Background: Gay men have adopted the use of people-nearby applications (PNA) to connect with members of the LGBT+ community. PNA uses global positioning system (GPS) data to locate other users in the area and facilitates communication between users through online profiles and instant messaging services. Objectives: This thesis explored gay men’s process of using PNA to connect with other users. Methods: The thesis work was conducted in two phases. The first phase was a review of the existing literature with literature synthesised into major themes. The second phase was an original qualitative study that used group sessions within a qualitative descriptive method and used thematic analysis to explore experiences of PNA use. Findings: The reviewed articles (n = 40) evolved into four major themes: risk, stigma, sexuality, and community. The theme of risk was overrepresented in the literature and comprised research that reviewed the sexual health risks of using PNA to meet partners. The review themes aligned closely with the four themes that emerged from participants’ (n = 6) experiences that were revealed in the original qualitative study: community, hope, stigma, and doubt. The themes of hope and doubt were found to be driving forces in a cyclical pattern of use reported by the participants, wherein users will repeatedly experience cycling phases of app use and disuse. Conclusion: Phase one of this thesis work exposed a gap in the knowledge related to the process of gay men using PNA. Phase two began to fill that gap by exploring the process of using PNA and furthering academic knowledge of how gay men interact and experience PNA use. The knowledge created in this thesis may assist nurses by providing them with improved cultural understanding of gay men and facilitate open communication between nurses and gay clients.

Since the first successful measurements of stellar trigonometric parallax in the 1830s, the study of nearby stars has focused on the highest proper motion stars (mu > 0.18"/yr). Those high proper motion stars have formed the backbone of the last 150 years of study of the Solar Neighborhood and the composition of the Galaxy. Statistically speaking, though, there is a population of stars that will have low proper motions when their space motions have been projected onto the sky. At the same time, over the last twenty years, populations of relatively young stars (less than ~100 Myr), most of them with low proper motions, have been revealed near (<100 >pc) the Sun. This dissertation is the result of two related projects: A photometric search for nearby (<25 >pc) southern-hemisphere M dwarf stars with low proper motions (mu < 0.18"/yr), and a search for nearby (

The purposes of this study was to investigate the junior high school students¡¦ perceptions of ¡uQuality Senior High School Program¡v and the factors of selecting senior high schools for further study. 1,112 8th and 9th graders of Pingtung County junior high schools were sampled to complete a 37 ¡V items questionnaire. Based on reliability and validity analyses, the 37 ¡V items were divided into 6 dimensions as follows: school and teachers¡¦ performances, recommendation from relatives or friends, school propaganda, personal selection factor, school activity, and the distance between home and school. The descriptive analysis, t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Logistic Regression were conducted to come to the following findings: 1. Most of the countries in the world adopt school district, in high school education and their students enroll nearby schools mostly. 2. The main purpose of promoting the Quality Senior High School Program is to make the students who have good achievements remain in local schools, and develop the school characterization. 3. The students in the north district of Pingtung County have highly approval towards Quality Senior High School Program. 4. The top three factors that influenced junior high students selecting which senior high to study are individual factors, the reputation of school and the faculties, and the transportation convenience. 5. The eighth grades and students from remote areas have higher recognition of the Quality Senior High School Program. 6. Students from different background are wide varied while making school choice. 7. Over 50% of junior high students are willing to enroll senior high schools nearby. 8. Individual factors, school activities, and distance between home and school will effectively predict the students¡¦ willingness to select neighboring senior high schools. According to the results stated above, the researcher offers several suggestions for the educational authorities, senior high schools and junior high schools in the north district of Pingtung County, hoping to be of referential value as far as related research and practice are concerned.

