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A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Humanities in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts Organisational Psychology University of the Witwatersrand March 2016 / Emergency first responders such as firefighters are exposed to higher levels of traumatic events through the course of their work. Accordingly, chances of such exposure resulting in negative psychological consequences are elevated. Previous research implicates the experience of trauma incident(s) and other organisational factors, among other factors, as causes of the development of consequences such as posttraumatic stress disorder and the variance thereof. However, research exploring these implications is limited. As a result, firefighters in the Emergency Medical Services were surveyed in the attempt to identify experiences of posttraumatic stress symptoms resulting from history of exposure to work-related traumatic events, perceived life threat during those incidents, general work-related stress and their perceived organisational support. The purpose of this study was to explore the predictive relationship PTSD symptoms and four predictors namely; perceived life threat, perceived organisational support, history of trauma and job-related stress, among Johannesburg firefighters. The sample was drawn from the City of Johannesburg Emergency Medical Services. A sample (N=100) of trauma-exposed firefighters was recruited for the study. Participants were recruited using a non-probability, convenience sampling strategy in which participation in the study was voluntary. The sample was made of 89 male participants and 11 female participants. All variables included in the study were measured using self-report instruments. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire to gather information pertaining to gender, age, organisational tenure and race. The following questionnaires were used to ascertain scores for the predictor variables: Survey of perceived Organisational Support, General Work Stress scale, Life Threat scale and a self-developed history of trauma scale. The Revised Impact of Event scale was used to measure the firefighters’ experience of PTSD related symptoms. Participants reported an average score of 29 on the IES-R scale indicating a stress reaction with the possibility of posttraumatic stress disorder. However, using a multiple regression analysis, this present study found that the four predictor variables explored did not have a substantial impact on the development of PTSD among firefighters. Secondary analyses were conducted to explore the individual association between each independent variable and PTSD. The results are reported. Overall, the results yielded suggest that there are other factors that exert a greater impact on the development of PTSD among firefighters. Future research among firefighters could focus on exploring other risk and protective factors associated with the development of PTSD. Alternatively, if this study is to be replicated, the researcher could employ a longitudinal, qualitative approach to explore the predictive relationship between history of trauma, perceived life threat, perceived organisational support, work-related stress and PTSD related symptoms. KEYWORDS: Post-traumatic stress disorder, perceived life threat, perceived organisational support, job-related stress, history of trauma

Introduction: Headache is one of the most common disorders of the nervous system and several of its subtypes lead to substantial levels of disability. Cervicogenic headache is a condition characterised by chronic hemi-cranial pain that is referred to the head from either bony structures or soft tissues of the neck. One of the common factors associated with all forms of headaches is the presence of trigger points. The aim of this study was to compare the sensitivity of trigger points, descriptive characteristics and level of disability in patients with cervicogenic and in patients with non-cervicogenic headaches. Methodology: The study was conducted as a quantitative, cross sectional, descriptive study. Forty participants (20 with cervicogenic and 20 non-cervicogenic headache) were included into this study sample. The classification of patients as having cervicogenic or non-cervicogenic headache was done according to the guidelines of Zito et al (2006). The sensitivity of trigger points in the upper trapezius, sternocleidomastoid, posterior cervical and temporalis muscles were established using a hand-held digital algometer with 1cm2 round head. Their level of disability was compared using the Henry Ford Headache Disability Inventory (HDI). The demographic and clinical presentation of both the groups was also compared including age, sex, duration of headache and pain rate scale. The above mentioned variables were compared using student t-test and chi-square test. Results: Descriptive characteristics, pain intensity and level of disability did not attain a statistical significant difference between the two groups. The results found evidence of a statistically significant difference with respect to trigger points sensitivity in right upper trapezius (p=0.02) and left upper trapezius (p=0.01). The sensitivity of trigger points of upper trapezius were higher in cervicogenic groups but none of the other muscles tested showed difference in sensitivity between both groups. Discussion Similarities in the descriptive characteristics, pain intensity and level of disability of both groups suggest that both types of headaches cannot be differentiated in terms of a specific age, sex, body mass index, pain intensity or level of disability. Increased sensitivity of trigger points especially in upper trapezius may be used as an additional diagnosing factor of cervicogenic headache group. Conclusion: The results of this study found that patients with cervicogenic headache had an increased sensitivity of the upper trapezius muscles compared to patients with non-cervicogenic headache. Since physiotherapists play an important role in the treatment of trigger points the value of physiotherapy treatment in the management of cervicogenic headache releasing the trigger points in the upper trapezius may result in a decrease in symptoms and an associated improvement in quality of life.

