The Swedish mining and minerals sector is one of the most prominent greenhouse gas emitters in the country. At the same time, it also provides Sweden and other nations with vast amounts of important metals and minerals, which are not easily replaced. However, in light of the increasing urgency to reduce global greenhouse gas concentrations, it is imperative that the combustion of fossil fuels is decreased. This quantitative case study uses a document review and interviews to investigate the prerequisites and technical potential for decarbonising the Dannemora iron ore mine in eastern Sweden. Furthermore, a comparative life cycle inventory based on methods from the Greenhouse Gas Protocol is performed in order to calculate potential savings of both energy and greenhouse gases from exchanging conventional underground mining equipment with more sustainable alternatives. Results show that emissions from underground activities in the Dannemora mine could potentially be reduced by up to 90 %, and energy consumption by up to 64 %. It was however also shown that no viable emission-free explosives currently exist that could safely replace conventional alternatives. Further research needs to be conducted in order to investigate the effects of Scope 3 emissions from the production of battery electric mining vehicles, as this would have an effect on overall GHG and energy savings.

Several industrial sectors experience an increased reliance on mechatronic systems as electronics and software are being embedded into the traditional mechanical systems of these industries. Important challenges within mechatronics engineering comes from management of multi-disciplinary development project teams and the highly complex scope of problems, which in turn require extensive coordination and integration, both in terms of technical and organisational matters. The concept of cross-functional integration in product development research has in previous research mainly addressed integration of the functions marketing, R&D, and manufacturing, and whereas the present thesis is delimited to include only the R&D organization and the functions and engineering disciplines within such an organization. The purpose with thesis has been to investigate mechatronics engineering in order to understand and explain how co-operation, integration, and knowledge sharing between engineering disciplines can be supported. This research has been realized by empirical studies in mechatronic development settings in engineering companies, but also by taking part in industrial and academic research projects that develop and study computer-aided mechatronics engineering. Findings presented in this thesis show that mechatronics is a matter of integration at three organizational levels where the most substantial needs are found to be at the team-level and the individual level. Furthermore, it is identified that to be able to succeed in mechatronics engineering, managers and engineers must look beyond disciplinary needs. Subsequently, both teamwork and competence management become key issues for management of mechatronics engineering. Finally, computer-supported and model-based development of mechatronics show great potential for successful integration of engineering disciplines, even though such technological aids are still rather immature and needs further research and development. A tentative analysis model of organizational integration for mechatronics engineering is also presented and discussed in this thesis. Based on the presented findings, it is concluded that companies incorporating electronics and software in their mechanical products must effectively manage software and electronics development of these embedded systems. Despite the focus on cross-functional integration in engineering companies, this thesis shows examples of inadequate integration of software and electronics engineering with mechanical integration in organisations dominated by the latter. Future research studies are needed to investigate the relation between factors influencing the need for organizational integration and potential integration mechanisms. To further understand mechatronics engineering it is important to look deeper into research issues such as changed conditions for the engineering profession implied by multidisciplinary settings, social systems supporting integration of disciplines, changed work conditions due to implementation of technological aids for model-based system development, relationship between product and organizational complexity, organizational designs supporting integration of engineering disciplines, and cross-disciplinary training of highly specialized engineers. / QC 20101123