Taiwan has enforced the educational reforms since the academic year of 1994. One of the policies is expand the chance for further education by means of increasing the senior high schools and launching the comprehensive high schools. From academic year of 2001, the policy of high school integrating with local community was undertaken, the core objectives are balancing the gaps between the urban and country districts and promoting the educational quality of the general and vocational high schools. Therefore the government encouraged the students attend the nearby schools to save the social costs and set up the fundamental for the 12-Year Compulsory Education. The enrolment rate of the junior student graduates have been over 96% in the recent years. If the student has the will for further education, the chance is almost 100%. However, the pressure of enrolment has never eased off or calmed down. Because the pursuits for the ¡§elite school¡¨ have never faded off among the mind of the general public. The expectation for entering the ¡§elite senior high school¡¨ for the students and their parents is to seek a better opportunity for superior social class. They do not understand the objectives of diversified social values and hindered the students to seek for their best development by their talent and orientation. Even thought, can the ¡§elite senior high school¡¨ guarantee a ticket to the higher education? The study focus on the junior high school graduates with the same score level of the basic competence test comparing the differences on their academic performances, motives for further education and their reception of education according their different choice of attending schools 3 years after the graduation. The major findings are as listed below: 1. The students who chose the nearby schools they have better grades for the Academic Attainment Testing for university than the students who attend the schools located on different districts. 2. Most of the senior high school students choose their attending school on the preferences of the conventional social values (according the traditional ranking of high schools). The second consideration is the traffic, the reputation of school and the faculties. The incentive of high scholarship is the latest consideration of choosing school. The key for the student chose to attend the schools nearby is on the schools¡¦ high quality educational environment and their good tradition and the word- of- mouth reputation. 3. Most of the students¡¦ satisfaction for the attending schools lied on the ¡§non-academic performance¡¨ and the second lied on the ¡§teacher¡¦s caring on students¡¨ and ¡§good school reputation and tradition¡¨. The least items lies on ¡§high scholarship¡¨ and the ¡§academic performance¡¨. The study concluded with some suggestions on the enforcements of the ¡§academic district allocation¡¨ and ¡§nearby school enrollment¡¨ for the 12-Year Compulsory Education. Key words: nearby school enrollment; cross academic district enrollment; comprehensive high school

Lack of management in software projects is among the most important reasons for the failure of this kind of projects. Considering this fact, in addition to high rate of IS (Information System) projects’ failure, and the lack of leadership studies in IS field, it is necessary to pay more attention to the concept of leadership in software projects. Transformational leadership as one of the most popular leadership theories, although might bring specific advantages for this kind of projects, has not been outlined in this field of study. Therefore this study has tried to understand the meaning of transformational leadership in software projects and outline corresponding ideal pattern of this concept. Taking into account unique potentials qualitative research has in relation to research questions, Myers model of research design is selected to found whole study on. This model is especially designed to be used in business and management researches. Myers research model has five blocks. First block is related to philosophical assumption which for our study is interpretive. Second block is related to research method which is case study inspired by grounded theory, in our study. Data collection technique, the third block, is semi-structured interview. The fourth block which concerns data analysis approach is grounded theory encompassing analytic induction for our study. Finally the fifth block, written record, took the form of thesis report in current research study. This study has found required characteristics and behaviors of software project managers and drawn the lines of relationship between those attributes and transformational leadership. Comparing materialization of transformational leadership in software projects with the theory, led to finding of nearby transformational leadership or engaging leadership model as the ideal pattern of such concept in software projects. Finally shortages of that model in relation to software domain are investigated and consequent suggestions are provided.

No description available.

