Few biological systems are as ubiquitous as the circadian rhythm, a distributed yet inter-connected “system of systems” that coordinates the timing of physiological processes via a self-regulating, flexible network present at every level of biological organization, from cells to cities. Its functional role as the interface between time-dependent internal processes and external environmental cues exposes the circadian rhythm to disruption if these drift out of synchrony. This is especially common in industrialized human societies, where the abun-dance of resources – in combination with the fact that anthropogenic calendars have largely supplanted the sun as the primary determinant of our daily cycles of rest, activity, and sleep – disrupts the circadian rhythm’s ability to synchronize biological processes with each other and the geophysical solar day. Humans are now beholden to two increasingly disconnected clocks, and the ever-accelerating curve of human progress suggests our biological and so-cial times will only grow more disconnected. Longitudinal “out-of-clinic” monitoring is an ecologically valid alternative to well-controlled laboratory studies that can provide insight into how human circadian and behav-ioral rhythms exist in day-to-day life, and so has great potential to provide contextual data for translating chronobiological science into clinical intervention. However, methodological diversity, inconsistent terminology, insufficient reporting, and the sheer number of potential factors has slowed progress. Herein is presented scientific work focused on detecting and quantifying some of these factors, particularly “sociogenic” determinants such as the seven-day week. Through rhythmometric analysis of longitudinal in-home actigraphy, weekly be-havioral patterns were observed in both young adult males (n = 24, mean age = 23.46 years) and older adults with Parkinson’s disease (n = 13 [7 male], mean age = 60.62 years, mean Hoehn & Yahr Stage = 2.31) that evince a seven-day “circaseptan” rhythm of circadi-an and sleep disruption. This is hypothesized to be dependent upon the seven-day calendar week, particularly the regular and abrupt shifts in timing between work and rest days. These perturbations vary by chronotype in young adults, and by disease severity in Parkin-son’s disease. Collectively, these results contribute to the growing evidence that our daily rhythms are shaped by sociogenic factors in addition to well-documented environmental and biological mechanisms. Moreover, the study of these subtle infradian patterns presents serious – yet surmountable – methodological challenges that must be overcome in order to accurately monitor, quantify, analyze, report, and apply findings from observational studies of naturalistic human behavior to scientific and clinical problems.

<p> Individuals often display preferences for the morning or evening; this preference is referred to as a chronotype and is supported by distinct diurnal physiological and behavioural fluctuations. Whereas prior work suggests an increase in individuals executive control throughout the day, the current study assesses the diurnal time course of executive control and the tendency to mind wander as a function of chronotype. Results suggest that executive control processes are modulated by time of day, with chronotype match conditions associated with increased executive control, akin to the 'Synchrony Effect' of chronotypes (Hasher et al., 2002). Results suggest that variations in the level of semantic processing in a task influences time of day effects on non-automatic (executive control) functioning. </p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

This study uses a narrative analytic approach to explore the similarities and differences between pre-Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment firsthand accounts of madness in order to answer the question; what is the relationship between madness, narrative, understanding, identity and recovery? Drawing on the work of Foucault, the research traces the historical and cultural development of conceptualisations of reason and unreason, the rise of psychiatry and the marginalisation of the voice of madness. I argue that this marginalisation is continued in narrative research where the focus is on the stories of the physically ill, rather than madness. The narrative method provides a means of giving space to these marginalised voices and it is Bakhtin¿s constructs of dialogicism, polyphony, unfinalizability and the chronotope that provide the tools for the narrative analysis of two female English writers; Margery Kempe and Mary Barnes. The analysis highlights three critical issues in relation to firsthand narratives of madness. First, the blurred boundaries between madness and mysticism and the role of metaphor in understanding distressing experiences. Second, the complex, multi-dimensional nature of subjective timespace that challenges the linear assumptions underlying both narrative and recovery, which, I argue, demands a radical reconceptualisation of both constructs. Third, the liminal social positioning within the analysed accounts is closely related to Bakhtin¿s notion of unfinalizability, a form of being that enables the search for meaning and the transformation of the self. Insights can be gained from this research that may place stories and understanding central in contemporary healthcare. / School of Health Studies at the University of Bradford.