In recent decades, the night lights data of the Earth’s surface derived from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) have been used to detect the human settlements and human activities, because the DMSP/OLS data is able to supply the information about the urban areas  and non-urban areas on the Earth which means it is more suitable for urban studies than usual satellite imagery data.   The urban development is closed linked to the human society development. Therefore, studies of urban development will help people to understand how the urban changed and predict the urban change. The aim of this study was to detect Beijing’s urban development from 1992 to 2012, and find the contributions to the urban sprawl from socio-economic factors. Based on this objective, the main dataset used in this thesis was night lights images derived from the DMSP/OLS which was detected from  1992 to 2012. Due to the lacking of on-board calibration on OLS, and the over-glow of the lights resources, the information about the night lights cannot be extracted directly. Before any process, the night lights images should be calibrated. There is a method to calibrate the night light images which is called intercalibration. It is a second order regression model based method to find the related digital number values. Therefore, intercalibration was employed, and the threshold values were determined to extract urban areas in this study. Threshold value is useful for diffusing the over-glow effect, and finding the urban areas from the DMSP/OLS data. The methods to determine the threshold value in this thesis are empirical threshold method, sudden jump detection method, statistic data comparison method and k-mean clustering method. In addition, 13 socio-economic factors which included gross domestic product, urban population, permanent population, total energy consumption and so on were used to build the regression model. The contributions from these factors to the sum of the Beijing’s lights were found based on modeling.   The results of this thesis are positive. The intercalibration was successful and all the DMSP/OLS data used in this study were calibrated. And then, the appropriate threshold values to extract the urban areas were figured out. The achieved urban areas were compared to the satellite images and the result showed that the urban areas were useful. During the time certain factors used in this study, such as mobile phone users, possession of civil vehicles, GDP, three positively highest contributed to urban development were close to 23%, 8% and 9%, respectively.

In the highly competitive aerospace industry, engine manufacturers must react very quickly and precisely to any demand emerging from aircraft manufacturers if they want to be positioned on the offer. This is especially true when answering to Requests For Information (RFI) based on preliminary design investigations of first level. In order to reduce the time needed to perform these costly operations while improving the performances achieved, Snecma wishes to develop tools for dimensioning the engine and also for assessing key parameters such as mass, emissions, fuel burn, costs, etc. Unfortunately, the set of tools and the process used at the present time for preliminary design investigations of first level are not sufficient to meet the high standards sought-after by the company in terms of time and performances. As a consequence, efforts must be spent on redefining the whole process and the tools it is based on; here is the mission that has been conferred upon me.   Multiple exchanges with performances engineers and specialists allowed to draw the current process for preliminary design investigations of first level and raise all the associated concerns. At the same time, a status of the existing tools (called modules in this report), mainly developed under Excel, has been realised in order to identify the range of action for today's investigations. A prototype has been developed under SDK Python with the aim of proving the feasibility of a solution to a difficulty that shows up in the process for each new investigation: the one of generating the workflow on the optimisation software Optimus. A target process has finally been discussed considering all the information collected, and would allow dividing by five the time needed to perform investigations compare to now. The prototype developed lead to interesting results and this solution could thus probably be integrated in the target process as it would allow saving one day of work for an engineer for each study to be carried out.   Solutions have been proposed to all the concerns identified in the process and they will have to be discussed with many actors and investigated further in the near future in order to set the target process that will allow meeting the final objective of answering all types of RFIs emitted by aircraft manufacturer in a very short time with a high level of confidence in the results.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie var att beskriva arbetsterapeuters erfarenheter inom specialiserad palliativ vård. Metod: En kvalitativ studie genomfördes. Deltagarna bestod av elva arbetsterapeuter yrkesverksamma inom specialiserad palliativ vård. Datainsamlingen skedde med semistrukturerade intervjuer per telefon och datan analyserades med en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat: Analysen resulterade i ett övergripande tema; Att möjliggöra aktivitet och delaktighet till livets slut med tre kategorier; Flexibilitet och följsamhet, Interventioner med livskvalité som mål och Teamet fyller flera funktioner. Resultatet visar att arbetsterapeuternas erfarenheter är att samtal och följsamhet utgör grunden för den terapeutiska relation som behövs för att stödja klienten i sin process och genomföra interventioner som bygger på klientens egna behov och önskemål. Resultatet visar att det krävs framförhållning och flexibilitet eftersom det sker snabba förändringar hos klienterna. Interventioner som utförs syftar till att klienten skall uppleva livskvalité till livets slut vilket bland annat görs med kompensatoriska åtgärder, handledning, anpassning av aktiviteter och miljö samt symtomlindring. Att arbeta i ett multiprofessionellt team utgör grunden för att möta klientens fysiska, psykiska, sociala och existentiella behov där teamet även utgör ett emotionellt och kunskapsmässigt stöd för arbetsterapeuten. Slutsats: Resultatet kan bidra med förståelse och kunskap för det förhållningssätt och arbetssätt som arbetsterapeuten använder sig av inom palliativ vård för att möta klientens behov och möjliggöra aktivitet och delaktighet till livets slut. Studien kan även bidra till en förståelse för betydelsen av ett fungerande teamarbete, samt varför arbetsterapeuten som profession inom de palliativa teamen behövs. Ytterligare forskning behövs för att beskriva arbetsterapeutens unika kompetens i den palliativa vården samt hur den kompetensen förvärvas. Vidare behövs forskning om arbetsterapi inom olika palliativa vårdformer för att belysa och tydliggöra arbetsterapi inom palliativ vård och skapa en gemensam teoretisk grund. / Aim: The aim of this study was to describe occupational therapists’ experiences of specialized palliative care. Method: A qualitative study was conducted. The participants consisted of eleven occupational therapists working in specialized palliative care. The data collection was conducted with semi-structured interviews using telephone and the data was analyzed with a qualitative content analysis. Result: The analysis resulted in an overall theme; To enable occupation and participation until the end of life with three categories; Flexibility and compliance, The goal of interventions is quality of life, The multifunctional team. The result shows that the occupational therapists experiences is that conversation and compliance form the basis of the therapeutic relationship required to support clients in their process and implement interventions based on the clients individual needs and requests. The result shows that it takes foresight and flexibility to meet the clients rapid changes. The aim with interventions is that clients shall experience quality of life till the end of life. This is for instance made with compensatory interventions, guidance, adapting activities and environment and symptomatic relief. Working in a multi-professional team is the basis for meeting the client's physical, mental, social and existential needs, where the team also stands for knowledge exchange and as an emotional support. Conclusion: The result can contribute with understanding and knowledge of the approach and working method used by the occupational therapist in palliative care to meet the client's needs and enable activity and participation towards the end of life. The study can also contribute to an understanding of the importance of teamwork in palliative care and why the occupational therapist is needed in the palliative care teams. Further research is needed on the occupational therapists unique competence and how it is acquired. Further research is needed on occupational therapy in various palliative care forms to clarify occupational therapy in palliative care and to create a common theoretical basis.

