Rf/6/11: Don Pinnock interview with Rica Hodgson

An interview conducted by Don Pinnock circa 1992 with Rica Hodgson. Part of a series carried out at Grahamstown University. and held at the UWC/Robben Island Mayibuye Archive

RF/6/19: Don Pinnock interview with Joe Slovo

An interview conducted by Don Pinnock in 1992 with Joe Slovo. Part of a series carried out at Grahamstown University. and held at the UWC/Robben Island Mayibuye Archive

Public Sector Unions: Will They Thrive or Struggle to Survive?

[Excerpt] There is emerging consensus among public sector union leaders at the national level1 that the threats they face today are eerily similar to those ignored by private sector unions 20 years ago. Privatization, reinventing government, a changing public sector work force, anti-government forces on Capitol Hill and in statehouses, union myopia, and member apathy all are taken with the utmost seriousness. The situation calls for a sophisticated strategic response. Because they are operating from a position of relative strength, public sector unions must be at the forefront of any effort to re-establish union influence in our society. With this ultimate objective in mind, the following priorities have been embraced by most of the major public sector unions: expand political action, enhance organizing programs, fight privatization, mobilize members in support of the above, and develop a new generation of leaders. If public sector unions are successful in achieving these priorities, the entire labor movement will benefit. In the next section we present an optimistic scenario that outlines what we see as key ingredients if public sector unions are to prevail. Unfortunately, we are not fully convinced that this formula will be pursued with sufficient vigor to meet the political and economic challenges that threaten unions. Later in the paper we will describe a more pessimistic course of events that could result in gradual contraction of density and influence. Although we concur on the factors that could lead alternatively to success or failure, we differ on the weights we assign to the two scenarios. Co-author Pinnock believes that the evidence supports a positive prognostication, while co-author Hurd is less sanguine and leans towards the forecast of adversity (apropos his training as an economist). We are in agreement, however, on the essential elements of a revitalized labor movement and will conclude the paper with a synopsis of our prescription for productive transformation

The bacterial flora of lepidopterous larvae, with special reference to those of Zygaena (Fab.)

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The Spectre of the Slave Ship: Caryl Phillips’s Adaptation for the Stage of Rough Crossings by Simon Schama

The representation onstage of traumatic historical events is met with various challenges: for example, the conventions of dramaturgy may humanize the perpetrators of wide-scale criminal acts through the requirement for complex characterization; there is a risk of misrepresentation when the fictional content diverges from reality. There is also the problem of archival silence around those who were the victims of atrocities such as the slave trade. Caryl Phillips's adaptation of Simon Schama's Rough Crossings demonstrates the way in which dramaturgical strategies can be deployed to confront some of these challenges by rejecting the concept of authenticity altogether. His play also shows how this dramaturgical intervention can offset the limitations of the archive in order to retrieve the lost voices of the enslaved

Application of machine learning to support self-management of asthma with mHealth

While there have been several efforts to use mHealth technologies to support asthma management, none so far offer personalised algorithms that can provide real-time feedback and tailored advice to patients based on their monitoring. This work employed a publicly available mHealth dataset, the Asthma Mobile Health Study (AMHS), and applied machine learning techniques to develop early warning algorithms to enhance asthma self-management. The AMHS consisted of longitudinal data from 5,875 patients, including 13,614 weekly surveys and 75,795 daily surveys. We applied several well-known supervised learning algorithms (classification) to differentiate stable and unstable periods and found that both logistic regression and naïve Bayes-based classifiers provided high accuracy (AUC > 0.87). We found features related to the use of quick-relief puffs, night symptoms, frequency of data entry, and day symptoms (in descending order of importance) as the most useful features to detect early evidence of loss of control. We found no additional value of using peak flow readings to improve population level early warning algorithms

Digital Childhood: How mobile devices impact child development and adolescent behavior

A new wave of smart and modern technology has integrated into lives and homes of families everywhere, thus the effects of early and continual exposure to this technology remain unknown. This is a global problem as many people around the world have access to this technology and interact with it in different ways. Whether it’s embracing it for future generations like Japan, or helping the newer generations with their overuse, almost addiction like tendencies with these devices like in South Korea. Around the world children are engaging with these devices at a young age and it’s found to have an impact in their language development, sleep, and social connectivity. Technology is psychologically impacting, whether it’s through development as with children or behaviorally as with adolescents. Media literacy can be used to understand what content children and adolescents are engaging with and whether they understand that content. More needs to be done in order to understand the effects of new modern technology, and how to help children and adolescents interact with it in a smart way that will not have lasting effects on their development or behavior

Concussion Management in Children and Adolescents

Concussion is a controversial topic right now in the world of sports and emergency medicine. Concussions are a common injury in children and adolescents that are involved in sports. It is important for everyone involved with adolescents and sports know and understand the signs and symptoms of concussions in order to prevent -further complications of concussions. The systems of grading concussions are no longer used, and concussion management has moved towards return to play guidelines. In this case report, a sixteen-year-old female presented to the clinic for a pre-sports physical examination prior to starting volleyball and track, however, she had sustained a concussion six weeks prior. In having a previous concussion, it is prudent to ensure that this patient has no cun-ent post-concussion symptoms. It is also important to evaluate her risk of second impact syndrome. Second impact syndrome does not need to be a severe second injury to the brain. The first injury is believed to have sensitized the brain, and the second injury is devastating. The literature review conducted has shown that the return to play guidelines for concussion and head injury patients are highly individualized. Every practitioner, including those in rural settings, should have an expanded knowledge base regarding concussions and how to manage the