Tree-ring data serves as a chronicle of the past environment and provides long-term records about climate variations, volcanic eruptions, glacial activity and many others processes. Over the past few decades, dendrochronology has become common in studying disturbances. This thesis is focused on release detection methods (i.e. abrupt growth after death of neighbouring tree(s)) and their application. The presented review showed that despite the some uncertainties in methodological approaches, release detection is a reliable tool for forest disturbance reconstruction. In this thesis, release detection was applied in various forest ecosystems for reconstruction of disturbances and their effects. The achieved results importantly contribute to the understanding of the ecological processes concerning forest management, long-term changes in natural forest ecosystems, forest diversity and the impact of global changes.

Bakgrund och problem: Med den ökande efterfrågan på vård men med begränsade möjligheter att utöka sjukvårdens resurser finns ett stort behov av förbättringskunskap inom vården. Det är allt vanligare att sjukvården hämtar inspiration till förbättringsarbete från industrin i syfte att öka effektiviteten och hålla en hög kvalitet. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att beskriva och analysera hur intensivvårdsavdelningen (IVA) på Danderyds sjukhus arbetar med löpande förbättringsarbete samt att baserat på analysen ge rekommendationer om hur detta arbete kan utvecklas. Ett bisyfte är att inom ramen för IVA:s förbättringsarbete undersöka det stöd från kvalitet- och verksamhetsutvecklingsfunktionen på Danderyds sjukhus som IVA kan nyttja och att ge förslag på hur detta stöd kan utvecklas. Metod: Denna kvalitativa fallstudie genomfördes på intensivvårdsavdelningen (IVA) vid Danderyds sjukhus. Datainsamlingsmetoderna som användes är semi-strukturerade intervjuer, dokumentstudier och observation. Analysen skedde genom mönsterjämförelse. Resultat: Det främsta förbättringsarbetet som genomfördes på IVA var genom förbättringsteam med ansvar över att utveckla vissa områden inom vården. I nuläget används inte det stöd som KVU kan erbjuda i någon större utsträckning. / Background: As a result of the increasing demand of healthcare and the limited possibilities to expand the healthcare’s resources, there is a great demand of knowledge of improvement within the healthcare. In order to increase the efficiency and maintain a high standard, it is becoming more common for the healthcare to gain inspiration for works of improvement from the industry. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to describe and analyze how the intensive care unit (IVA) at Danderyds Sjukhus deals with the continual work of improvement as well as, with a basis on the analysis, provide recommendations of how this work may be developed. A secondary purpose of the study is to, within the frames of IVA’s work of improvement, investigate the support from the quality and department’s development system at Danderyds Sjukhus which the IVA could take advantage of and provide suggestions of how the support can be improved. Method: This qualitative case study was performed at the intensive care unit (IVA) at Danderyds sjukhus. The methods of data collection that were being used include semi-structured interviews, case studies and observations. The analysis was made through a pattern comparison. Conclusion: The principal work of quality improvement that was performed at IVA was through improvement teams with the responsibility to develop certain areas within the healthcare. The support which KVU can provide is currently not being used to its full extent.

Purpose: The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to investigate how physical activity (PA) can be effectively promoted in cancer survivors. The effect of PA-promoting interventions in general, behavior change techniques (BCTs), and further variables as moderators in particular are evaluated. Methods: This study included randomized controlled trials of lifestyle interventions aiming at an increase in PA that can be carried out independently at home, published by December 2016, for adults diagnosed with cancer after completion of the main treatment. Primary outcomes were subjective and objective measures of PA prior to and immediately after the intervention. Meta-analysis and meta-regression were used to estimate effect sizes (ES) in terms of standardized mean differences, variation between ES in terms of heterogeneity indices (I2), and moderator effects in terms of regression coefficients. Results: This study included 30 studies containing 45 ES with an overall significant small positive effect size of 0.28 (95% confidence interval=0.18–0.37) on PA, and I2=54.29%. The BCTs Prompts, Reduce prompts, Graded tasks, Non-specific reward, and Social reward were significantly related to larger effects, while Information about health consequences and Information about emotional consequences, as well as Social comparison were related to smaller ES. The number of BCTs per intervention did not predict PA effects. Interventions based on the Theory of Planned Behavior were associated with smaller ES, and interventions with a home-based setting component were associated with larger ES. Neither the duration of the intervention nor the methodological quality explained differences in ES. Conclusion: Certain BCTs were associated with an increase of PA in cancer survivors. Interventions relying on BCTs congruent with (social) learning theory such as using prompts and rewards could be especially successful in this target group. However, large parts of between-study heterogeneity in ES remained unexplained. Further primary studies should directly compare specific BCTs and their combinations.

Globale Themen benötigen adäquate Methoden des Unterrichts, um die tiefgreifende Vernetzung unserer Gesellschaft und ihr Wirken auf unseren sensiblen Naturhaushalt in Räumen moderner und flexibler Bildung greifbar werden zu lassen. Die vorliegende Staatsexamensarbeit untersucht dazu die Potentiale des Mysterys, dass an Vorwissen anknüpft, Strukturen herausarbeitet und der Lehrkraft ausreichend Freiräume lässt, Schülern auf dem Weg zum selbst erarbeitetem Wissen zu begleiten. Die Unterrichtsmethode ist in der 10. Klassenstufe eines Gymnasiums zu Dresden zu dem Thema globaler Klimawandel in die Praxis umgesetzt worden. Diese Erfahrungen sollten in die Bewertung der Methode im Hinblick auf ihren Nutzen und ihre Anwendbarkeit im Unterricht einfließen.