Numerical simulations of galaxy formation and observational Galactic Astronomy are two fields of research that study the same objects from different perspectives. Simulations try to understand galaxies like our Milky Way from an evolutionary point of view while observers try to disentangle the current structure and the building blocks of our Galaxy. Due to great advances in computational power as well as in massive stellar surveys we are now able to compare resolved stellar populations in simulations and in observations. In this thesis we use a number of approaches to relate the results of the two fields to each other. The major observational data set we refer to for this work comes from the Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE), a massive spectroscopic stellar survey that observed almost half a million stars in the Galaxy. In a first study we use three different models of the Galaxy to generate synthetic stellar surveys that can be directly compared to the RAVE data. To do this we evaluate the RAVE selection function to great detail. Among the Galaxy models is the widely used Besancon model that performs well when individual parameter distribution are considered, but fails when we study chemodynamic correlations. The other two models are based on distributions of mass particles instead of analytical distribution functions. This is the first time that such models are converted to the space of observables and are compared to a stellar survey. We show that these models can be competitive and in some aspects superior to analytic models, because of their self-consistent dynamic history. In the case of a full cosmological simulation of disk galaxy formation we can recover features in the synthetic survey that relate to the known issues of the model and hence proof that our technique is sensitive to the global structure of the model. We argue that the next generation of cosmological galaxy formation simulations will deliver valuable models for our Galaxy. Testing these models with our approach will provide a direct connection between stellar Galactic astronomy and physical cosmology. In the second part of the thesis we use a sample of high-velocity halo stars from the RAVE data to estimate the Galactic escape speed and the virial mass of the Milky Way. In the course of this study cosmological simulations of galaxy formation also play a crucial role. Here we use them to calibrate and extensively test our analysis technique. We find the local Galactic escape speed to be 533 (+54/-41) km/s (90% confidence). With this result in combination with a simple mass model of the Galaxy we then construct an estimate of the virial mass of the Galaxy. For the mass profile of the dark matter halo we use two extreme models, a pure Navarro, Frenk & White (NFW) profile and an adiabatically contracted NFW profile. When we use statistics on the concentration parameter of these profile taken from large dissipationless cosmological simulations we obtain an estimate of the virial mass that is almost independent of the choice of the halo profile. For the mass M_340 enclosed within R_340 = 180 kpc we find 1.3 (+0.4/-0.3) x 10^12 M_sun. This value is in very good agreement with a number of other mass estimates in the literature that are based on independent data sets and analysis techniques. In the last part of this thesis we investigate a new possible channel to generate a population of Hypervelocity stars (HVSs) that is observed in the stellar halo. Commonly, it is assumed that the velocities of these stars originate from an interaction with the super-massive black hole in the Galactic center. It was suggested recently that stars stripped-off a disrupted satellite galaxy could reach similar velocities and leave the Galaxy. Here we study in detail the kinematics of tidal debris stars to investigate the probability that the observed sample of HVSs could partly originate from such a galaxy collision. We use a suite of $N$-body simulations following the encounter of a satellite galaxy with its Milky Way-type host galaxy. We quantify the typical pattern in angular and phase space formed by the debris stars and develop a simple model that predicts the kinematics of stripped-off stars. We show that the distribution of orbital energies in the tidal debris has a typical form that can be described quite accurately by a simple function. The main parameters determining the maximum energy kick a tidal debris star can get is the initial mass of the satellite and only to a lower extent its orbit. Main contributors to an unbound stellar population created in this way are massive satellites (M_sat > 10^9 M_sun). The probability that the observed HVS population is significantly contaminated by tidal debris stars appears small in the light of our results. / Ein häufig verfolgter Ansatz Galaxien wie unsere Milchstraße besser zu verstehen, sind numerische Simulationen, d.h. das Nachvollziehen ihrer Entstehung und Entwicklung mit Hilfe von Computern. Dieses Vorgehen erlaubt das Betrachten solcher Objekte von einem evolutionären Standpunkt aus. Eine andere Herangehensweise verfolgt die Galaktische Astronomie, welche über Sternbeobachtungen den aktuellen Zustand der Milchstraße untersucht. Hier wird versucht, die konstitutiven Bestandteile unserer Galaxie zu erkennen, um dadurch ein besseres Verständnis ihrer Struktur zu erlangen. Die enorme Rechenleistung moderner Supercomputer und die Entwicklungssprünge im Bereich der digitalen Himmelsdurchmusterungen haben dazu geführt, dass inzwischen mit beiden Ansätzen vergleichbare Populationen von einzeln beobachtbaren Sternen studiert werden können. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden verschiedene Möglichkeiten untersucht, die Ergebnisse dieser beiden astrophysikalischen Disziplinen, welche bislang weitgehend getrennt von einander betrieben wurden, sinnvoll zu kombinieren. Der überwiegende Teil der Beobachtungsdaten, die dabei verwendet werden, wurde im Zuge des Radial Velocity Experiments (RAVE) gesammelt, einer spektroskopischen Durchmusterung der Sterne fast des gesamten Südhimmels. Um die Daten des RAVE-Projekts statistisch auswerten zu können, musste zuerst die detaillierte Auswahlfunktion der Durchmusterung rekonstruiert werden, d.h. die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass ein Stern von RAVE beobachtet wurde, musste, in Abhängigkeit von den Eigenschaften des Sterns, bestimmt werden. Der Hauptteil der Dissertation gliedert sich in drei weitgehend unabhängige Studien. Im ersten Teil wird die oben erwähnte Auswahlfunktion benutzt, um voraus zu sagen, was das RAVE Projekt beobachtet hätte, falls bestimmte theoretische Modelle unserer Milchstraße zu träfen. Auf diese Art und Weise umgehe ich das problematische Unterfangen, die Beobachtungsdaten zu einem physikalischen Modell zu verallgemeinern. Die Problematik hierbei liegt darin, dass astronomische Beobachtungen nicht direkt physikalisch relevante Größen, wie Massen oder Alter der Sterne, liefern, sondern scheinbare Helligkeiten oder Winkelpositionen. In dieser Studie wird der umgekehrte Weg beschritten und synthetische Beobachtungen aus den Modellen generiert. Untersucht wurden dabei sowohl klassische analytische Modelle als auch Modelle, die aus numerischen Simulationen resultieren. Letztere wurden zu ersten Mal überhaupt auf diese Art und Weise getestet und es zeigt sich, dass solche Modelle den klassischen in bestimmten Aspekten, die mit der Entwicklungsgeschichte der Milchstraße verknüpft sind, überlegen sind. Im zweiten Teil der Arbeit werden die RAVE-Daten benutzt um die Masse der Milchstraße, bzw. die Masse der in ihr enthaltenen dunklen Materie, ab zu schätzen. Zur Eichung der Analysemethode wird dabei wieder auf Ergebnisse von Simulationen zurück gegriffen, die die Entwicklung von ähnlichen Galaxien wie der Milchstraße verfolgt haben. Zuerst wird die lokale Entweichgeschwindigkeit, d.h. die Mindestgeschwindigkeit, die ein Körper benötigt, um unsere Galaxie zu verlassen, bestimmt. Die beste Abschätzung beträgt 533 (+54/-41) km/s. Anhand dieser Schätzung kann, in Kombination mit vereinfachten analytischen Modellen der Materieverteilung in unserer Galaxie, die Masse der Milchstraße innerhalb von 180 kpc auf 1,3 (+0,4/-0,3) x 10^12 Sonnenmassen bestimmt werden. Dieses Ergebnis bestätigt frühere unabhängige Massenschätzungen, die auf anderen Beobachtungsdaten und anderen Analysestrategien basieren. Im letzten Teil der Arbeit wird eine spezielle Population von Sternen im Außenbereich unserer Galaxie untersucht, sogenannte Hyperschnellläufersterne (HSS). Diese wurde in einer weiteren Himmelsdurchmusterung, dem Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), gefunden. Die Besonderheit dieser Sterne besteht in ihren extrem hohen Geschwindigkeiten oberhalb der Entweichgeschwindigkeit. Allgemein wird angenommen, dass die Sterne ihre Geschwindigkeiten im Zuge der Spaltung eines Doppelsternsystems durch Gezeitenkräfte nahe des supermassereichen Schwarzen Lochs im Zentrum der Milchstraße erreichen. Vor Kurzem wurde jedoch ein alternatives Szenario vorgeschlagen. Nach diesem können solche Sterne auch während des Einfalls einer Satellitengalaxie auf die Milchstraße entstehen. Diese Hypothese wird anhand von numerischen Simulationen, die diese Situation nachbilden, getestet. Es zeigt sich, dass HSS auf diese Weise entstehen können, aber dass die beobachtete Population höchstwahrscheinlich einen anderen Ursprung hat.

