This bachelor's thesis explores the integration of digital technology in elderly care, specifically nursing homes, within a medium-sized municipality in Sweden. The aging global population presents significant challenges, notably in elderly care where digital technologies are increasingly being utilized to enhance residents' quality of life and streamline operations. This qualitative study employed semi-structured interviews with municipal employees to examine how digital technologies are utilized, the attitudes of decision-makers towards these technologies, and the challenges and opportunities associated with their implementation. Findings indicate that digital technologies can potentially improve mental health, social interactions, and the overall well-being of elderly residents. However, the study also identifies significant barriers, including insufficient training of staff, procurement issues, and the lack of robust infrastructure, which hinder effective implementation. The results underscore the need for strategic planning and further research to effectively integrate digital solutions in elderly care settings, aligning technological advancements with the practical needs and capabilities of the elderly population.

Many higher education institutions (HEIs) around the world are investing in the implementation of different Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) to support the teaching and learning process. However, there is a lack of detailed guidelines or a practical framework for the VLE system implementation without which an effective VLE system implementation framework, many of the full potential of VLE system cannot be realised objectives and benefits remain underachieved. A small number of frameworks specific for VLE system implementation are reported in the literature; however, these are not comprehensive in terms of covering the entire end-to-end implementation, do not consider all the key elements of a VLE system implementation and are far from integrated. Moreover, a practice-based framework that considers various organisational, pedagogical, and technological aspects and covers the entire end-to-end implementation, is not available in the current literature, and there is no complete set of guidelines to be used by HEIs to support and manage an effective VLE system implementation. Therefore, further research is needed for investigating various key elements and for identifying aspects of a good-practice framework for the implementation of VLE systems in HEIs. Particularly, an integrated good-practice framework that is comprehensive and integrates elements from existing literature and current practices or case studies would be a significant and useful contribution to this field, which highlights the importance of this study. Hence, research into investigating a good-practice VLE system implementation framework is important, and this thesis builds and presents a good-practice-in-context framework for the implementation and use of VLE systems in HEIs. This is done through identifying and exploring the key elements that build-up such a comprehensive practice-based framework for VLE system implementation through literature and good practices by considering various pedagogical, technical, and organisational aspects. These key elements include stages, processes, critical success factors (CSFs) considered, challenges (CLG) faced, associated risks, stakeholders (SHs) involved, and various tools, technologies, and methods, integrated with the VLE system. The key elements provide a deeper understanding of the fundamental issues and success factors underlying the successful implementation and sustainability of a VLE system. Initially, a conceptual framework was developed encapsulating various key elements of a VLE system implementation framework based on an extensive literature review and an analysis of existing frameworks and models, encapsulating various key elements of a VLE system implementation framework, where the elements were integrated and mapped with each other highlighting and depicting interrelations and interactions among them. The conceptual framework was validated by empirical data from the two case studies (of HEIs, at local and national level) to propose a refined, novel, and practice-based framework for VLE system implementation in HEIs, which also contains mappings to Technology Enhance Learning (TEL) strategy components. Thus, the proposed good-practice-in-context framework can be used as a tool to assist or guide HEIs to implement VLE system successfully. Finally, the proposed framework could lead to a successful VLE system implementation and it could also serve as an effective approach that not only facilitates enhancement in the learning and teaching experience, but also fosters end-user engagement and supports flexibility and customization according to the end-user needs of HEIs.

Vital societal functions are upheld by public infrastructure. For some time, normative theories describing asset management have disseminated in research and in business. Public infrastructure companies are increasingly required to adhere to management standards under regulatory pressure, however, the research area is in need of more empirical contributions on which challenges companies face when implementing management systems standards in their organization. For asset management systems and the ISO 55000 series in particular, the empirical data is lacking. This thesis addresses the challenges public utility companies face when implementing asset management principles. A qualitative case study was conducted during a five-month period at Sweden's largest water utility company, Stockholm Vatten och Avfall AB (SVOA). Fourteen interviews were conducted and compared with company documents to provide triangulation. The findings suggest that the main challenges a public utility company has to overcome to implement an asset management model are: 1) Lack of strategic and long-term planning responsibility. 2) Unclear division of asset responsibilities. 3) Lack of top management commitment towards asset management systems. 4) No standardized risk management. 5) Lack of information sharing between departments. The implications of this study are twofold: In a practical sense the thesis argues for top management of public infrastructure firms to commit to principles of asset management theory, provide a clear division of asset responsibility, introduce systematic risk management principles and policies, as well as promote cross-divisional exchanges of experiences. Academically, this investigation contributes to the literature by providing a better understanding of the ISO 55000 series, and the implementation process of standards similar to it, in the context of companies managed by the public sector. / Kritiska samhällsfunktioner möjliggörs av offentlig infrastruktur. Sen ett antal år tillbaka finns flertalet normativa teorier publicerade som beskriver hur tillgångshantering (asset management) ska gå till. Under krav från lagstiftning och tillsynsmyndigheter måste offentliga verksamheter i allt högre grad införa standardiserande arbetssätt. Det finns en brist på forskning kring utmaningarna att bygga upp och införa ledningssystem i verksamheten. Särskilt ledningssystem för tillgångshantering som till exempel ISO 55000 saknar empiriska data. Detta examensarbete behandlar de utmaningar offentliga infrastrukturbolag står inför för att implementera tillgångshanteringsprinciper. En kvalitativ fallstudie gjordes över fem månader på Sverige största leverantör av vattentjänster, Stockholm Vatten och Avfall AB (SVOA). Totalt fjorton intervjuer gjordes och jämfördes mot interna företagsdokument för att uppnå triangulering. Resultaten pekar på att de största utmaningarna ett offentligt infrastrukturbolag måste övervinna är: 1) Brist på strategisk och långtidsplanering. 2) Otydlig fördelning av tillgångsansvar. 3) Brist på ledningsengagemang för tillgångshanteringssystem. 4) Avsaknad av standardiserad riskhantering. 5) Brist på informationsutbyte. Konsekvenserna av examensarbetet är tvåfaldig: På ett praktiskt plan argumenterar examensarbetet för att ledningen av offentliga infrastrukturbolag bör förpliktiga sig åt tillgångshanteringsprinciper. De bör även införa en tydlig uppdelning av tillgångsansvar, introducera standardiserade riskhanteringsmodeller och policy, samt bidra till tvärfunktionella erfarenhetsutbyten. På ett akademiskt plan bidrar examensarbetet till att utöka förståelsen för ISO 55000 standarden och implementeringsprocessen för liknande standarder i kontexten av offentligt styrda företag.