Os indivíduos diferem em suas preferências quanto ao horário para alocar períodos de sono e de atividade. Essas diferenças inter-individuais se devem, parcialmente, ao relógio biológico que controla funções relacionadas à expressão gênica, secreção hormonal, temperatura corporal, funções cognitivas e comportamentais como o ciclo sono-vigília. O presente estudo cronobiológico teve como objetivo principal avaliar em uma amostra populacional de estudantes universitários da região sul do Brasil, a distribuição dos cronotipos e estudar a relação entre cronotipo e as seguintes variáveis: ponto médio de sono nos dias livres e nos dias de atividade (estudo), bem como avaliar a consistência interna, confiabilidade e concordância entre o Munich Chronotype Questionnaire (MCTQ) e o Questionário de Cronotipo de Horne e Östberg (HO) para identificar cronotipos. Com a análise discriminante dos parâmetros de sono para o cronotipo vespertino destaca-se a importância de se obter preditores mais fáceis para a tipologia vespertina visto que essa característica tem sido associada a alguns riscos de transtornos comportamentais e mentais. Duzentos e quarenta e quatro estudantes universitários (59.0% mulheres), com idade de 17-35 anos, foram analisados através de um estudo transvesal. O Munich ChronoType Questionnaire (MCTQ) foi usado para avaliar os parâmetros de sono nos dias livres e de trabalho (estudo) e o Morningness/Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) para avaliar os cronotipos. Os dados foram analisados através da curva ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic curve) e de uma análise discriminante. As variáveis que apresentaram os mais altos coeficientes discriminantes foram: o ponto médio de sono nos dias livres (0.89) e o início do sono nos dias livres (0.86). Testando os valores de diagnóstico da fase do ponto médio de sono para identificar o tipo vespertino observou-se que a área sob a curva ROC foi de 76%. Este estudo mostrou uma boa sensibilidade e especificidade para identificar o cronotipo vespertino com esses parâmetros de sono. Conclui-se, portanto, que estes parâmetros sejam úteis para identificar o cronotipo vespertino podendo ser usados para propósitos de pesquisa e na prática clínica. / Individuals differ in their preferences to allocate the time periods of sleep and activity. These inter-individual differences are due partly to the biological clock that controls functions related to gene expression, hormone secretion, body temperature, cognitive and behavioral functions such as sleep-wake cycle. This chronobiological study aimed to evaluate a sample of university students in southern Brazil, the distribution of chronotypes and to study the relationship between chronotype and the following variables: mid- sleep on free days and days of activity (study), and to assess the internal consistency, reliability and agreement between the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire (MCTQ) and the Morningness/Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) of Horne and Östberg (HO) to identify chronotypes. By discriminant analysis of sleep parameters for the evening chronotype highlights the importance of obtaining easier predictors to the evening typology since such characteristic has been associated with some risks of mental and behavioral disorders.Two hundred and forty four undergraduate students (59.0% women), 17- 35 years old, were assessed in a cross-sectional study. The Munich ChronoType Questionnaire (MCTQ) was used to evaluate sleep parameters on free days and work days and the Morningness/Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) to assess chronotypes. The data were analyzed by the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve and a discriminant analysis. The variables that presented the highest discriminant coefficients were mid-sleep on free days (0.89) and sleep onset on free days (0.86). Testing the diagnostic values of mid-sleep phase to identify eveningtype it was observed that the area under the ROC curve was 76%. This study showed a good sensitivity and specificity to identify the evening chronotype with these sleep parameters. We conclude that these parameters are useful to identify evening typology and can be used both to research purposes and clinical practice.

