Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th (Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology)

Le premier objectif de cette étude était d’évaluer la relation entre l’alexithymie et différents troubles du sommeil chez des patients diagnostiqués (N= 580) selon la polysomnographie et la classification de l’American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) et chez des sujets contrôle (N= 145) en utilisant l’Échelle d’Alexithymie de Toronto à 20 items (TAS-20). Le deuxième objectif était d’estimer le lien entre l’alexithymie et des caractéristiques de rêves suivant un Questionnaire sur les Rêves de 14 items. Les résultats confirment un lien entre l’alexithymie et les troubles du sommeil. Sa prévalence était supérieure dans le groupe clinique comparativement au groupe contrôle, et était différente selon les troubles. Les hommes cotaient plus haut que les femmes à l’Échelle d’Alexithymie de Toronto à 20 items (TAS-20) et sur ses sous-échelles DDF (difficulty describing feeling) et EOT (externally oriented thinking). L’EOT pourrait être impliquée dans les troubles de sommeil en étant l’unique sous-échelle, où un effet principal des diagnostics était significatif dans le groupe clinique. Pour les rêves, le score du TAS-20 corrélait positivement avec le facteur « détresse des cauchemars »; et négativement avec « rappel de rêves » et « signification des rêves ». Les sous-échelles du TAS-20 avaient des corrélations différentes: positive entre DIF et « détresse des cauchemars », négative entre DDF et « rappel de rêves » et EOT avec « signification des rêves ». À part quelques exceptions, ces modèles sont obtenus pour les groupes cliniques et non-cliniques, et pour les hommes et les femmes dans ces deux groupes. Ces résultats suggèrent un modèle consistant, et reproductible, de relations entre l’alexithymie et les composantes des rêves. / Using a large clinical group of patients suffering from sleep disorders (N= 580) and non-clinical comparison subjects (N= 145), the first aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between alexithymia and several different sleep disorders diagnosed from polysomnography following the American Academy of Sleep Medicine classification system and using a Canadian French translation of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia scale (TAS-20). The second objective was to evaluate the link between alexithymia and dream characteristics using a 14-item Dreaming Questionnaire. Results confirm a relationship between alexithymia and sleep disorders. Its prevalence was higher in the clinical than the non-clinical group and differed according to sleep disorder diagnoses. Men scored higher than women on the TAS-20 total score and on the DDF (difficulty describing feeling) and EOT (externally oriented thinking) subscales. EOT could be implicated in sleep disorders pathology as it was the only subscale for which the sleep diagnosis effect was significant in the clinical group. Concerning the second objective, TAS-20 total score correlated positively with nightmare distress and negatively with dream recall; and correlated negatively with dream meaning. TAS-20 subscales were differentially correlated with the 3 dream factors of the Dreaming Questionnaire: DIF with increased nightmare distress, DDF with decreased dream recall and EOT with decreased dream meaning. With some exceptions, these patterns were obtained for clinical and non-clinical groups and for men and women. These results suggest a consistent and replicable pattern of relationships between alexithymia and dreaming components.

Objective: Previous studies have established an association between number of traumatic experiences and alexithymia. The present study examines this relationship in a large-scale representative sample of the German general population (N=2,507) and explores the potential mediating effects of posttraumatic symptomatology, particularly avoidance/numbing. Methods: Alexithymia was assessed with the German version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Posttraumatic symptomatology was operationalized by the symptom score of the modified German version of the Posttraumatic Symptom Scale, and traumatic experiences were assessed with the trauma list of the Munich Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Two mediation analyses were conducted. Results: Of the total sample, 24.2% (n=606) reported at least one traumatic experience, 10.6% (n=258) were classified as alexithymic, and 2.4% (n=59) fulfilled the criteria of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Participants who had survived five or more traumatic experiences had significantly higher alexithymia sum scores. The PTSD symptom cluster avoidance/numbing mediated the association between the number of traumatic experiences and alexithymia. Conclusions: Our findings illustrate an association between number of traumatic experiences and alexithymia and the influence of emotional avoidance and numbing within this relationship. The significant relationship between alexithymia and number of traumatic experiences in a general population sample further supports the concept of multiple and complex traumatization as associated with alexithymia. The results suggest the importance of further investigations determining the causal impact of alexithymia both as a potential premorbid trait and as consequence of traumatization. Lastly, future investigations are needed to clarify alexithymia as a distinct trauma-relevant characteristic for better diagnostics and specialized trauma-integrative therapy.