The central hypothesis of this thesis is that the universal fundamental right to adequate housing must be equally enforced by all states irrespective of its non-entrenchment as a constitutional, legislative and/or policy entitlement. Despite being a minority, poor Canadians still face the same sordid living conditions that the majority are experiencing in South Africa and India. If a developed country such as Canada, despite its available resources and housing policies, and, similar to South Africa and India as third world countries, fails to improve the poor’s standard of living, the right to adequate housing will remain a distant dream for many. Any housing implementation strategy must be able to reduce housing backlogs, eradicate homelessness and slums and in general improve the poor’s standard of living. The thesis considers the diverse implementation strategies of the right to adequate housing as adopted by South Africa, Canada and India and reveals how each country has experienced systemic challenges. Against the background of international and regional human rights obligations, key issues are investigated to determine how to properly implement, enforce and monitor the right, include the role of a constitutionally entrenched right, the adoption of a housing legislative and/or policy measures, the role of the judiciary, (in)action on the part of government and the part played by national human rights commissions. While each of these three countries approaches the issue in their own unique way, and each country makes its own contribution, what is required is a coordinated and multi-faceted housing implementation system. Although the point of departure was to determine what South Africa could learn from Canada and India, the conclusion is that both Canada and India can draw inspiration from South Africa. Nevertheless, the main conclusions are that South Africa must urgently conduct a comprehensive review of its regressive 20 year housing implementation strategy and India’s 61 years five year plans. The Canadian judiciary should be looking at ways to enforce the right within the Canadian Charter as well as its domestic legislation to include ‘social condition’ as a discrimination ground. While both Canada and India must review their housing policies their judiciaries should be evaluating the history of homelessness and the reasonableness of their adopted housing policies. / Private Law / LLD

The central hypothesis of this thesis is that the universal fundamental right to adequate housing must be equally enforced by all states irrespective of its non-entrenchment as a constitutional, legislative and/or policy entitlement. Despite being a minority, poor Canadians still face the same sordid living conditions that the majority are experiencing in South Africa and India. If a developed country such as Canada, despite its available resources and housing policies, and, similar to South Africa and India as third world countries, fails to improve the poor’s standard of living, the right to adequate housing will remain a distant dream for many. Any housing implementation strategy must be able to reduce housing backlogs, eradicate homelessness and slums and in general improve the poor’s standard of living. The thesis considers the diverse implementation strategies of the right to adequate housing as adopted by South Africa, Canada and India and reveals how each country has experienced systemic challenges. Against the background of international and regional human rights obligations, key issues are investigated to determine how to properly implement, enforce and monitor the right, include the role of a constitutionally entrenched right, the adoption of a housing legislative and/or policy measures, the role of the judiciary, (in)action on the part of government and the part played by national human rights commissions. While each of these three countries approaches the issue in their own unique way, and each country makes its own contribution, what is required is a coordinated and multi-faceted housing implementation system. Although the point of departure was to determine what South Africa could learn from Canada and India, the conclusion is that both Canada and India can draw inspiration from South Africa. Nevertheless, the main conclusions are that South Africa must urgently conduct a comprehensive review of its regressive 20 year housing implementation strategy and India’s 61 years five year plans. The Canadian judiciary should be looking at ways to enforce the right within the Canadian Charter as well as its domestic legislation to include ‘social condition’ as a discrimination ground. While both Canada and India must review their housing policies their judiciaries should be evaluating the history of homelessness and the reasonableness of their adopted housing policies. / Private Law / LLD