Titel: Waste Management – Förbättringsförslag av återvinningsprocessen inom hemelektronikbranschen. Bakgrund: I en bransch som kännetecknas av snabb teknologisk utveckling är det viktigt att se till att de produkter som kommer ut på marknaden också tas om hand på ett bra sätt i slutet av sitt funktionella liv. Hur ser återvinningsprocessen hos företagen ut idag och vad kan göras för att minska de växande problem som framkommer i samband med den ökade konsumtionen? Genom att granska fenomenet Waste Management avser uppsatsen angripa slöseri i logistikflödet och finna förbättringar av dagens återvinningsprocess av uttjänta hemelektronikprodukter. Syfte: Uppsatsens syfte är att kartlägga återvinningsprocessen inom branschen för hemelektronik i syfte att identifiera potentiella förbättringsåtgärder med det samhällsekonomiska målet att uppnå ett större returflöde i logistiksystemet ur ett företagsperspektiv. Metod: Studien utgår från en kvalitativ forskningsmetod som gjorts baserat på en flerfallsstudie. Primärdata har samlats in genom semi-strukturerade besöksintervjuer och asynkrona individuella intervjuer online utifrån ett bekvämlighetsurval. Studien intar ett positivistiskt synsätt och det vetenskapliga angreppssättet är abduktivt. Analysen utgörs enligt en mönsterjämförelse med avseende på produkttyper, kompensation och information till kund. Slutsats: Författarna kommer efter analys av funktionsflödesschema och mönsterjämförelse fram till ett antal punkter för förbättring vilka kan leda till ökad andel återvunna EOL-produkter. Dessa är; införande av ett fast returcenter, omhändertagande av ett större produktsortiment, föra statistik över returer, tydligare information till kund och kompensation för inlämnade produkter. Författarna kommer även fram till att det råder stora skillnader i hur man i dagsläget arbetar med Waste Management inom de olika företagen, där vissa företag är mer ambitiösa än andra. Företagen har mycket att lära av varandra och inom samtliga studerade företag finns något att förbättra.

Den intensivvård som kan erbjudas till patienter i Sverige idag är en mycket högspecialiserad och högteknologisk vård. Den har möjliggjort livsuppehållande åtgärder till den grad att det blivit nästan omöjligt för en patient att dö utan att först blivit föremål för diskussion om att ta till alla tänkbara medel. När intensivvårdsinsatserna inte längre är meningsfulla för patienten, utan bara blir till ett utdraget lidande i väntan på döden, tas ibland beslutet att avstå eller avbryta behandling. Syftet med studien är att belysa intensivvårdssjuksköterskans upplevelse av att vårda patienter där beslut om att avstå eller avbryta behandling tagits. Metoden som använts är en litteraturstudie som bygger på 8 artiklar. Artiklarna valdes inom det kvalitativa kunskapsparadigmet. Resultatet visar att sjuksköterskor ställdes inför existentiella tankar kring liv och död, framförallt det egna livet och döden. Det skapade negativa känslor såsom förvirring, sorg, ilska och skuld. Samtidigt upplevdes det som ett privilegium att få ge avgörande vård för patienten och att möjliggöra en värdig död utan onödigt lidande för patienten och dennes närstående. Erfarna sjuksköterskor hade det lättare och var mer trygga i att avstå eller avbryta behandling än sina oerfarna kollegor. Andra kollegor beskrevs som det viktigaste och starkaste stödet. Sjuksköterskor hade svårt att beskriva vilken roll de vill att läkaren skulle ha, men det fanns en upplevelse över att ansvarsfördelningen mellan läkare sjuksköterska var oklar. Hierarkin upplevdes som ett hinder. I diskussionen belyses möjligheten att integrera den moraliska och etiska problematiken redan under utbildningen för att vara bättre förberedd och medvetandegöra värdet av handledning i yrkesmässig växt. Genom att sträva efter ett utökat tvärprofessionellt samarbete kan vården av patienter där beslut om att avstå eller avbryta intensivvård ska eller har tagits underlättas. / Program: Fristående kurs

