive in the light of the multidimensional inequalities experienced by migrant women, which affect their migration status and expose some of them to the threat of removal. Owing to insecurities over external migration, the Directive constructs even the most vulnerable migrants as a threat to be controlled and is likely to result in detrimental consequences for many migrants, and in particular already vulnerable women who are likely to be further disadvantaged by it.     

Chloroquine distribution in postmortem cases

Chloroquine concentrations in blood and tissues were examined in overdose and non-overdose cases to determine appropriate ranges for interpretation. Twenty-nine literature overdose cases and 8 non-overdose literature cases were compared with this laboratory's findings. The results indicate significant postmortem redistribution of chloroquine. Combining this laboratory's results and the literature results indicates that using a liver concentration of 150 mg/kg as a cutoff between overdose and non-overdose concentrations properly identified 30 of the 34 published cases containing liver chloroquine and 19 of the 20 presented cases.     

The size of the SOE sector and macroeconomic performance: an empirical study based on Chinese provincial data

Using a neoclassical growth model augmented with human capital, we investigate the impact of the presence of state owned enterprises (SOEs) on macroeconomic performance in China, using provincial data from 1990 to 2004. We estimate a macroeconomic model with panel methods to explain changes in labor productivity resulting from standard influences as well as presence of the SOE sector measured in five different ways. While controlling for growth in the labor force and physical capital, government size, exposure to trade and change in economic structure, we conclude that the relative share of the SOE sector has no significant influence on macroeconomic performance in China during our sample period.