This diploma thesis addresses the ongoing reform of psychiatric care in the Czech Republic. The primary pillars of reform are presented here and all projects through which individual steps of reform are implemented are elaborated in detail. There are four projects from the Czech Republic Ministry of Health: Deinstitutionalization of inpatient psychiatric facilities; Introduction of a Multidisciplinary Approach to the Mentally Ill; New Services; and CDZ I, II, III. And there are two projects from the National Institute of Mental Health (NÚDZ): Destigmatization of psychiatric issues and VIZDOM, and the ÚZIS Project. Examples of best practices from Italy, the United Kingdom, and France are also presented. This diploma thesis captures the current state of psychiatric care reform in the Pilsen region. In the context of the Czech Republic Ministry of Health's "Introduction to a Multidisciplinary Approach to the Mentally Ill", this thesis addresses the involvement of general practitioners in interdisciplinary community. The theoretical section includes chapters devoted to primary care reform within the strategic framework HEALTH 2030 and a SWOT analysis of general practioners' involvement in the community network. The practical part of this thesis contains a survey given to general practitioners and...

Objective: A collaborative campus-community partnership program provided the framework for an intervention to reduce motor vehicle accident fatalities along a rural Appalachian highway. Students from public health, nursing and medicine worked with community members to identify the problem and plan the strategy to address it. Methods: An inquiry-based learning model proved to be an appropriate approach to engage student teams with community leaders in identifying and resolving health needs. Inquiry-based strategies place students in guided learning situations where their investigations lead to working solutions. The inquiry-based model matched the curricular objectives of the Community Partnership Program (CPP) more closely than the classroom oriented problem-based learning approach. Implementation: In the spring of 1994, students, along with citizens and officials of a rural Appalachian county, initiated a community-based prevention project focused on reducing deaths from motor vehicle accidents employing the principles of an inquiry-based learning model. Discussion: This project effectively demonstrates the role that students can play in mobilizing diverse elements of the community to address identified health and safety concerns. It provides an illustration that a longitudinal, community-based, service-learning approach to health professions education is beneficial to both student learners and communities. Conclusions: Through the use of inquiry-based learning methods, students gained real life experience in applied principles of health statistics, epidemiology, community organization, health risk communication, health education planning and program implementation. Outcomes of the project included a measurable reduction in automobile-related fatalities and the initiation by the state department of transportation of a series of investigations expected to pave the way for physical improvements to the roadway.