In the last fifty years, hospice palliative care has changed the modern understanding of dying. Rather than focusing on death, it promotes the facilitation of optimizing life for patients whose conditions have worsened beyong the possibility of recovery or cure. As such, this thesis is a response to the demands of architecture to support this unique stage of life. It analyzes and posits guidelines for designing spaces which must cater to the specific and vastly different needs of the palliative care specialists, family members, and the patients themselves. Also, it seeks to examine the nuanced complexities and poetics involved in a proposed architectural design for a hospice in downtown Toronto. The typology for a hospice is one that is both complex and evolving. It must combine the domestic scale of a home with the efficiency and standardization of an institution. The contemporary hospice must also accommodate rituals and beliefs surrounding the end of life that vary greatly from the many cultures that make up the contemporary city. At the very least, the building must provide inspiration and a hope for a peaceful and dignified transition, recognizing also that this is no longer a traditional place for cure. The distinctions suggest a reconsideration of what is needed and what is expected for those involved in and affected by the dying process. This thesis will explore the architectural possibilities inherent in a new social understanding of the end of life that defies the fatalistic view of an inevitable death, in favour of a hope for dying with dignity while embracing an opportunity to experience liminality during our final days.

In the last fifty years, hospice palliative care has changed the modern understanding of dying. Rather than focusing on death, it promotes the facilitation of optimizing life for patients whose conditions have worsened beyong the possibility of recovery or cure. As such, this thesis is a response to the demands of architecture to support this unique stage of life. It analyzes and posits guidelines for designing spaces which must cater to the specific and vastly different needs of the palliative care specialists, family members, and the patients themselves. Also, it seeks to examine the nuanced complexities and poetics involved in a proposed architectural design for a hospice in downtown Toronto. The typology for a hospice is one that is both complex and evolving. It must combine the domestic scale of a home with the efficiency and standardization of an institution. The contemporary hospice must also accommodate rituals and beliefs surrounding the end of life that vary greatly from the many cultures that make up the contemporary city. At the very least, the building must provide inspiration and a hope for a peaceful and dignified transition, recognizing also that this is no longer a traditional place for cure. The distinctions suggest a reconsideration of what is needed and what is expected for those involved in and affected by the dying process. This thesis will explore the architectural possibilities inherent in a new social understanding of the end of life that defies the fatalistic view of an inevitable death, in favour of a hope for dying with dignity while embracing an opportunity to experience liminality during our final days.

The environmental impact of consumer goods is becoming a growing concern in the modern world. With the increasing awareness of our daily impact and our effects on such crises as global warming, there has been a recent push to develop better environmental strategies and new industries focused on sustainability and the recycling of a variety of post-consumer goods. In other words, there is a shift towards turning waste into money in the name of the environment. Urban regions provide the perfect setting for such development. The concentration of post-consumer waste makes the mining of recyclable materials economical and the availability of labor needed to support the emerging sustainable industries sets the stage for social, economic and environmental benefits. There are currently several end-of-life (EOL) options for post-consumer products. EOL scenarios include secondary material reclamation, material reclamation, repurpose material reclamation, and waste disposal. Within each of these EOL scenarios exists a myriad of process permutations ranging from various collection schemes and modes of transportation to material processing standards and new recycled product industries. Due to the variety of EOL options for post-consumer products, there is no straight-forward answer to the question Which EOL option is preferred? Thus, under the guidelines of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as standardized by the International Standards Organization (ISO) in ISO14040, with the inclusion of social and economic requirements as well, the various EOL scenarios are compared in several impact categories including energy use, greenhouse emissions, waste generation, social implications and economic viability. The results of this comparative analysis provide insight into the potential of a more sustainable urban environment, which is part of a much larger goal of reducing our daily impact on the world around us. One industry sector that contributes to a rather large amount of post-consumer trash each year, nearly 4.7 billion tons, is the carpet industry. Carpet thus occupies a great percentage of overall dedicated waste space according to product density. Within an urban environment, the burden of such a bulky waste product is more evident; thus carpet is used here as a case study for the social, economic and environmental impacts of material mining in urban regions for the improvement of overall industrial sustainability. A comparative EOL study is conducted comparing the social, economic and environmental effects of secondary material reclamation, material reclamation, repurpose material reclamation, and waste disposal of post-consumer carpet (PCC) within the thirteen county urban region of Atlanta, GA.

