Neurocognitive effects of head and body collisions on club level rugby union players
- Authors: Zoccola, Diana
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Neuropsychological tests , Head -- Wounds and injuries , Sports injuries -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3257 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016397
- Description: The objective of the study was to investigate the cumulative neurocognitive effects of repetitive concussive and subconcussive events in club level Rugby Union (hereafter rugby) during the course of one rugby season, in a combined group and individualized case-based approach. Amateur adult club level rugby players (n = 20) were compared with a non-contact control group (n = 22) of equivalent age, years of education and estimated IQ (p = > .05, in all instances), although the two groups were clearly differentiated on the basis of a history of reported concussions (p = < .05). Video analyses documented the tackling maneuvers observed amongst the players during all matches across the rugby season revealing a sobering average of more than a thousand tackles per player, excluding any contact practice sessions. Five rugby players (n = 5) who were observed to have a head jarring event were also isolated for individualized postconcussive follow-up analysis of their neurocognitive profiles. Measures included the ImPACT Verbal and Visual Memory, Visual Motor Speed and Reaction Time composites and the Purdue Pegboard. Independent and dependent statistical analyses were employed to compare the rugby versus control group neurocognitive test profiles at and between the three test intervals. Correlational analyses explored the association between concussion, tackling and neurocognitive test outcomes. Descriptive comparisons of individual neurocognitive test scores with normative data were employed for the case analyses. Taken together, the results implicated vulnerability amongst club rugby players on the motor and speeded tasks, with less robust indications on the memory tasks. While limited in terms of its small sample size, it is considered that the outcome of the study was rendered more robust by virtue of being methodologically multifaceted with heuristic implications for future research studies in the area. The novel inclusion of tackling data as well as fine-tuned case analyses, were of particular relevance in that regard. The results add to a growing body of literature that implicates deleterious neurocognitive effects in participants of a sport such as rugby due to repetitive head jarring incidents that are intrinsic to the game.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Zoccola, Diana
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Neuropsychological tests , Head -- Wounds and injuries , Sports injuries -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3257 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016397
- Description: The objective of the study was to investigate the cumulative neurocognitive effects of repetitive concussive and subconcussive events in club level Rugby Union (hereafter rugby) during the course of one rugby season, in a combined group and individualized case-based approach. Amateur adult club level rugby players (n = 20) were compared with a non-contact control group (n = 22) of equivalent age, years of education and estimated IQ (p = > .05, in all instances), although the two groups were clearly differentiated on the basis of a history of reported concussions (p = < .05). Video analyses documented the tackling maneuvers observed amongst the players during all matches across the rugby season revealing a sobering average of more than a thousand tackles per player, excluding any contact practice sessions. Five rugby players (n = 5) who were observed to have a head jarring event were also isolated for individualized postconcussive follow-up analysis of their neurocognitive profiles. Measures included the ImPACT Verbal and Visual Memory, Visual Motor Speed and Reaction Time composites and the Purdue Pegboard. Independent and dependent statistical analyses were employed to compare the rugby versus control group neurocognitive test profiles at and between the three test intervals. Correlational analyses explored the association between concussion, tackling and neurocognitive test outcomes. Descriptive comparisons of individual neurocognitive test scores with normative data were employed for the case analyses. Taken together, the results implicated vulnerability amongst club rugby players on the motor and speeded tasks, with less robust indications on the memory tasks. While limited in terms of its small sample size, it is considered that the outcome of the study was rendered more robust by virtue of being methodologically multifaceted with heuristic implications for future research studies in the area. The novel inclusion of tackling data as well as fine-tuned case analyses, were of particular relevance in that regard. The results add to a growing body of literature that implicates deleterious neurocognitive effects in participants of a sport such as rugby due to repetitive head jarring incidents that are intrinsic to the game.
