Black earnings: Changing contemporary patterns

African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 3 May 1982. Not to be quoted without the Author's permission.The paper is a modified version of the first chapter of a short book which is currently nearing completion and is provisionally entitled The Poverty of Black Incomes'. The origin of this book goes back to 1977 when a study was begun in Soweto to look at how households were coping with increasing unemployment and, related to that, the nature and significance of so-called informal sectoral activities. As the study continued into the recent 'boom' it became increasingly apparent that there were large disparities between the claims being made about the growth of Black earnings and the actual standards of living of most households....It should also be made clear that the paper does not deal with the question of long-term wage trends nor the question of Black-White differentials and the so-called 'wage gap', other than to show that most comparisons between Black and White incomes are based on 'earnings' recorded by the Department of Statistics and do not include income from property which accrues almost exclusively to Whites

The Aural and the Quotidian: Everyday Experience in Listening and Practice

The research herein comprises an examination of the following question: in what ways do our experiences of the everyday inhere in our experiences of the aural as aesthetic and meaningful? It is not concerned with forging a definition of everyday sound as a category of sonic effects, but instead an analysis of the ways that the everyday, aural and otherwise, is interpenetrating with our perceptual capacities and the cultural practices encompassing aural aesthetic production and experience. This thesis extends extant discourses surrounding the notion that the experience of sound as meaningful and aesthetic is connected to our general experience as embodied beings in the material world. The following analysis encompasses aspects of auditory perception, music aesthetics, and sound art production from the perspective of the body, as it is the locus of the listening subject situated within the domain of everyday experience. This includes an investigation of sound transduction technologies, as the devices that enable aural aesthetic practice are central to its analysis in the context of the everyday. Listening attitudes are transformed through cultural practice, structuring the relationship between the domain of the everyday, the embodied listening subject, sound recordings as cultural artefacts, and the attendant process of transduction. Discourses that attribute non-material, disembodied understandings to aesthetic experience are examined and challenged. From this, a fundamentally material, embodied approach to auditory experience is proposed, and with it a consideration of the ways that sound art and acousmatic music engage with the process of human understanding and the constitution of meaning in sound. Self-reflexive methodologies in aural aesthetic practice are exemplified, with the aim of promoting an expanded conception of aural context that includes the technological, cultural, and phenomenal aspects of its production

Identifying a sufficient core group for trachoma transmission.

BackgroundIn many infectious diseases, a core group of individuals plays a disproportionate role in transmission. If these individuals were effectively prevented from transmitting infection, for example with a perfect vaccine, then the disease would disappear in the remainder of the community. No vaccine has yet proven effective against the ocular strains of chlamydia that cause trachoma. However, repeated treatment with oral azithromycin may be able to prevent individuals from effectively transmitting trachoma.Methodology/principal findingsHere we assess several methods for identifying a core group for trachoma, assuming varying degrees of knowledge about the transmission process. We determine the minimal core group from a completely specified model, fitted to results from a large Ethiopian trial. We compare this benchmark to a core group that could actually be identified from information available to trachoma programs. For example, determined from the rate of return of infection in a community after mass treatments, or from the equilibrium prevalence of infection.Conclusions/significanceSufficient groups are relatively easy for programs to identify, but will likely be larger than the theoretical minimum

Polymorph prototype

Polymorph Prototype is a result of research into multisensory, distributed Ai working fluidly across different forms of matter, connecting the indeterminacy of complex physical systems with fixed, generative Ai models to produce emergent outcomes. In this iteration, small changes in air current, the movement of bodies, and fluctuating electromagnetic interference are entangled with fine-tuned generative Ai models. Data ‘leaps’ and ‘leaks’ across layers and formats at various time scales and between the tangible components of the work, producing sensorial magnitudes with no singular hierarchy. The sensing, auditory, and optic elements act as both inputs and outputs, forming a dynamic manifold/structure of feedback loops. Polymorph Prototype comprises a fine-tuned Stable Diffusion model, 2 steel plates which function both as sensors and sound resonators, and thin strands of conductive ‘hair’ that wave according to changing air currents in the room. As data transforms across formats and forms of matter, the dataset generating the visible and auditory components of the work expands, merging with the environment within which the work is immersed. Bending down to view the small onscreen image will fold the sensed presence of the body into the emerging long-term structure of the work. RP2-9 Artificial and Distributed Intelligence Research team: Dr Jeremy Keenan, Maggie Roberts, Sonia Bernaciak [Prof Johnny Golding (PI)