Bakgrund: Sveriges befolkning är beräknad att växa och studier visar på att många skulle föredra att dö i hemmet över instutitonell vårdplats. God palliativ sjukvård kräver tillgänglighet och kompetens samt följsamhet till de fyra hörnstenarna. Patienter känner en stress över att involvera anhöriga i deras situation därför är det viktigt att ta reda på hur de anhöriga ser på situationen.  Syfte: Syftet med litteraturstudien är att beskriva anhörigas upplevelser av palliativ vård i hemmet. Metod: Litteraturstudie baserad på nio kvalitativa studier. Data insamlades från Databaserna Cinahl och Psycinfo. Sökord för att forma korrekt söksträng innehöll: palliative care, family, family perspective mm. Med avgränsningar så som english text och år:2000-2020. Analys utfördes enligt en femstegsanalys. Resultat: Två tema hittades med tre respektive sub-tema. Delaktighet och Relationer var huvudtemana. Sub-temana bestod av: Förändring i vardagen; Ansvar; Tillräcklig eller bristfällig information; Relationen med formella vårdgivare; Relationen med övrig släkt och vänner; Relationen med patienten. Konklusion: Vården hemma hos patienter bör alltid tänka på att de närstående som bor, eller tillfälligt bor, tillsammans med patienten också är en del av vården som behöver stöd, hjälp och information. / Background: Sweden's population is expected to grow, studies show that many would prefer to die at home over institutional place of care. Good palliative care requires accessibility and competence and is designed from the four cornerstones. Patients feel a stress over involving relatives in their situation, therefore it is important to find out how the relatives view the situation. Aim: The purpose of this study is describing relatives' experiences of palliative care at home. Methods: Literature study based on nine qualitative studies. Data were collected from the Cinahl and Psycinfo databases. Keywords forming the correct search string contained: palliative care, family, family perspective etc. With boundaries such as english text and year: 2000-2020. Analysis was performed according to a five-step analysis. Result: Two main themes were identified with three sub-themes respectively. Participation and Relationships were the main themes. Sub-themes consisted of: Change in everyday life; Responsibility; Sufficient or incomplete information; The relationship with formal caregivers; The relationship with other relatives and friends; The relationship with the patient. Conclusion: At home caretakers should always keep in mind that the relatives who live, or temporarily live, together with the patient are also part of the care that needs support, help and information.

[pt] Este trabalho aborda um subitem da Logística Empresarial, a Logística Reversa como uma evolução da administração da cadeia logística e de suprimentos. Neste trabalho será mostrado que a redução na quantidade de produtos ou mercadorias EOL – end of-life ou fim de vida, parados nas lojas de departamento varejistas aguardando devolução, num fluxo reverso, gera receitas positivas para este segmento de empresas se devidamente controlados. Para reduzir esta quantidade à realização de um controle sistêmico por meio de gestão tecnológicas associado à mudança cultural e o desenvolvimento de novos processos de devolução, se faz necessário. / [en] This paper addresses a subsection of Business Logistics, Reverse Logistics as an evolution of the management of supply chain and supply. This work will be shown that reducing the quantity of products or goods EOL - end of-life or end of life, standing in retail department stores awaiting return in a reverse flow, generates positive income for this segment companies are properly controlled. To reduce this amount to the realization of a systemic control through technological management associated with the cultural change and the development of new devolution processes is needed.