Os indivíduos diferem em suas preferências quanto ao horário para alocar períodos de sono e de atividade. Essas diferenças inter-individuais se devem, parcialmente, ao relógio biológico que controla funções relacionadas à expressão gênica, secreção hormonal, temperatura corporal, funções cognitivas e comportamentais como o ciclo sono-vigília. O presente estudo cronobiológico teve como objetivo principal avaliar em uma amostra populacional de estudantes universitários da região sul do Brasil, a distribuição dos cronotipos e estudar a relação entre cronotipo e as seguintes variáveis: ponto médio de sono nos dias livres e nos dias de atividade (estudo), bem como avaliar a consistência interna, confiabilidade e concordância entre o Munich Chronotype Questionnaire (MCTQ) e o Questionário de Cronotipo de Horne e Östberg (HO) para identificar cronotipos. Com a análise discriminante dos parâmetros de sono para o cronotipo vespertino destaca-se a importância de se obter preditores mais fáceis para a tipologia vespertina visto que essa característica tem sido associada a alguns riscos de transtornos comportamentais e mentais. Duzentos e quarenta e quatro estudantes universitários (59.0% mulheres), com idade de 17-35 anos, foram analisados através de um estudo transvesal. O Munich ChronoType Questionnaire (MCTQ) foi usado para avaliar os parâmetros de sono nos dias livres e de trabalho (estudo) e o Morningness/Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) para avaliar os cronotipos. Os dados foram analisados através da curva ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic curve) e de uma análise discriminante. As variáveis que apresentaram os mais altos coeficientes discriminantes foram: o ponto médio de sono nos dias livres (0.89) e o início do sono nos dias livres (0.86). Testando os valores de diagnóstico da fase do ponto médio de sono para identificar o tipo vespertino observou-se que a área sob a curva ROC foi de 76%. Este estudo mostrou uma boa sensibilidade e especificidade para identificar o cronotipo vespertino com esses parâmetros de sono. Conclui-se, portanto, que estes parâmetros sejam úteis para identificar o cronotipo vespertino podendo ser usados para propósitos de pesquisa e na prática clínica. / Individuals differ in their preferences to allocate the time periods of sleep and activity. These inter-individual differences are due partly to the biological clock that controls functions related to gene expression, hormone secretion, body temperature, cognitive and behavioral functions such as sleep-wake cycle. This chronobiological study aimed to evaluate a sample of university students in southern Brazil, the distribution of chronotypes and to study the relationship between chronotype and the following variables: mid- sleep on free days and days of activity (study), and to assess the internal consistency, reliability and agreement between the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire (MCTQ) and the Morningness/Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) of Horne and Östberg (HO) to identify chronotypes. By discriminant analysis of sleep parameters for the evening chronotype highlights the importance of obtaining easier predictors to the evening typology since such characteristic has been associated with some risks of mental and behavioral disorders.Two hundred and forty four undergraduate students (59.0% women), 17- 35 years old, were assessed in a cross-sectional study. The Munich ChronoType Questionnaire (MCTQ) was used to evaluate sleep parameters on free days and work days and the Morningness/Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) to assess chronotypes. The data were analyzed by the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve and a discriminant analysis. The variables that presented the highest discriminant coefficients were mid-sleep on free days (0.89) and sleep onset on free days (0.86). Testing the diagnostic values of mid-sleep phase to identify eveningtype it was observed that the area under the ROC curve was 76%. This study showed a good sensitivity and specificity to identify the evening chronotype with these sleep parameters. We conclude that these parameters are useful to identify evening typology and can be used both to research purposes and clinical practice.