Purpose: The aim with this paper is to see how a city can be developed using a theory for nearby station location, which is a theory for urban planning, originally from Copenhagen, to create a more attractive city and public transport system in the village Skillingaryd, 40 kilometers south of Jönköping in Småland. To obtain the aim of the paper has the asked questions contained which factors from this theory that is relevant for smaller villages, which problems and possibilities are found in Skillingaryd if you want to increase the attractiveness of the village through urban planning, and also how this theory can be applied to contribute a positive urban development in Skillingaryd in conjunction with electrification of the railway. Method: This paper is based on a case study of the village Skillingaryd, where the basis for the case study consists of literature studies and document analysis of the nearby station location theory, plan indicators for efficient land use in stationary areas, TOD, and two studies from Dalarna and Skåne. Factors found in the literature studies and document analysis have then provided the basis for a GIS analysis of Skillingaryd. Findings: All factors from the nearby station location theory have been considered relevant for smaller villages, such as distance limits, density of housing, road accessibility, station integration, etc., except for the density of workplaces nearby the station. This is when most of the jobs in Skillingaryd are found outside the nearby station area. An analysis based on these factors can clearly identify areas with potential for development. Implications: The stationary principle in itself did not feel sufficient to carry out the analysis, and therefore plan indicators and previous studies have been the basis for this. This hasn’t affect the work's reliability since the question is asked “How can the nearby station location theory be applied…” which means that it can be applied along with other theories and factors. Limitations: Due to the time frame for the paper thus the case study only include one village, Skillingaryd in Vaggeryds municipality. The work is done only from the perspective of urban planning and has not focused on the economic aspects. In a deeper analysis, it would of course be interesting to look at the economic aspects as well as the ability to count on possible effects of implementation. / Syfte: Målet med arbetet är att se hur man kan utveckla en ort utifrån stationsnärhetsprincipen, som är en samhällsplaneringsteori ursprungligen från Köpenhamn, för att skapa en attraktivare ort och kollektivtrafik i orten Skillingaryd, belägen fyra mil söder om Jönköping i Småland. Frågeställningarna som ställts för att nå målet involverar vilka faktorer från stationsnärhetsprincipen som är relevanta för mindre orter, vilka problem och möjligheter som återfinns i Skillingaryd om man genom samhällsutveckling vill öka ortens attraktivitet, samt hur stationsnärhetsprincipen kan tillämpas för att bidra till en positiv samhällsutveckling i Skillingaryd i samband med att järnvägen elektrifieras. Metod: Rapporten bygger på en fallstudie av orten Skillingaryd där grunden till fallstudien utgörs av litteraturstudier och dokumentanalys av stationsnärhetsprincipen, planindikatorer för effektiv markanvändning i stationsnära områden, TOD, samt två studier gjorda i Dalarna respektive Skåne. Faktorer som återfunnits i litteraturstudien och dokumentanalysen har sedan utgjort underlag för en GIS-analys av Skillingaryd. Resultat: Samtliga faktorer från stationsnärhetsprincipen har ansetts relevanta för mindre orter, såsom avståndsbegränsningar, densitet av bostäder, tillgänglighet i vägnätet, stationens integrering m.fl., förutom densiteten av arbetsplatser i det stationsnära läget. Detta då majoriteten av arbetstillfällena i Skillingaryd återfinns utanför det stationsnära läget. Analys utifrån dessa faktorer kan tydligt påvisa områden med utvecklingspotential. Konsekvenser: Stationsnärhetsprincipen i sig kändes inte tillräcklig för att genomföra analysen och därmed har även planindikatorer och tidigare studier tagits med som underlag för denna. Detta påverkar dock inte arbetets reliabilitet eftersom från formulerats ”Hur kan stationsnärhetsprincipen tillämpas…” vilket gör att den kan tillämpas tillsammans med andra teorier eller faktorer. Begränsningar: På grund av tidsramen för arbetet har fallstudie endast gjorts på en tätort, Skillingaryd i Vaggeryds kommun. Arbetet görs endast ur ett samhällsplaneringsperspektiv och har inte fokuserat på de ekonomiska aspekterna. Vid en mer djupgående analys hade det givetvis varit intressant att även se på de ekonomiska aspekterna och även möjligheten att räkna på eventuella effekter av implementering.