Bakgrund: Varje människa kommer att dö och många kommer att vårdas i den palliativa vården. Då författarna uppmärksammat en kunskapslucka av sjuksköterskors erfarenheter och upplevelser av att vårda patienter inom ålderskategorin 18–65 år, är det något de vill uppmärksamma med denna litteraturstudie. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva sjuksköterskors erfarenheter och upplevelser av att vårda personer mellan 18 – 65 år i den palliativa vården. Metod: En litteraturstudie med deskriptiv design. Föreliggande studie grundar sig på 13 kvalitativa vetenskapliga artiklar. Sökningar av artiklar gjordes i databaserna PubMed och Cinahl. Huvudresultat: I resultatet framkom det fyra huvudteman som var “Kommunikation och samarbete”, “Organisatorisk och social arbetsmiljö”, “Känslomässiga utmaningar” och “Sjuksköterskors erfarenheter och upplevelser av patienters fysiologiska och psykologiska smärta”. Utifrån dessa huvudteman sammanställdes sex underteman som var “Möten med närstående och anhöriga", “Tidsbrist”, “Att utveckla kunskap genom erfarenhet”, “Resurser i arbetsmiljö”, “Copingstrategier” och "Att möta existentiella och andliga behov”. Slutsats: Att vårda palliativa patienter upplevdes av sjuksköterskorna som en utmaning men också som något väldigt givande. Det framgick brister i deras arbetsmiljö, kommunikation och samarbete. Dessa brister var något sjuksköterskorna ansåg viktigt att arbeta vidare med för att förbättra möjligheten att ge god palliativ vård. Det visade sig att sjuksköterskorna upplevde mycket av en inre resa hos sig själva i mötet med både patient och närstående. Sjuksköterskorna blev medvetna om deras inre resurser och det framgick hur viktigt det var att uppleva stöd från sina kollegor samt chefer för att må bra. / Background: Every person will die and many will be cared for in palliative care. Since the authors have drawn attention to a knowledge gap of nurses' experiences of caring for patients in the age category 18-65 years, it is something they want to draw attention to with this literature study. Aim: To describe nurses’ experiences of caring for people between 18 to 65 years old in palliative care. Method: A descriptive literature studywith thirteen qualitative articles included. To find the articles have the databasesPubmed and CINAHL been used. Main Result: The results revealed four main themes: "Communication and cooperation", "Organisational and social work environment", "Emotional challenges" and "Nurses' experiences and perceptions of patients' physiological and psychological pain". Based on these main themes, six sub-themes were compiled, which were "Meetings with family members and relatives", "Lack of time", "Developing knowledge through experience", "Resources in the work environment", "Coping strategies" and "Meeting existential and spiritual needs". Conclusion: Caring for palliative patients was experienced by the nurses as a challenge but also as something very rewarding. There were shortcomings in their work environment, communication and co-operation. These shortcomings were something the nurses considered important to work on in order to improve the possibility of providing good palliative care. It turned out that the nurses experienced much of an inner journey in themselves in the meeting with both patients and relatives. The nurses became aware of their inner resources and it appeared how important it was to experience support from their colleagues and managers to feel good.

Large, ever more complex, technological systems surround us and provide products and services that both construct and define much of what we consider as modern society. Our societal bargain is the trade-off between the benefits of our technologies and our constant vigilance over the safe workings and the occasional failures of these often hazardous sociotechnical systems during their operating life. Failure of a system's infrastructure, whether a complex subsystem or a single component, can cause planes to crash, oil rigs to burn, or the release of radioactivity from a nuclear power plant. To prevent catastrophes, much depends not only on skilled and safe operations, but upon the effective maintenance of these systems. Using the commercial nuclear power industry, of the United States, as a case study, this dissertation examines how nuclear power plant maintenance functions to ensure the plants are reliable and can safely operate for, potentially, eighty years; the current, government regulation defined limit, of their functional life. This study explores the history of U.S. nuclear maintenance regulatory policy from its early Cold War political precursors, the effect of the 1979 Three Mile Island reactor melt-down accident, through its long development, and finally its implementation by nuclear power licensees as formal maintenance programs. By investigating the maintenance of nuclear power plants this research also intends to expand the conceptual framework of large- technological-system (LTS) theory, in general, by adding a recognizable, and practically achievable, end-of-life (EOL) phase to the heuristic structure. The dissertation argues that maintenance is a knowledge producing technology that not only keeps a sociotechnical system operating through comprehension, but can be a surveillance instrument to make system end-of-life legible; that is both visible and understandable. With a discernible and legible view of system end-of-life, operators, policy makers, and the public can make more informed decisions concerning a system's safety and its continued usefulness in society. / Doctor of Philosophy / Large, ever more complicated, technical systems surround us and provide products and services that define much of what we consider as modern society. Our societal bargain is the trade-off between the benefits of our technologies and our constant vigilance over the safe workings and the occasional failures of these often hazardous systems during their operating life. Failure of a system's infrastructure, whether a complex subsystem or a single component, can cause planes to crash, oil rigs to burn, or the release of radioactivity from a nuclear power plant. To prevent catastrophes, much depends not only on skilled and safe operations, but upon the effective maintenance of these systems. Using the commercial nuclear power industry, of the United States, as a case study, this dissertation examines how nuclear power plant maintenance functions to ensure the plants are reliable and can safely operate for, potentially, eighty years; the current, government regulation defined limit, of their functional life. This study explores the history of U.S. nuclear maintenance regulatory policy from its early Cold War political precursors, the effect of the 1979 Three Mile Island reactor melt-down accident, through its long development, and finally its implementation by nuclear power licensees as formal maintenance programs. By investigating the maintenance of nuclear power plants this research also intends to develop a method to determine when a nuclear power plant, or other large technological system, is approaching or has reached the end of its reliable and safe operational life. The dissertation presents maintenance as a technology of knowledge that not only keeps a system operating through understanding of its components, but can be a general surveillance instrument to make system end-of- life legible. With a discernible and understandable view of end-of-life, operators, policy makers, and the public can make more informed decisions concerning a system's safety and its continued usefulness to society.

