The Machinic Imaginary: A Post-Phenomenological Examination of Computational Society

The central claim of this thesis is the postulation of a machinic dimension of the social imaginary—a more-than-human process of creative expression of the social world. With the development of machine learning and the sociality of interactive media, computational logics have a creative capacity to produce meaning of a radically machinic order. Through an analysis of computational functions and infrastructures ranging from artificial neural networks to large-scale machine ecologies, the institution of computational logics into the social imaginary is nothing less than a reordering of the conditions of social-historical creation. Responding to dominant technopolitical propositions concerning digital culture, this thesis proposes a critical development of Cornelius Castoriadis’ philosophy of the social imaginary. To do so, a post phenomenological framework is constructed by tracing a trajectory from Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s late ontological turn, through to the process-relational philosophies of Gilbert Simondon and Castoriadis. Introducing the concept of the machinic imaginary, the thesis maps the extent to which the dynamic, interactive paradigm of twenty-first century computation is changing how meaning is socially instituted in ways incomprehensible to human sense. As social imaginary significations are increasingly created and carried by machines, the articulation of the social diverges into human and non-human worlds. This inaccessibility of the machinic imaginary is a core problematic raised by this thesis, indicating a fragmentation of the social imaginary and a novel form of existential alienation. Any political theorisation of the contemporary social condition must therefore work within this alienation and engage with the transsubjective character of social-historical creation

Prevalence and Predictors of Vitamin D Insufficiency in Children: A Great Britain Population Based Study

Objectives To evaluate the prevalence and predictors of vitamin D insufficiency (VDI) in children In Great Britain. Design A nationally representative cross-sectional study survey of children (1102) aged 4–18 years (999 white, 570 male) living in private households (January 1997–1998). Interventions provided information about dietary habits, physical activity, socio-demographics, and blood sample. Outcome measures were vitamin D insufficiency (<50 nmol/L). Results Vitamin D levels (mean = 62.1 nmol/L, 95%CI 60.4–63.7) were insufficient in 35%, and decreased with age in both sexes (p<0.001). Young People living between 53–59 degrees latitude had lower levels (compared with 50–53 degrees, p = 0.045). Dietary intake and gender had no effect on vitamin D status. A logistic regression model showed increased risk of VDI in the following: adolescents (14–18 years old), odds ratio (OR) = 3.6 (95%CI 1.8–7.2) compared with younger children (4–8 years); non white children (OR = 37 [95%CI 15–90]); blood levels taken December-May (OR = 6.5 [95%CI 4.3–10.1]); on income support (OR = 2.2 [95%CI 1.3–3.9]); not taking vitamin D supplementation (OR = 3.7 [95%CI 1.4–9.8]); being overweight (OR 1.6 [95%CI 1.0–2.5]); <1/2 hour outdoor exercise/day/week (OR = 1.5 [95%CI 1.0–2.3]); watched >2.5 hours of TV/day/week (OR = 1.6[95%CI 1.0–2.4]). Conclusion We confirm a previously under-recognised risk of VDI in adolescents. The marked higher risk for VDI in non-white children suggests they should be targeted in any preventative strategies. The association of higher risk of VDI among children who exercised less outdoors, watched more TV and were overweight highlights potentially modifiable risk factors. Clearer guidelines and an increased awareness especially in adolescents are needed, as there are no recommendations for vitamin D supplementation in older children

Systematic model behavior of adsorption on flat surfaces

A low density film on a flat surface is described by an expansion involving the first four virial coefficients. The first coefficient (alone) yields the Henry's law regime, while the next three correct for the effects of interactions. The results permit exploration of the idea of universal adsorption behavior, which is compared with experimental data for a number of systems

Collaborative effort to operationalize the gender transformative approach in the Barotse Floodplain

Agricultural interventions that aim at alleviating rural poverty have important gender implications. The paper explores a Gender Transformative Approach recognizing that fishing, post- harvest processing, and trading are all gendered activities. On the Barotse Floodplain (Zambia) women are relegated to perform tasks within less profitable nodes of the fish value chain. The assessment of ecosystem services in a select number of Aquatic Agricultural Systems (AAS) focal communities included women’s and men’s perspectives and diverse provisioning, regulating and cultural ecosystem services.Cultivate Africa’s Future Fund (CULTIAF

Six-year changes in body mass index and cardiorespiratory fitness of English schoolchildren from an affluent area

We compared values of body mass index (BMI) and cardiorespiratory fitness (20 m shuttle-run test) of n=157 boys and n=150 girls aged 10-11 measured in 2014 with measures from 2008 and 1998. Boys' fitness was lower (d=0.68) in 2014 than 2008, despite a small (d=0.37) decline in BMI. Girl's BMI changed trivially (d=0.08) but cardiorespiratory fitness was lower (d=0.47) in 2014 than 2008. This study suggests fitness is declining at 0.95% per year, which exceeds the 0.8% rate of decline we reported between 1998 and 2008 and is double the global average of 0.43%. Declines in fitness were independent of changes in BMI suggesting continued reductions in English children's habitual physical activity levels

Choice of activity-intensity classification thresholds impacts upon accelerometer-assessed physical activity-health relationships in children

It is unknown whether using different published thresholds (PTs) for classifying physical activity (PA) impacts upon activity-health relationships. This study explored whether relationships between PA (sedentary [SED], light PA [LPA], moderate PA [MPA], moderate-to-vigorous PA, vigorous PA [VPA]) and health markers differed in children when classified using three different PTs

International Delegations and the Values of Federalism

Inland water sediments receive large quantities of terrestrial organic matter(1-5) and are globally important sites for organic carbon preservation(5,6). Sediment organic matter mineralization is positively related to temperature across a wide range of high-latitude ecosystems(6-10), but the situation in the tropics remains unclear. Here we assessed temperature effects on the biological production of CO2 and CH4 in anaerobic sediments of tropical lakes in the Amazon and boreal lakes in Sweden. On the basis of conservative regional warming projections until 2100 (ref. 11), we estimate that sediment CO2 and CH4 production will increase 9-61% above present rates. Combining the CO2 and CH4 as CO2 equivalents (CO(2)eq; ref. 11), the predicted increase is 2.4-4.5 times higher in tropical than boreal sediments. Although the estimated lake area in low latitudes is 3.2 times smaller than that of the boreal zone, we estimate that the increase in gas production from tropical lake sediments would be on average 2.4 times higher for CO2 and 2.8 times higher for CH4. The exponential temperature response of organic matter mineralization, coupled with higher increases in the proportion of CH4 relative to CO2 on warming, suggests that the production of greenhouse gases in tropical sediments will increase substantially. This represents a potential large-scale positive feedback to climate change

Growth of Literature on Bradford's Law

ABSTRACTThis paper analyzes the literature produced on Bradford's Law from 1934 to June 2012. The study compiled 936 documents produced by 1,123 authors, working in sixteen languages to communicate the results of their research, with English the leading language, followed by Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese. The study reveals the fifteen most productive authors, all of which work in English in both academic journals and conference settings. This literature is growing exponentially (R2=0.974), at a rate of 5.4% per year and doubling in size every 13.2 years