FundaÃÃo Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Cientifico e TecnolÃgico / A presente pesquisa trata da relaÃÃo entre mÃsica, juventude e festa no espaÃo urbano. Parte da percepÃÃo da juventude como uma categoria socialmente construÃda, para alÃm das faixas etÃrias e dos princÃpios identitÃrios geralmente atribuÃdos a esta etapa do ciclo de vida do indivÃduo. Tem como objetivo compreender sociabilidades, comportamentos, prÃticas de consumo, discursos e sÃmbolos adotados pelos jovens durante sua participaÃÃo em um tipo especÃfico de festa de mÃsica eletrÃnica, comumente conhecida como rave. As raves acontecem nÃo somente em locais diferentes, mas, principalmente, a cÃu aberto, sendo tambÃm chamadas de âfestas open airâ. Tais festas ocorrem, na maioria das vezes, em ambientes que se destacam por suas belezas naturais, elegendo como sede para os eventos desde sÃtios, chÃcaras e hotÃis afastados da cidade, atà barracas de praia localizadas em Ãreas pouco freqÃentadas pela populaÃÃo em geral. O material empÃrico a partir do qual se estruturam as reflexÃes que se seguem inclui levantamento bibliogrÃfico, documental e, principalmente, pesquisa de campo, com observaÃÃo participante realizada durante o perÃodo de 2008 a 2009, onde foi possÃvel freqÃentar 17 raves organizadas em Fortaleza e cidades vizinhas. / This research discusses the relationship between music, youth culture and party in the urban space. Its part of the perception of youth as a socially constructed category, in addition to age and identity principles generally attributed to this stage of the life cycle of the individual. It aims to understand social practices, attitudes, consumption practices, discourses and symbols adopted by the youth during their participation in a specific type of electronic music festival, commonly known as rave. The raves happen not only in different places, but mainly in the open spaces, is also called âopen air festivalsâ. These festivals occur most often in areas that stand out for its natural beauty, choosing to host the events from sites, farms and hotels away from the city. The empirical material from which stems the reflections that follow include bibliographical, documentary, and especially field research, participant observation carried out during the period 2008 to 2009, it was possible to attend 17 raves held in Fortaleza and cities neighbors.