- Full Text:
Primary maths teacher learning and identity within a numeracy in-service community of practice
- Authors: Pausigere, Peter
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Mathematics -- Study and teaching (Elementary) -- South Africa , Teachers -- In-service training -- South Africa , Student-centered learning -- South Africa , Communities of practice -- South Africa , Educational change -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2019 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017183
- Description: This study focuses on the processes of primary maths teacher learning and how their identities and practices evolve in relation to participation in a primary maths focused in-service teacher education programme, called the Numeracy Inquiry Community of Leader Educators (NICLE).Additionally it investigates activities, relations and forms of participation within the Community of Practice (CoP) which enable or constrain evolving primary maths identities and practices and how these relate to the broader context. The study draws from the situative-participationists (Lave, 1996; Wenger, 1998; Sfard & Prusak, 2005; Wenger et al, 2002) theoretical framework supplemented by Bernstein’s (2000) pedagogic identity model. Using a qualitative educational interpretive approach I sampled 8 primary teachers drawn from NICLE and gathered data through participant observations, interactive interviews, document analysis and reflective journals. Analysing the key data themes that emerged from teacher learning stories, which I have called stelos, the study explains the nature of the primary maths teachers’ learning, transformation and participation experiences in NICLE using the synonyms reinvigoration and remediation and activation and relating these semantics to the teachers’ mathematical identities and histories. The study also explains the processes through which primary maths teacher identities evolve in relation to participation in an in-service CoP as ‘insiding’ and ‘outcropping’. Interpreting qualitative data from the empirical field indicates that teachers participating in NICLE mostly took-up into their maths classrooms key numeracy-domain concepts, resources and issues presented by primary maths experts which are informed by research and theory that link to practices. Teachers collaboratively and actively engaged in a range of activities that relate to classroom practices. Teacher learning was also enabled when teachers engaged in maths overlapping communities of practice, shared classroom experiences in friendly ways with fellow NICLE teachers and engaged with NICLE presenters who mutually respected and regarded them as professionals. Such affordances were said to enable teachers to engage learners in maths classes and improve their understanding of specific primary maths concepts. On the other hand teachers felt challenged by the travelling distance, limited time and also raised the tension of how to scale-up maths professional development initiatives to include schools from their community. The study makes a theoretical contribution by illustrating how Bernstein’s pedagogic identity model and its elaboration by Tyler (1999) provides analytical tools to interrogate macro educational changes and connect these to the micro processes and teacher identities.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Pausigere, Peter
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Mathematics -- Study and teaching (Elementary) -- South Africa , Teachers -- In-service training -- South Africa , Student-centered learning -- South Africa , Communities of practice -- South Africa , Educational change -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2019 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017183
- Description: This study focuses on the processes of primary maths teacher learning and how their identities and practices evolve in relation to participation in a primary maths focused in-service teacher education programme, called the Numeracy Inquiry Community of Leader Educators (NICLE).Additionally it investigates activities, relations and forms of participation within the Community of Practice (CoP) which enable or constrain evolving primary maths identities and practices and how these relate to the broader context. The study draws from the situative-participationists (Lave, 1996; Wenger, 1998; Sfard & Prusak, 2005; Wenger et al, 2002) theoretical framework supplemented by Bernstein’s (2000) pedagogic identity model. Using a qualitative educational interpretive approach I sampled 8 primary teachers drawn from NICLE and gathered data through participant observations, interactive interviews, document analysis and reflective journals. Analysing the key data themes that emerged from teacher learning stories, which I have called stelos, the study explains the nature of the primary maths teachers’ learning, transformation and participation experiences in NICLE using the synonyms reinvigoration and remediation and activation and relating these semantics to the teachers’ mathematical identities and histories. The study also explains the processes through which primary maths teacher identities evolve in relation to participation in an in-service CoP as ‘insiding’ and ‘outcropping’. Interpreting qualitative data from the empirical field indicates that teachers participating in NICLE mostly took-up into their maths classrooms key numeracy-domain concepts, resources and issues presented by primary maths experts which are informed by research and theory that link to practices. Teachers collaboratively and actively engaged in a range of activities that relate to classroom practices. Teacher learning was also enabled when teachers engaged in maths overlapping communities of practice, shared classroom experiences in friendly ways with fellow NICLE teachers and engaged with NICLE presenters who mutually respected and regarded them as professionals. Such affordances were said to enable teachers to engage learners in maths classes and improve their understanding of specific primary maths concepts. On the other hand teachers felt challenged by the travelling distance, limited time and also raised the tension of how to scale-up maths professional development initiatives to include schools from their community. The study makes a theoretical contribution by illustrating how Bernstein’s pedagogic identity model and its elaboration by Tyler (1999) provides analytical tools to interrogate macro educational changes and connect these to the micro processes and teacher identities.