Les filières de valorisation de déchets ont été mises en place au cours des dernières années pour répondre à des pressions économiques, sociétales, environnementales et réglementaires. Pour que les produits en fin de vie soient valorisés au mieux, il faut que leur conception soit adaptée aux spécificités des différents acteurs de la filière. L’étape de prétraitement consiste en la séparation des différents composants et matières des déchets. C’est une étape essentielle pour la valorisation de produits complexes comme les DEEE (déchets d’équipements électriques et électroniques), qui sont l’objet de ces travaux. Nos recherches bibliographiques montrent que les méthodes de conception existantes pour la valorisation ne prennent en compte ni la diversité et la nature des pratiques de prétraitement ni les raisons qui poussent à réaliser chacune d’elles. Afin de comprendre l’expertise liée à ces pratiques, nous avons réalisé deux modèles.En premier lieu, un modèle macroscopique nous a permis d’identifier les grands facteurs qui affectent le fonctionnement des opérateurs de prétraitement. Il a été établi en deux étapes : la première étape consiste en la caractérisation des opérateurs de traitement ; la deuxième étape s’attache à la classification des opérateurs de traitement. Afin de développer ce modèle nous nous sommes appuyés sur deux études descriptives de la filière DEEE française. Une étude descriptive qualitative nous a permis d’identifier les raisons qui poussent les opérateurs à réaliser les différentes stratégies de fin de vie et les processus de prétraitement. Une analyse statistique en composantes principales (ACP), a été réalisée afin de développer une classification des opérateurs de prétraitement.Dans un deuxième temps, dans le but d’identifier quels sont les conséquences de certains choix de conception pour la fin de vie, nous avons développé une méthode d’analyse systématique et détaillée du traitement réalisé par un type spécifique d’opérateur de DEEE. Celle-ci nous a permis d’obtenir un modèle microscopique des activités. Afin de développer et d’appliquer la méthode, nous nous sommes focalisés sur le désassemblage manuel d’écrans plats en vue de leur recyclage. Nous avons obtenu des données quantitatives qui constituent des preuves solides pour soutenir le développement de recommandations d’éco-conception. Avec ce modèle nous pouvons développer des indicateurs et des règles de conception quantitatives utilisables en conception de produit.Les modèles macro et microscopiques sont des instruments d’acquisition des connaissances sur l’expertise de centres de traitement qui peuvent être adaptés pour une utilisation dans d’autres filières de valorisation de déchets. / Compliance schemes have been stablished in recent years to alleviate the burden of economical, societal, environmental and regulatory pressures. To ensure the best recovery of end-of-life products, their design has to meet the requirements of the different waste management operators. The pre-treatment phase consists on the separation of components and materials from waste. It is an essential step when recovering complex product such as waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), which is the focus of this research work. The literature research shows that design for recovery methods do not take into account the diversity and nature of pre-treatment practices or the reasons behind them. In order to increase the understating related to these practices we have developed two models.The first one is a macroscopic model whose aim is to identify the main factors that influence the activity of pre-treatment operators. The development of the method involved two main steps: the characterization and the classification of pre-treatment operators. Two descriptive studies of the French WEEE compliance scheme have been carried out in order to develop the method. A qualitative descriptive study allowed us to identify the reasons why operators realize the different recovery strategies and pretreatment process. A descriptive statistical analysis, more specifically, a principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to develop a classification of the pretreatment operators.The second model that has been developed, a microscopic one, contains detailed information about the treatment operations carried out by one specific type of operator. The aim of this model is to identify what the best and worst design choices are in order to improve product’s pre-treatment. We have proposed a method for manual disassembly analysis to support the ecodesign of flat panel displays. The method enables to obtain quantitative data that provide solid evidence to support the development of eco-design guidelines. It also enables the development of disassembly indicators and recommendations to be used in product design.The macro and microscopic models are instruments of knowledge acquisition on pre-treatment practices that may be applicable to other compliance schemes.