Desde meados da década de 90 tornou-se prática de muitos jovens paulistas festejar ao ar livre, em áreas afastadas do centro urbano, por mais de 14 horas, ao som de música eletrônica e sob efeito de psicoativos, especialmente um novo, denominado de "ecstasy". Essas festas, chamadas de "raves", são realizadas em espaços especialmente escolhidos e preparados para a construção e o fortalecimento de uma rede de sociabilidade particular, nos quais se exercitam encontros, trocas, lealdades e conflitos. Rede que não se esgota no próprio evento, mas se alastra e orienta fluxos de pessoas e grupos pela cidade de São Paulo. Observando as raves brasileiras, principalmente as paulistas, é objetivo dessa dissertação anotar como contextos empíricos sujeitaram as definições de rave a reavaliações. Embora a perpectiva histórica de quase dez anos de raves no Brasil aponte para uma multiplicação de formatos de festas, o modo peculiar de festejar subsiste como um tema, uma referência e uma performance. / Since the mid 90's, it became popular among some young groups that live in or around São Paulo city to celebrate parties on open air in remote areas, far away from downtown, for more than 14 hours in a row, to the sound of electronic music and under the effect of drugs - mainly one called ecstasy. Those parties, also known as Raves, are held in especific places prepared for the construction and fortification of a network of a particular sociability, under which engagement, interchanges, loyalties and disputes are exercised. This network doesn't constrain iself only to such event, but spreads out and determines flows of people and groups throughout the São Paulo. The aim of this work is to examine the Brazilian Raves, especially the ones held in the state of São Paulo. The aim of this grasp the functional revaluations of meaning observed in the field work. Althougt the historical perpective of almost ten years of Raves in Brazil suggest for a increase in raves formats, the peculiar raving way still endures as a theme,a reference and a performance