O objetivo deste estudo foi comparar, in vitro, a resistência à compressão de 30 raízes bovinas, tratadas endodonticamente, divididas em 3 grupos com 10 raízes cada e restauradas com pino metálico fundido (Grupo 1), pino pré-fabricado de fibra de vidro (Grupo 2) e pino anatômico (Grupo 3). Todas as raízes, com comprimentos de 15mm, foram preparadas internamente para que a espessura dentinária cervical ficasse com 1,5mm, com o objetivo de aumentar a largura do canal radicular. O espaço para o pino foi preparado com 10mm de comprimento. O diâmetro do pino de fibra de vidro escolhido foi o número 2, do sistema utilizado, para que houvesse um espaço entre ele e a estrutura radicular. O Grupo 1 recebeu pino e núcleo metálico fundido cimentado com cimento de fosfato de zinco. O Grupo 2 recebeu pino préfabricado de fibra de vidro cimentado com cimento resinoso Panavia F e núcleo de resina composta Z100. O Grupo 3 recebeu um pino de fibra de vidro modelado no interior do canal com resina composta Z100, cimentado com cimento resinoso Panavia F e núcleo de resina composta Z100. Em todas as raízes dos grupos, um coping metálico foi cimentado com cimento de fosfato de zinco. As raízes foram incluídas em resina acrílica quimicamente ativada, previamente inserida no interior de tubos de PVC e submetidas a testes de compressão em máquina de ensaio Kratos, modelo k2000MP. A carga de compressão foi aplicada a um ângulo de 135 graus ao longo eixo do dente, na face palatina, até que ocorresse uma trinca ou and analysed. The results revealed a statistical difference among groups. Group 1 presented a stronger resistance to fracture than the other groups, which did not present statistical difference. The roots restored with post and cast metallic core were the only ones that presented radicular fracture in the apical root third. The roots that were restored with fibre glass posts presented similar fractures, from the cervical root third to the middle root third. / The aim of this study was to compare, in vitro, the resistance to compression strength of 30bovine roots among canines and incisors endodontically treated, divided into 3 groups with 10 roots each and restored with cast metallic post (Group 1), prefabricated fibre glass post (Group 2), and anatomical post (Group 3). All the roots, with a length of 15mm, were internally prepared so as to their cervical dentin wall thickness would be of 1,5mm, in order to enhance the width of the radicular canal. The space for the post was prepared with 10mm. The diameter of the glass fibre post chosen was the number 2, of the adopted system, so as to create a space between the glass fibre post and the radicular structure. Group 1 received post and cast metallic core cemented with zinc phosphate cement. Group 2 received prefabricated fibre glass post cemented with resin cement Panavia F and composite resin core Z100. Group 3 received a fibre glass post modeled inside the canal with composite resin Z100, cemented with resin cement Panavia F and composite resin core Z100. In all groups, all the roots were cemented with a metallic coping with zinc phosphate cement. The roots were mounted inside pvc pipes with chemically activated acrylic resin, and submitted to compression tests in a universal testing machine Kratos, model k2000MP. The compressive load was done in an angle of 135o in relation to the long axes of the roots, until the occurrence of failure or fracture. The amount of load correspondent to the occurrence of failure or fracture was statistically registered and analysed. The results revealed a statistical difference among groups. Group 1 presented a stronger resistance to fracture than the other groups, which did not present statistical difference. The roots restored with post and cast metallic core were the only ones that presented radicular fracture in the apical root third. The roots that were restored with fibre glass posts presented similar fractures, from the cervical root third to the middle root third.

La DPP constituye un tema de interés reciente para el psicoanálisis, al que ha arribado como parte de su evolución teórica y clínica. Si bien existen estudios que dan cuenta de los efectos del estado depresivo en el desarrollo psíquico de su hijo, aún resulta escasa las investigaciones sobre la dinámica que se produce en la madre cuando se va afectada por este tipo de depresión. Este trabajo discute la utilidad del concepto de pulsión de muerte para profundizar en la comprensión de los psicodinamismos que se producen en los cuadros de depresión post-parto. / Tesis

Lydia Lunch, David Wojnarowicz and Vaginal Davis are artists who each produced music, film, literature, performance, visual art and installation whilst participating in the subcultural communities of post-punk. This thesis frames them as post-punk polymaths, artists whose subcultural participation provides a link between their multiple artistic outputs. I position these artists in relation to the historical context of post-punk, and document its influence on both specific examples of their work and their artistic strategies more broadly. My original contribution is of a sustained process of attention to the work of these three artists that negotiates their personal antagonisms towards criticism and resistance to historicisation, the methodological challenge exemplified by their practice, and the critical potential of embracing this difficulty. Through an account of New York's post-punk scene (the formative artistic environment of both Lunch and Wojnarowicz), I examine the way the material conditions of the subculture provoked an undifferentiated, multi-media practice. I explore Lunch's work through this subcultural context, and the interrelations of her diverse outputs and intentional blurring of art and life in her public persona. Through the work of David Wojnarowicz, I explore the potential pitfalls of overdetermination, or confined articulations of his practice within popular criticism and academia. My third case study moves away from New York to focus on the work of Los Angeles post-punk artist Vaginal Davis, examining the responsibility subculturally invested artists may have in maintaining their own marginality, through a framing of Davis's practice as self-sabotaging. My thesis therefore highlights the difficulty of rationalising these practices as objects of disciplinarily constituted analysis, the problematic nature of their omission or selective and incomplete engagement, and examines the potential of the term polymath to understand artists whose work fails to map on to the disciplinary remits of academic scholars, genre critics or popular historians.