Objective: To identify correlates of quality of life (QoL) measured with the Quality of Life Scale (QOLS) in participants of a multidisciplinary day hospital treatment program for fibromyalgia (FM). Methods: In this cross-sectional, observational study, “real world” data from 480 FM patients including socio-demographics, pain variables and questionnaires such as the SF-36, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Multiphasic Pain Inventory (MPI), SCL-90-R and others were categorized according to the components (body structure and function, activities and participation, personal factors, environmental factors) of the International Classification of Functioning (ICF). For every ICF component, a linear regression analysis with QOLS as the dependent variable was computed. A final comprehensive model was calculated on the basis of the results of the five independent analyses. Results: The following variables could be identified as main correlates for QoL in FM, explaining 56% of the variance of the QOLS (subscale/questionnaire and standardized beta in parenthesis): depression (− 0.22), pain-related interference with everyday life (− 0.19), general activity (0.13), general health perception (0.11), punishing response from others (− 0.11), work status (− 0.10), vitality (− 0.11) and cognitive difficulties (− 0.12). Pain intensity or frequency was not an independent correlate. Conclusions: More than 50% of QoL variance could be explained by distinct self-reported variables with neither pain intensity nor pain frequency playing a major role. Therefore, FM treatment should not primarily concentrate on pain but should address multiple factors within multidisciplinary therapy.

Many scholars have written about the role of spirituality in health care. One mechanism for incorporating spirituality into the care of patients is to integrate clinically trained chaplains into hospital care teams. We examined in a mixed-methods fashion, the effects of this type of integrated care team within a teaching hospital setting. The quality and impact of chaplain involvement were studied from patient and physician-in-training perspectives, using data from more than 200 patients and physicians in training. Findings clearly show that clinically trained chaplains can contribute meaningful expertise and real value to the quality and comprehensiveness of patient and physician experiences.

Permafrost carbon stores have been suggested to react to warming trends with increased terrestrial loading to its coastal waters. Presently, the warming has been seen to be especially high in the East Siberian Arctic and the fate of the major release of terrestrial matter to these coasts is yet to be detailed. Our work is focused on the East Siberian Shelf (ESS) – which is the largest continental shelf in the world. It receives substantial inputs of terrestrial organic matter both from the large Russian rivers and from eroding coastlines. The largest of its rivers, the Lena, discharges in Buor-Khaya Bay, which is also a hot spot for coastal erosion. Previous studies of molecular and δ¹3C and Δ¹⁴C composition of terrestrial organic matter received by Arctic coastal waters have suggested a different propensity of different terrestrial source materials towards bacterial degradation. This detailed isotopic and molecular marker survey which is the basis for this thesis reveals clearly distinguished source patterns both between surface water (POC) and sea floor (SOC) as well as with distance away from the sources. The heavy terrestrial dominance over marine/planktonic sources are clearly detected in gradients of high POC and SOC levels, as well as depleted δ13C -OC and high HMW/LMW n-alkane ratios. Furthermore, data suggests that terr-OC was substantially older yet less degraded in the surface sediment than in the surface waters. This unusual vertical degradation trend was only recently found also for the coastal and central East Siberian Sea. It seems that the riverine terr-OC component comprising mainly annual thaw layer surface soil dominates the buoyant surface water POC and is readily degraded. This is in contrast to the coastline-erosion terr-OC which is associated with minerals and therefore ballasted to the sediments where it makes up the key OC component and seems relatively protected from degradation. The study area of this work is a region with strong terrestrial influence hosting many of the important carbon cycling processes, and data reveal two important OC contributors of different origin, mineral associated coastal erosion matter and riverine borne surface soil matter. These two components may well represent different propensities to contribute to a positive feedback to climate warming by converting OC from coastal and inland permafrost into CO₂.