We present an analysis of the properties of HI holes detected in 20 galaxies that are part of “The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey” (THINGS). We detected more than 1000 holes in total in the sampled galaxies. Where they can be measured, their sizes range from about 100 pc (our resolution limit) to about 2 kpc, their expansion velocities range from 4 to 36 km/s, and their ages are estimated to range between 3 and 150 Myr. The holes are found throughout the discs of the galaxies, out to the edge of the HI disc; 23% of the holes fall outside R25. We find that shear limits the age of holes in spirals; shear is less important in dwarf galaxies which explains why HI holes in dwarfs are rounder, on average than in spirals. Shear, which is particularly strong in the inner part of spiral galaxies, also explains why we find that holes outside R25 are larger and older. We derive the scale height of the HI disc as a function of galactocentric radius and find that the disc flares at large radii in all galaxies. We proceed to derive the surface and volume porosity (Q2D and Q3D) and find that this correlates with the type of the host galaxy: later Hubble types tend to be more porous. The size distribution of the holes in our sample follows a power law with a slope of a=−2.9. Assuming that the holes are the result of massive star formation, we derive values for the supernova rate (SNR) and star formation rate (SFR) which scales with the SFR derived based on other tracers. If we extrapolate the observed number of holes to include those that fall below our resolution limit, down to holes created by a single supernova, we find that our results are compatible with the hypothesis that HI holes result from star formation. We use HI data from THINGS, 8μm, 24μm, 70μm and HI maps from SINGS, CO(2–1) data from HERACLES and FUV data from NGS to present a visual comparison of these maps with respect to the locations of HI holes. We find that the vast majority of HI holes are also prominent in the 8μm map and to some extent in the 24μm map. There is a lack of molecular gas from the interior of nearly all the holes, which is consistent with the idea that the latter are filled with hot gas. About 60% of young holes have FUV emission detected in their interiors highlighting the presence of the parent OB association. In addition, FUV is detected on the rims of some of the older HI holes, presumably due to the dispersion of the OB association with respect to the gas. We describe the development of a 2–D cross-correlation method to compare multi-wavelength maps in a quantitative way (quantified by Ccoef ) and give some first results from the application of this method to the nearby galaxy NGC2403. We find that the all the dust tracers are well correlated (Ccoef > 0.7) with the 8μm–24μm correlation being the highest (Ccoef > 0.88). Similarly all the star formation tracers are well linked as expected (Ccoef > 0.6). With respect to the relations between star formation and dust tracers we found that most are well matched (Ccoef > 0.7) as dust grains are heated by radiation in star forming regions. At smaller scales (15") FUV correlates poorly (Ccoef ~ 0.3) with the dust tracers, a direct consequence of the absorption of FUV photons by dust. We find that the HI is reasonably well correlated with the 8μm emission (Ccoef ~ 0.6) illustrating the fact that HI is mixed with PAH’s. Interestingly, the HI map shows some correlation with the SF map (Ccoef ~ 0.4) even though FUV and HI emissions were found to be completely uncorrelated (Ccoef ~ 0).

Le Herschel Reference Survey (Boselli et al. 2010) est un programme clé à temps garanti conçu pour étudier les propriétés physiques du milieu interstellaire (MIS) de 323 galaxies proches, dotées de données multi-fréquences. Cet échantillon sélectionné en bande K et limité en volume est composé de galaxies couvrant tous les types de morphologies (des elliptiques aux galaxies spirales) et tous les types d'environnement (des galaxies de champs aux galaxies du centre de l'amas de la Vierge). Mon travail de thèse consiste à effectuer une photométrie submillimétrique précise de ces 323 galaxies, et de conduire une analyse statistique des propriétés du MIS de ces galaxies proches basée sur leur distribution spectrale d'énergie. Dans ce but, j'ai utilisé les modèles de Draine & Li (2007) que j'ai ajusté aux données. Les paramètres de sorties de ces modèles sont l'intensité du champ de radiation, l'abondance des PAH, la contribution des régions de photo-dissociation dans le chauffage de la poussière, et la masse de poussière. J'étudie les relations entre ces paramètres de sorties et les propriétés physiques telles que la masse stellaire, le taux de formation stellaire spécifique, la métallicité ou encore le type morphologique.Je vais présenter les études préliminaires liées à ces relations, entrainant une meilleur compréhension des processus en jeu dans le MIS, et procurer de nouveaux modèles infrarouges et submillimétriques paramétrés par les quantités physiques que je viens de citer. Ces modèles, calibrés sur les galaxies proches, seront déterminant pour l'étude des propriétés du MIS des galaxies à haut redshifts. / The Herschel Reference Survey (Boselli et al. 2010) is a guaranteed time key project aimed at studying the physical properties of the interstellar medium (ISM) of 323 nearby galaxies, covered by multi-wavelength data. This volume limited, K-band selected sample is composed of galaxies spanning the whole range of morphological types (from ellipticals to late-type spirals) and environments (from the field to the centre of the Virgo Cluster). My PhD work consists in performing a precise submillimeter photometry of every galaxies of the survey, and conducting a statistical study on the ISM properties of nearby galaxies based on the analysis of their spectral energy distributions. To achieve this goal I fit the data with the models of Draine & Li 2007. The output of Draine & Li (2007) models are the intensity of the interstellar radiation field, the PAH abundance, the contribution of photodissociation regions, the total mass of dust. I study the relations between these outputs and the physical properties such as the stellar mass, the specific star formation rate, the metallicity or the morphological type. I will present a preliminary analysis of these relations leading to a better understanding of the processes at play in the ISM and provide new infrared sets of templates from 8 to 500 microns parameterized by all the physical parameters just cited. These templates calibrated on nearby galaxies will be a benchmark for the study of the ISM properties of high redshift galaxies.