This study examines the reasons behind the decline in public transport patronage in Melbourne between 1950 and 1990, through a comparison with Toronto. The share of urban travel undertaken by public transport has declined since the Second World War in all developed countries, but public transport patronage in Melbourne appears to have declined more rapidly than in most other industrialised cities. Public transport has, however, gained or held ground in Toronto, where the form of development is similar in many ways to Melbourne. Most accounts of Toronto’s success (particularly in Australia) regard transport/land-use integration as the critical factor. The contrasting analysis maintains that Melbourne’s urban form has changed over this period to a dispersed, car-oriented pattern. This study evaluates a different interpretation of the ‘Toronto model’. This is that Toronto has undergone similar urban changes to Melbourne since the war, but has found a way of operating public transport successfully in a relatively dispersed environment. The contrast with Melbourne, then, is not primarily in land-use patterns, but in policies towards the operation of public transport.

Karel Ančerl 1968-1973. A documentary monograph OBJECTIVES: The main objective of this thesis is to capture and describe the last five years (1968-1973) of life and artistic achievements of the conductor Karel Ančerl. This is a topic which has not been elaborated on an academic level yet. On the beginning of the captured period we find Ančerl to be a prominent member of the Czechoslovak music environment working as the chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic. At the end of this period, Ančerl permanently lived and worked in Canada as the chief conductor of the Toronto Symphony. This fact is reflected in the two main topics of this thesis. First, there is the theme of process of following a qualitative change which the Toronto Symphony undertook during Karel Ančerl's leadership. Second, there is the relationship of the conductor to the Czechoslovak environment and its musical tradition. Main axis of the thesis is defined by a chronological following of the affairs of Karel Ančerl's life story in the given period. METHODOLOGY: Since the estate of Karel Ančerl has been missing, some of the important - maybe even the most important - documents still remain unknown. The story is being told with the help of supporting sources, just like is the correspondence between Ančerl and Ivan Medek, which covers...

Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th (Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology)

Le premier objectif de cette étude était d’évaluer la relation entre l’alexithymie et différents troubles du sommeil chez des patients diagnostiqués (N= 580) selon la polysomnographie et la classification de l’American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) et chez des sujets contrôle (N= 145) en utilisant l’Échelle d’Alexithymie de Toronto à 20 items (TAS-20). Le deuxième objectif était d’estimer le lien entre l’alexithymie et des caractéristiques de rêves suivant un Questionnaire sur les Rêves de 14 items. Les résultats confirment un lien entre l’alexithymie et les troubles du sommeil. Sa prévalence était supérieure dans le groupe clinique comparativement au groupe contrôle, et était différente selon les troubles. Les hommes cotaient plus haut que les femmes à l’Échelle d’Alexithymie de Toronto à 20 items (TAS-20) et sur ses sous-échelles DDF (difficulty describing feeling) et EOT (externally oriented thinking). L’EOT pourrait être impliquée dans les troubles de sommeil en étant l’unique sous-échelle, où un effet principal des diagnostics était significatif dans le groupe clinique. Pour les rêves, le score du TAS-20 corrélait positivement avec le facteur « détresse des cauchemars »; et négativement avec « rappel de rêves » et « signification des rêves ». Les sous-échelles du TAS-20 avaient des corrélations différentes: positive entre DIF et « détresse des cauchemars », négative entre DDF et « rappel de rêves » et EOT avec « signification des rêves ». À part quelques exceptions, ces modèles sont obtenus pour les groupes cliniques et non-cliniques, et pour les hommes et les femmes dans ces deux groupes. Ces résultats suggèrent un modèle consistant, et reproductible, de relations entre l’alexithymie et les composantes des rêves. / Using a large clinical group of patients suffering from sleep disorders (N= 580) and non-clinical comparison subjects (N= 145), the first aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between alexithymia and several different sleep disorders diagnosed from polysomnography following the American Academy of Sleep Medicine classification system and using a Canadian French translation of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia scale (TAS-20). The second objective was to evaluate the link between alexithymia and dream characteristics using a 14-item Dreaming Questionnaire. Results confirm a relationship between alexithymia and sleep disorders. Its prevalence was higher in the clinical than the non-clinical group and differed according to sleep disorder diagnoses. Men scored higher than women on the TAS-20 total score and on the DDF (difficulty describing feeling) and EOT (externally oriented thinking) subscales. EOT could be implicated in sleep disorders pathology as it was the only subscale for which the sleep diagnosis effect was significant in the clinical group. Concerning the second objective, TAS-20 total score correlated positively with nightmare distress and negatively with dream recall; and correlated negatively with dream meaning. TAS-20 subscales were differentially correlated with the 3 dream factors of the Dreaming Questionnaire: DIF with increased nightmare distress, DDF with decreased dream recall and EOT with decreased dream meaning. With some exceptions, these patterns were obtained for clinical and non-clinical groups and for men and women. These results suggest a consistent and replicable pattern of relationships between alexithymia and dreaming components.