Os indivíduos diferem em suas preferências quanto ao horário para alocar períodos de sono e de atividade. Essas diferenças inter-individuais se devem, parcialmente, ao relógio biológico que controla funções relacionadas à expressão gênica, secreção hormonal, temperatura corporal, funções cognitivas e comportamentais como o ciclo sono-vigília. O presente estudo cronobiológico teve como objetivo principal avaliar em uma amostra populacional de estudantes universitários da região sul do Brasil, a distribuição dos cronotipos e estudar a relação entre cronotipo e as seguintes variáveis: ponto médio de sono nos dias livres e nos dias de atividade (estudo), bem como avaliar a consistência interna, confiabilidade e concordância entre o Munich Chronotype Questionnaire (MCTQ) e o Questionário de Cronotipo de Horne e Östberg (HO) para identificar cronotipos. Com a análise discriminante dos parâmetros de sono para o cronotipo vespertino destaca-se a importância de se obter preditores mais fáceis para a tipologia vespertina visto que essa característica tem sido associada a alguns riscos de transtornos comportamentais e mentais. Duzentos e quarenta e quatro estudantes universitários (59.0% mulheres), com idade de 17-35 anos, foram analisados através de um estudo transvesal. O Munich ChronoType Questionnaire (MCTQ) foi usado para avaliar os parâmetros de sono nos dias livres e de trabalho (estudo) e o Morningness/Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) para avaliar os cronotipos. Os dados foram analisados através da curva ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic curve) e de uma análise discriminante. As variáveis que apresentaram os mais altos coeficientes discriminantes foram: o ponto médio de sono nos dias livres (0.89) e o início do sono nos dias livres (0.86). Testando os valores de diagnóstico da fase do ponto médio de sono para identificar o tipo vespertino observou-se que a área sob a curva ROC foi de 76%. Este estudo mostrou uma boa sensibilidade e especificidade para identificar o cronotipo vespertino com esses parâmetros de sono. Conclui-se, portanto, que estes parâmetros sejam úteis para identificar o cronotipo vespertino podendo ser usados para propósitos de pesquisa e na prática clínica. / Individuals differ in their preferences to allocate the time periods of sleep and activity. These inter-individual differences are due partly to the biological clock that controls functions related to gene expression, hormone secretion, body temperature, cognitive and behavioral functions such as sleep-wake cycle. This chronobiological study aimed to evaluate a sample of university students in southern Brazil, the distribution of chronotypes and to study the relationship between chronotype and the following variables: mid- sleep on free days and days of activity (study), and to assess the internal consistency, reliability and agreement between the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire (MCTQ) and the Morningness/Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) of Horne and Östberg (HO) to identify chronotypes. By discriminant analysis of sleep parameters for the evening chronotype highlights the importance of obtaining easier predictors to the evening typology since such characteristic has been associated with some risks of mental and behavioral disorders.Two hundred and forty four undergraduate students (59.0% women), 17- 35 years old, were assessed in a cross-sectional study. The Munich ChronoType Questionnaire (MCTQ) was used to evaluate sleep parameters on free days and work days and the Morningness/Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) to assess chronotypes. The data were analyzed by the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve and a discriminant analysis. The variables that presented the highest discriminant coefficients were mid-sleep on free days (0.89) and sleep onset on free days (0.86). Testing the diagnostic values of mid-sleep phase to identify eveningtype it was observed that the area under the ROC curve was 76%. This study showed a good sensitivity and specificity to identify the evening chronotype with these sleep parameters. We conclude that these parameters are useful to identify evening typology and can be used both to research purposes and clinical practice.

Dans cette thèse, l’objectif est de comprendre les relations entre d’un côté la réussite académique (la performance académique) et le stress perçu subjectif, et d’un autre côté l’influence des différences individuelles (l’intelligence émotionnelle, les traits de personnalité et le chrono-type) sur la réussite académique, également les interactions entre ces différences individuelles et le stress perçu subjectif. 1) L’étude préliminaire est conduite pour clarifier la relation entre l’intelligence émotionnelle et la stratégie de coping chez les étudiants Chinois expatriés en France; 2) ensuite notre première étude a pour objectif de comprendre les différents éléments liés à la expatriation des étudiants Chinois en France : les causes et critères de la réussite d’expatriation subjective, les différentes sources de stress qu’ils ont rencontrées ainsi que leurs stratégies de faire face pendant leur expatriation sont interrogées; 3) avec les éléments ressortis de notre première étude, nous avons pu construire un questionnaire de la réussite d’expatriation subjective pour les étudiants Chinois en France. L’idée de départ est de valider ce questionnaire en comparant avec les autres paramètres des différences individuelles (Intelligence émotionnelle, intelligence culturelle, et de chrono-type). Malheureusement la passation de l’ensemble de ces questionnaires a pris une longueur de temps qui explique que peu de participants sont allés jusqu’au bout, cela ne nous permet pas finalement de valider ce questionnaire de la réussite d’expatriation. 4) Enfin, nous essayons de comprendre chez la population générale, c’est-à-dire les étudiants Français, les relations entre la réussite académique et les différences individuelles. / In this thesis, the objective is to understand the relationships between academic success (academic performance) and subjective perceived stress on the one hand, and the influence of individual differences (emotional intelligence, personality traits and chrono-type) on academic success on the other hand, as well as the interactions between these individual differences and subjective perceived stress. 1) Preliminary study is conducted to clarify the relationship between emotional intelligence and coping strategy among Chinese students expatriated in France; 2) our first study aims to understand the different elements related to the expatriation of Chinese students in France: the causes and criteria of subjective expatriation success, the different sources of stress they encountered as well as their strategies to cope during their expatriation are interviewed; 3) With the elements emerging from our first study, we were able to construct a questionnaire on subjective expatriation success for Chinese students in France. The initial idea is to validate this questionnaire by comparing individual differences (emotional intelligence, cultural intelligence, and chrono-type) with other parameters. Unfortunately, the completion of all these questionnaires took a long time, which explains why few participants completed them, which does not allow us to validate this questionnaire of expatriation success. 4) Finally, we try to understand the relationship between academic success and individual differences among the general population, i.e. French students.