- Full Text:
An economic analysis of government expenditure allocations to black schooling in South Africa
- Authors: Hosking, Stephen Gerald
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Black people -- Education -- Economic aspects -- South Africa , Education -- Economic aspects -- South Africa , Education and state -- South Africa , Education -- Finance -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:925 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001451
- Description: In this thesis an assessment is made of the contribution of economic theory to the debate on government expenditure allocations to schooling in developing countries. Publicly provided Black schooling in South Africa is taken as the case study and viewed in the light of historical perspectives, as well as human capital, rent-seeking, welfare, liberal and contractarian theory. From an historical perspective, the willingness of Blacks to enrol at schools under National Party control, despite the poor quality of such schooling and lack of labour market incentives for them to do so, is paradoxical. It leads to the conclusion that under National Party administration the private benefit of Black schooling exceeded the private cost; a situation which is argued to have been influenced by rent-seeking. The propositions that government expenditure on Black schooling is a profitable social investment, and that rent-seeking has influenced the allocations of government expenditure on Black and White education are then investigated. Empirical support is found for both propositions, but it is based on the use of controversial methods and measures. The provision of education by the state can be justified on many economic grounds; the most popular being that this improves welfare by bringing about a better distribution of income or by redressing market failure. However, as there are major problems with this approach, it is concluded that neoclassical welfare theory fails to provide a persuasive justification for current levels of government expenditure on Black schooling. The provision of Black schooling by the state can also be justified in terms of liberal objectives. Classical and reform liberalism and their respective conclusions are examined. Marxist views on the role played by the state in the provision of education are also considered, but not found to be appropriate. Two contractarian assessments of the government's role in the provision of Black schooling are also provided in this thesis. They are based on the works of John Rawls (1971 and 1974) and James Buchanan (1986). The approach taken by James Buchanan is argued to be more appropriate to South African circumstances than Rawls's, and it is in the context of the former that problems with respect to public decisions on education and possible solutions to them are discussed. The conclusion of the thesis is that economic theory offers only a limited explanation for government expenditure allocations to Black education in South Africa
- Full Text:
- Authors: Hosking, Stephen Gerald
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Black people -- Education -- Economic aspects -- South Africa , Education -- Economic aspects -- South Africa , Education and state -- South Africa , Education -- Finance -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:925 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001451
- Description: In this thesis an assessment is made of the contribution of economic theory to the debate on government expenditure allocations to schooling in developing countries. Publicly provided Black schooling in South Africa is taken as the case study and viewed in the light of historical perspectives, as well as human capital, rent-seeking, welfare, liberal and contractarian theory. From an historical perspective, the willingness of Blacks to enrol at schools under National Party control, despite the poor quality of such schooling and lack of labour market incentives for them to do so, is paradoxical. It leads to the conclusion that under National Party administration the private benefit of Black schooling exceeded the private cost; a situation which is argued to have been influenced by rent-seeking. The propositions that government expenditure on Black schooling is a profitable social investment, and that rent-seeking has influenced the allocations of government expenditure on Black and White education are then investigated. Empirical support is found for both propositions, but it is based on the use of controversial methods and measures. The provision of education by the state can be justified on many economic grounds; the most popular being that this improves welfare by bringing about a better distribution of income or by redressing market failure. However, as there are major problems with this approach, it is concluded that neoclassical welfare theory fails to provide a persuasive justification for current levels of government expenditure on Black schooling. The provision of Black schooling by the state can also be justified in terms of liberal objectives. Classical and reform liberalism and their respective conclusions are examined. Marxist views on the role played by the state in the provision of education are also considered, but not found to be appropriate. Two contractarian assessments of the government's role in the provision of Black schooling are also provided in this thesis. They are based on the works of John Rawls (1971 and 1974) and James Buchanan (1986). The approach taken by James Buchanan is argued to be more appropriate to South African circumstances than Rawls's, and it is in the context of the former that problems with respect to public decisions on education and possible solutions to them are discussed. The conclusion of the thesis is that economic theory offers only a limited explanation for government expenditure allocations to Black education in South Africa