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This thesis describes the synthesis of degradable materials based on functional aliphatic polycarbonates/polyesters synthesised via ring-opening copolymerisation (ROCOP) and post-polymerisation modifications. Chapter 3 details the synthesis of cationic poly(ester-b-carbonate-b-ester) via ringopening copolymerisation of CO₂ and vinyl-cyclohexene oxide (v-CHO), ringopening polymerisation (ROP) of rac-lactide, and subsequent post-polymerisation modifications of this material through a radical thiol-ene reaction and a quaternisation reaction. These cationic polymers show high surface zeta-potential (> 40 mV) and display effective antibacterial properties with killing efficiencies of > 99.9% against Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli. Chapter 4 describes the synthesis of amphiphilic block poly(phosphoester-b-carbonate-b-phosphoester)s using ROCOP of CO₂ and v-CHO and ROP of ethyl ethylene phosphate (EP). These amphiphilic block polymers self-assemble into either micelles or vesicles, depending on the hydrophobic/hydrophilic block ratio. The potential use of the vesicles in drug delivery is also described, and initial results detailing the enzymatic degradation of these vesicles are presented. In addition, the hydroboration-oxidation is investigated as a new post-polymerisation modification method to functionalise an alkene-containing polycarbonate, poly(vinylcyclohexene carbonate) (^VPC). The hydroxyl functionalised polycarbonate shows improved hydrophilicity and cell adhesion, compared to the unfunctionalised precursor. The side chain hydroxyl groups are then tested for making graft poly(carbonate-g-phosphoester). Chapter 5 further investigates the use of the hydroboration-oxidation reaction in functionalising poly(cyclohexadiene carbonate) (^CPC) and poly(vinylcyclohexenemaleate) (^V,MPE). A selective post-polymerisation modification is also demonstrated on a blend of ^CPC and ^VPC or ^V,MPE featuring both terminal and internal alkene groups using the hydroboration-oxidation method, where the terminal alkene groups are functionalised exclusively. Lastly, an orthogonal post-polymerisation approach is carried out on the unreacted internal alkene groups of hydroxyl-containing ^V,MPE via thiol-ene reactions to install other functional groups such as carboxyl, amine and methoxy-poly(ethylene glycol).

This thesis focuses on the issue of regional authenticity in Barry Hannah's contemporary southern fiction (1970-2010), in the context of some recent concerns about the validity of regional studies in a postregional moment, and about the efficacy of the authenticity paradigm itself. By examining those Hannah narratives that best encourage some rethinking of conceptual understandings of the post- South and postsouthern literature, this thesis reveals the significant contribution that Hannah's fiction can make to critical apprehensions of the region as an evolving field of enquiry. The metafictional dimension of Hannah's writing is testimony to its unique value, because the putative sense of "southernness" his stories appear to dramatize is complicated by an intense self-reflexivity about the ways in which a sense of place has never been foundational or essential but has always been constructed and performed. Deploying sustained close analyses of the best of Hannah's fiction (the kind of attention it has conspicuously lacked), this thesis argues that the region is constantly (re-)emerging in a process of myth-making, dialogue and performance, rather than having suffered some simple historical shift from southern to postsouthern. Understanding Hannah's fiction in the ways presented is to offer the possibility of some revision in thinking, about whether the concepts "South" and "southern" have survived both the deconstructive and postregional turns of the late twentieth century, and the transnational turn into the "new" southern studies from the early twenty-first century onward. The Hannah texts included here are identified exclusively for their value in reconceptualising those issues in recent southern studies where an impasse is imagined between regional ("southern") and global ("postmodern"), to suggest it is wholly conceivable to "have it both ways."

M.Fam.Med., Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011 / Purpose: To determine the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the extent of resilience among former national servicemen who had matriculated from a Johannesburg high school from 1975 to 1988. Design & Methods: A quantitative design which utilised an anonymous, internet-based questionnaire accessed a sample of former national servicemen. Demographic data such as year of intake to national service, current occupation, the type of service unit, combat exposure, drug and alcohol use, exposure to other traumatic events, and recourse to medication and counselling were obtained. The Impact of Event Scale –Revised (IES-R) was used to measure prevalence of PTSD and the Connor Davidson Resilience Scale (CDRISC) was chosen to provide a measure of coping. A sample of 109 men was traced out of a possible population of 1527. They were contacted via email and invited to participate in the anonymous web-based questionnaire. Data was processed from the Wits Health Sciences website via a Microsoft Excel worksheet to the STATA version 11 statistical software package and were subjected to regression analysis using the chi square test and Spearman’s rho. Results: The response rate was 49.5% of the sample of 109. The PTSD level in this sample was 33% and was statistically significantly associated with combat exposure. There was no association between the IES-R and the CD-RISC. Only 5.6% of respondents scored in the range for PTSD on the CD-RISC suggesting high levels of resilience in this sample. Current cannabis use was significantly linked with PTSD. Conclusions. The PTSD prevalence in this population of former national servicemen is higher than in comparable international studies. The primary care practitioner needs to consider prior exposure to national service or combat in routine history-taking and to consider PTSD when former national servicemen present with anxiety symptoms, depression, somatisation disorder, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic pain or substance abuse disorder.