The aim of this thesis is to provide a social anthropological analysis and interpretation of the freetekno party phenomenon in the Czech Republic from synchronic and diachronic perspective. The author bases his argument on both his own field research and professional literature on the topic. An extended case method serves as a basic methodological Framework. After introduction of selected theoretical concepts (music scene, neotribes, youth subculture, rites de passage, liminality and liminoidity, spontaneous communitas and rhizom) as well as outline of the current state of research in the area of study of the freetekno party phenomenon, there is an empirical part of the thesis which consists of two main parts: the historical-ethnographic and the analytical-interpretative. The first part describes the first rave party in Great Britain, expansion of this phenomenon in continental Europe, its adoption in the Czech Republic and its gradual evolution up to the present. The following part serves as an analytical-interpretation of the above-outlined situation and a subsequent socio-anthropological interpretation. Freetekno scene is described as neotribal rhizom and freetekno events are subsequently conceptualized as unique ritual processes. The transformation of the freetekno phenomenon is then...

Abstract Gwyn Randleff-Rasmussen An experimental intervention for reading fluency and comprehension using RAVE-O: A case study of one Grade 2 reading group in one Johannesburg school. RAVE-O (Retrieval, Automaticity, Vocabulary Elaboration (or Engagement with language) and Orthography) is a reading intervention developed using scientific principles specifically aimed at teaching dyslexic children to read. This study examines the effects of a RAVE-O intervention on fluency and comprehension in reading. It follows the application of the intervention by one teacher with a group of seven children with severe reading difficulties in a Johannesburg school, using participant observation to document how she adapted the resources and concepts of the program to meet the specific needs of the children in the group, over the course of one year. The results of reading tests administered before and after the intervention were compared. The generally positive results in reading fluency, comprehension, phonological awareness and RAN in this small group of children with reading difficulties indicate that the program would help in improving literacy outcomes in other South African contexts. The study highlights the specific difficulties encountered during the South African application with regard to the Americandeveloped materials and the constraints of the program in relation to the South African school timetable. It also elaborates on particular strengths of the program, primarily vocabulary acquisition and an increased engagement with and enjoyment of language.

No description available.

This thesis is an analysis as to whether or not Subcultural Theory may be utilized to understand how self-identification is configured within a subculture such as rave. Typically, subcultural membership requires various performative rites that express and maintain a group sensibility and identity. Rave, however, is a subculture that involves a relationship to space and technology that changes the nature of group affiliation within the subculture. This thesis focuses on how a body immersed in subcultural practices, and organized around varying technologies, must look toward an analysis of individual and subjective adaptations of those technologies. In essence, rave allows for identification that is shaped and altered by the participant, but only at each moment of interaction with the technologies of the club. Highly individualistic, dynamic, and technology-driven, the rave subculture offers the potential to examine the body as the site for identification, and escape, within an abstracting technological world.

Thesis--Lund Universitet, Sociologiska Institutionen, Avd. för Socialantropologi, 1998. / Title from screen page; viewed 25 July 2005. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print format.

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-88). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2005. Graduate Programme in Musicology and Ethnomusicology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 255-268). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNR11596