- Full Text:
Towards an existential phenomenological interpretation of C.G. Jung's analytical psychology
- Authors: Brooke, Roger, 1953-
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Jung, C G (Carl Gustav), 1875-1961 Existential phenomenology Phenomenology Psychoanalysis Psychology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3208 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011983
- Description: The central aim of this study was to interpret the psychology of C.G . Jung in the light of existential phenomenology, thereby to lay the foundations for an integrated phenomenological analytical psychology. It was recognised that although Jung introduced a poetic understanding of psychological life he tended to adhere theoretically to a Cartesian and natural scientific epistemology and ontology, in which the knower is separated from the known, and psychological life is encapsulated inside the human subject. Thus the main task, which defined generally the study's scope and limitations, was to undercut the lingering Cartesianism in Jung's thought, thereby to recover the world in which one lives as intrinsically and authentically psychological, and one's psychological life as irreducibly world-related. The ontological guidelines for this endeavour were taken primarily from Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty, but it was consistently argued that this hermeneutic movement towards an existential understanding is given within Jung's work itself. Thus: Jung's method is primarily hermeneutic-phenomenological; the psyche is not "mind" or an inner realm more or less linked to the body, but is the embodied life-world, and Jung's descriptions of it - of its autonomy, spatiality and bodiliness, for instance - achieve ontological clarity when it is articulated as Dasein; the self as the totality of the psyche is interpretated in terms of Dasein, and individuation involves differentiation, personalisation and appropriation within existence itself; the complexes, archetypally grounded, are the vital densities of incarnate life, ambiguously conscious and unconscious, known and lived; the archetypes are the fundamental necessities of psychological life, autonomous imaginal structures within which both body and world are founded. Imaginal autonomy is revealed ontically as the metaphorical reality of things, but since imaginal autonomy has no ground thought about psychological life is ultimately poetic. Where relevant, recent theoretical developments in analytical psychology were discussed, particularly the Developmental and Archetypal movements. A clinical study was presented to illustrate some of the main themes of the thesis. In conclusion, the main themes of an integrated phenomenological analytical psychology were outlined, and the central contributions of analytical psychology and existential phenomenology were highlighted.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Brooke, Roger, 1953-
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Jung, C G (Carl Gustav), 1875-1961 Existential phenomenology Phenomenology Psychoanalysis Psychology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3208 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011983
- Description: The central aim of this study was to interpret the psychology of C.G . Jung in the light of existential phenomenology, thereby to lay the foundations for an integrated phenomenological analytical psychology. It was recognised that although Jung introduced a poetic understanding of psychological life he tended to adhere theoretically to a Cartesian and natural scientific epistemology and ontology, in which the knower is separated from the known, and psychological life is encapsulated inside the human subject. Thus the main task, which defined generally the study's scope and limitations, was to undercut the lingering Cartesianism in Jung's thought, thereby to recover the world in which one lives as intrinsically and authentically psychological, and one's psychological life as irreducibly world-related. The ontological guidelines for this endeavour were taken primarily from Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty, but it was consistently argued that this hermeneutic movement towards an existential understanding is given within Jung's work itself. Thus: Jung's method is primarily hermeneutic-phenomenological; the psyche is not "mind" or an inner realm more or less linked to the body, but is the embodied life-world, and Jung's descriptions of it - of its autonomy, spatiality and bodiliness, for instance - achieve ontological clarity when it is articulated as Dasein; the self as the totality of the psyche is interpretated in terms of Dasein, and individuation involves differentiation, personalisation and appropriation within existence itself; the complexes, archetypally grounded, are the vital densities of incarnate life, ambiguously conscious and unconscious, known and lived; the archetypes are the fundamental necessities of psychological life, autonomous imaginal structures within which both body and world are founded. Imaginal autonomy is revealed ontically as the metaphorical reality of things, but since imaginal autonomy has no ground thought about psychological life is ultimately poetic. Where relevant, recent theoretical developments in analytical psychology were discussed, particularly the Developmental and Archetypal movements. A clinical study was presented to illustrate some of the main themes of the thesis. In conclusion, the main themes of an integrated phenomenological analytical psychology were outlined, and the central contributions of analytical psychology and existential phenomenology were highlighted.
- Full Text:
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