e-S.K.I.N:Emergent Sensory Kinetic Immersive Network

RP2-9 presents an initial prototype of e-S.K.I.N - an immersive, physical embodiment of three simultaneous coding systems: semantic, spatial and sensory/tactile. This pioneering research goes beyond the usual concept of ‘input-output’ in physical computing design. In this early stage, you will observe how a water tank with a network of conductive steel hairs and a floating latex skein in communication with a 3D projection engages in an emergent, complex and adaptive exchange. It is driven by and interacts with different forms of digital inputs that are sourced by latticed AI networks acting as a perception matrix. Functioning both as a representational display of complex, adaptive intelligent interaction, whilst simultaneously a living pseudomorphic ‘interface’, e-S.K.I.N. mimics the common octopus’s intelligent form of information data gathering, with emphasis on ecological camouflage. Wide commercial application expected: from textile design to re-thinking policy on human-machine-interspecies co-evolution

Structural Changes in Thin Keratoconic Corneas Following Crosslinking with Hypotonic Riboflavin: Findings on In Vivo Confocal Microscopy

Purpose: To report structural changes observable in in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) in keratoconic corneas <400 μm treated with hypotonic riboflavin and collagen crosslinking (CXL). Method: Ten eyes of ten patients with progressive keratoconus and corneal thickness between 350 and 399 μm underwent CXL with hypotonic riboflavin. IVCM was performed preoperatively and at one month, three months, and six months after the procedure. Results: IVCM analysis one month postoperatively showed complete absence of the subepithelial nerve plexus with gradual regeneration over six months in 8 of the 10 eyes, and poor regeneration in the remaining 2 eyes. The anterior stroma showed extracellular lacunae and hyper-reflective cytoplasm in a honeycomb appearance signifying edema at one month which gradually decreased over six months post CXL. Stromal keratocyte apoptosis was evident in the anterior stroma in all cases and extended to the posterior stroma in four eyes with gradual regeneration evident at three and six months. The specular endothelial count decreased by 8% (P = 0.005) post-CXL, but no corneas developed clinical signs of endothelial trauma. Conclusion: IVCM analysis of thin corneas after hypotonic CXL showed posterior corneal structural changes. Posterior stromal changes were accompanied by a decrease in the endothelial cell count. This case series was a preliminary feasibility study that might necessitate conducting a well-designed controlled study

Linear growth in preschool children treated with mass azithromycin distributions for trachoma: A cluster-randomized trial.

BackgroundMass azithromycin distributions have been shown to reduce mortality among pre-school children in sub-Saharan Africa. It is unclear what mediates this mortality reduction, but one possibility is that antibiotics function as growth promoters for young children.Methods and findings24 rural Ethiopian communities that had received biannual mass azithromycin distributions over the previous four years were enrolled in a parallel-group, cluster-randomized trial. Communities were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to either continuation of biannual oral azithromycin (20mg/kg for children, 1 g for adults) or to no programmatic antibiotics over the 36 months of the study period. All community members 6 months and older were eligible for the intervention. The primary outcome was ocular chlamydia; height and weight were measured as secondary outcomes on children less than 60 months of age at months 12 and 36. Study participants were not masked; anthropometrists were not informed of the treatment allocation. Anthropometric measurements were collected for 282 children aged 0-36 months at the month 12 assessment and 455 children aged 0-59 months at the month 36 assessment, including 207 children who had measurements at both time points. After adjusting for age and sex, children were slightly but not significantly taller in the biannually treated communities (84.0 cm, 95%CI 83.2-84.8, in the azithromycin-treated communities vs. 83.7 cm, 95%CI 82.9-84.5, in the untreated communities; mean difference 0.31 cm, 95%CI -0.85 to 1.47, P = 0.60). No adverse events were reported.ConclusionsPeriodic mass azithromycin distributions for trachoma did not demonstrate a strong impact on childhood growth.Trial registrationThe TANA II trial was registered on clinicaltrials.gov #NCT01202331