Comme le nombre d'immigrants Iraniens a augmenté au Canada au cours des dernières décennies, les nouvelles recherches sont nécessaires sur cette population. Étant donné que la transmission des langues immigrantes est une composante du processus d'établissement des immigrants et que les immigrants iraniens ont rarement fait l'objet d'études canadiennes, le but de cette recherche est d'étudier le profil linguistique des immigrants Iraniens à Montréal par rapport à Toronto. En utilisant les données du questionnaire long du recensement canadien de 2001, 2006 et 2011, nous avons étudié l'influence des facteurs sociodémographiques, familiaux et migratoires sur la langue que les immigrants Iraniens parlent le plus souvent à la maison à Montréal et à Toronto. Pour ce faire, nous avons procédé à différentes analyses descriptives pour déterminer si les immigrants Iraniens sont plus susceptibles de parler en langue non officielle (langue ancestrale) à la maison ou en langues officielles. Dans le but d'approfondir le profil linguistique des immigrants Iraniens à la maison, j'étends mes recherches en effectuant des régressions logistiques. Les résultats montrent que les immigrantes iraniennes par rapport à leurs homologues masculins, immigrants légalement mariés, les iraniens qui ont immigré au Canada à l'âge de 15 ans et plus ainsi que les immigrants iraniens arrivés au Canada après 1980 parlaient dans une langue non officielle à la maison plus que les langues officielles à Montréal ainsi qu’à Toronto. / As the number of Iranian immigrants has increased in Canada in recent decades, more research is necessary on this population. Given that immigrant-language transmission is one component of immigrant settlement process and also, Iranian immigrants have rarely been the subject of Canadian studies, thus, the purpose of this research is to study the home language profile of Iranian immigrants in Montreal compared to Toronto. Using the data of long form census questionnaire 2001, 2006 and 2011, we have studied the influence of socio-demographic, familial and migratory factors on language Iranian immigrants spoke most often at home in Montreal and Toronto. In doing so, we have carried out various descriptive analyzes to discover if Iranian immigrants are more likely to speak in nonofficial language (heritage language) at home or in official languages. For the purpose of further investigation of home language profile of Iranian immigrants I expand my research by running logistic regressions. The results show that Iranian female immigrants compared to their male counterparts, legally married immigrants, those Iranians who have immigrated to Canada at the age of 15 years old and over as well as Iranian immigrants who have arrived in Canada after 1980 spoke in non-official language at home more than official languages in both Montreal and Toronto.

Over the course of the second half of the twentieth century, undergraduate degree requirements in the Faculty of Arts (later the Faculty of Arts & Science) at the University of Toronto were comprehensively reviewed and revised seven times. The records of these reviews demonstrate that the curricular changes of the second half of the twentieth century were substantial, reflecting attempts by curricular planners to shape the undergraduate program of study to accommodate broader social, economic, demographic, and epistemological changes. These changes therefore reflect the connections between the University and its local, provincial, and international communities. These substantial changes, however, are balanced by consistent and recurrent patterns in curriculum across this period as curricular planners sought ways to implement sustained curricular goals into a changed institutional environment and a changed curricular framework. Collectively, these reviews demonstrate that the U of T maintained a distinct approach to undergraduate education from the beginning of this period through the end. This approach, referred to here as the “Toronto Scheme,” is characterized by the belief that specialized study can lead to liberal education, and that students should have access to multiple pathways through the degree. This analysis of degree requirements over time has important implications for understanding higher education at the University of Toronto, in Canada, and internationally. Most importantly, this research helps to explain both the strong similarities and significant differences between American curricular structures and those in place at the U of T. Additionally, this study of curriculum provides valuable insight into the role of the U of T’s colleges in undergraduate instruction, further illuminating the effect of this relatively unique institutional structure on the history of the U of T. On a broader scale, the relationship indicated by this history of the curriculum between the U of T and other institutions in Ontario and Canada deepens our understanding of the nature of a Canadian system of or approach to higher education (or lack thereof). As such, the Toronto Scheme informs – and sometimes challenges – many of the assumptions currently made about Ontario, Canadian, and North American higher education.

The focus of my research is to apply stable isotopes as a new tool to understand free radical chemistry in the troposphere. Stable carbon isotope ratios are used as indirect tracers of the reaction of nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHC) with OH radicals in ambient air from Toronto and Vancouver air-sheds, Canada. Compound-specific stable carbon isotope ratios of NMHC were determined in ambient air from urban, suburban, rural and source sites in the air-sheds using Gas Chromotograph-Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (GC-IRMS). In the Greater Toronto Area, the average isotope ratio of all ambient measurements of NMHC, including halogenate NMHC was found to be -25.7 + 3.4 %o. Traffics related source sites in the Greater Toronto Area have an average isotope ratio of -25.7 + 3.5 %o, whereas the ratio for traffic related emissions in the Lower Fraser Valley are -25.9 + 4.2 %o. The extent of chemical processing due to OH radical reactions that the individual NMHC has experienced since emission is quantitatively determined. It is shown that in combination with concentration measurements, isotope ratio measurements are an extremely valuable new approach to study the spatial and temporal differences in chemical removal mechanisms, mixing and dilution processes.