The complex and diverse populations of galaxies observed today form hierarchically through past galactic mergers. Interactions between galaxies of similar masses will drastically alter the morphology, chemical composition, star-formation activity, and central black-hole accretion of their constituents. Though we can see the components and byproducts of galaxy mergers, these events endure over a timescale of hundreds of millions of years. Thus to understand the merging process from observations, astronomers are reliant on large spectroscopic surveys which will contain galaxy mergers at various stages of interaction, and those which have just experienced coalescence. Until recently, such surveys were limited to the global properties of each galaxy, constraining the global changes in chemical composition and star-formation activity, but overlooking how such changes vary across a galaxy. The advent of Integral Field Unit (IFU) spectroscopy surveys provides spatially resolved spectroscopic properties for thousands of galaxies for the first time. This thesis presents analysis of galaxy mergers from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) IFU spectroscopy survey. Enhancements and deficits in star-formation rate and metallicity, as a result of the interaction, are determined for each spatial pixel containing a spectrum (spaxel) based on well established relationships with stellar mass density. These offsets are then compressed into radial profiles to quantify how the effects of an interaction vary as a function of radius. A sample of 36 post-mergers are, on average, enhanced out to ~2 effective radii, though individual galaxies can be enhanced or suppressed in the outskirts depending on the global star-formation rate of the galaxy. The metallicity is uniformly suppressed in post-merger galaxies, in concordance with the global SFR enhancement. A sample of galaxy pairs is identified with cuts in the projected separation, the line of sight velocity difference, and the mass ratio of the interaction. I develop a method to deblend close galaxy pairs that are on the same IFU observation, and remove contribution from the companion galaxy in the radial profile. Radial profiles of SFR and metallicity offsets for the pairs sample, binned by projected separation, confirm that central enhancements in SFR increase as separation decreases. Behaviour in the outskirts is more varied, and does not appear to correlate with the projected separation or the mass ratio of the interaction. Metallicity offsets display a similar issue, showing no clear correlation with separation or mass ratio. Such ambiguity implies that multiple characteristics of the interaction and its components are required to predict the spatial changes in a galaxy merger. I propose projects that could shed light on these ambiguities. The most recent release of MaNGA will double the sample size of mergers, possibly homogenizing projected separation and mass ratio bins that may be dominated by a particular population. An analysis of interacting galaxies that do not have mass ratio measurements, but very small projected separations and highly disturbed morphologies, could provide understanding of the transition between the very end of an interaction and the state of the galaxy post-coalescence. I also propose a more complex analysis of the asymmetry of IFU spectroscopy data products, which until now have been simplified with radial profiles. Lastly, I emphasize the importance of follow up studies of the resolved molecular gas properties of merging galaxies to discern whether gas reservoir, depletion time, or both are driving the change in star-formation rate. / Graduate