This study uses a narrative analytic approach to explore the similarities and differences between pre-Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment firsthand accounts of madness in order to answer the question; what is the relationship between madness, narrative, understanding, identity and recovery? Drawing on the work of Foucault, the research traces the historical and cultural development of conceptualisations of reason and unreason, the rise of psychiatry and the marginalisation of the voice of madness. I argue that this marginalisation is continued in narrative research where the focus is on the stories of the physically ill, rather than madness. The narrative method provides a means of giving space to these marginalised voices and it is Bakhtin's constructs of dialogicism, polyphony, unfinalizability and the chronotope that provide the tools for the narrative analysis of two female English writers; Margery Kempe and Mary Barnes. The analysis highlights three critical issues in relation to firsthand narratives of madness. First, the blurred boundaries between madness and mysticism and the role of metaphor in understanding distressing experiences. Second, the complex, multi-dimensional nature of subjective timespace that challenges the linear assumptions underlying both narrative and recovery, which, I argue, demands a radical reconceptualisation of both constructs. Third, the liminal social positioning within the analysed accounts is closely related to Bakhtin's notion of unfinalizability, a form of being that enables the search for meaning and the transformation of the self. Insights can be gained from this research that may place stories and understanding central in contemporary healthcare.

The modern Arabic term for national homeland, waṭan, derives its sense from the related yet semantically different usage of this term in classical Arabic, particularly in classical Arabic poetry. In modern usage, waṭan refers to a politically defined, visually memorialized territory whose expanse is cognized abstractly rather than through personal experience. The modern waṭan is the geopolitical locus of national identity. The classical notion of waṭan, however, is rarely given much geographical content, although it usually designates a relatively localized area on the scale of a neighborhood, town, or village. More important than geographical content is the subjective meaning of the waṭan, in the sense of its essential place in the psyche of an individual. The waṭan (also mawṭin, awṭān), both in poetry and other types of classical writing, is strongly associated with the childhood/youth and primary love attachments of the speaker. This sense of waṭan is thus temporally defined as much as spatially, and as such can be seen as an archetypal instance of the Bakhtinian chronotope, one intrinsically associated with nostalgia and estrangement. The waṭan, as the site of the classical self’s former plenitude, is by definition lost or transfigured and unrecoverable, becoming an attachment that must be relinquished for the sake of virtue and glory. This paper argues that the bivalency of the classical waṭan chronotope, recoverable through analysis of poetic and literary texts, allows us to understand the space and time of the self in classical Arabic literature and how this self differs from that presupposed by modern ideals of patriotism.

Sleep is a complex process: the timing of sleep is regulated by two systems (the sleep homeostat and the circadian clock) and there are many potential functions of sleep. The aim of this thesis was to investigate: the impact of light on the regulation of sleep timing (study 1) and the role of sleep in emotional processing (study 2). Study 1 used natural variations in environmental light levels at different geographical locations, to examine the influence of daily light irradiance on sleep timing and chronotype using the Munich chronotype questionnaire (MCTQ). 6443 students were included in this study from six universities from the northern and southern hemispheres. Students in southern hemisphere cities had earlier sleep timings than those in the northern cities. Daily irradiance was higher in the southern hemisphere cities. The amount of time spent outside, age and sex, but not daily irradiance, influenced sleep timings. Study 2 explored the impact of an analogue traumatic event (trauma film) in students who were either sleep deprived or not sleep deprived on intrusive memories ("flashbacks"), sleep physiology and the impact of an increased risk of a mood disorder on this relationship. In this study the sleep deprived participants (n=19) reported fewer intrusive memories to the trauma film than those not sleep deprived (n=22). A change in sleep physiology was observed in the first sleep period following the trauma film, which was more pronounced in the sleep deprived group: increased levels of arousal, REM density and activity in the occipital region. Only three participants at-risk of a mood disorder completed study 2: their data are presented as case studies. In conclusion this research has demonstrated that differences in sleep timings exist between cities in the southern and northern hemispheres and has confirmed that many factors can influence sleep timing. It has also been demonstrated that following a highly emotional event not sleeping may have a beneficial effect, which has implications for the treatment of people after trauma.