This thesis named Analysis of the impact of fixed obstacles near roads on the course of traffic accidents deals with the diversification of fixed obstacles near the roads, brief theory of road accidents, possible consequences and shows statistics of road accidents with a fixed obstacle. The aim is to perform analysis of real traffic accidents with a fixed obstacle with serious consequences for health, life and property and with the help of a computer simulation software to analyze the same accident again, but for the condition if the fixed obstacle was removed. Finally, the consequences of accidents are compared, the analysis are evaluated and the proposed measures to eliminate the consequences are assessed.

As climate change is progressing, it is important to find mitigation strategies to reach the Paris Agreement’s long-term temperature goal. The objective is to keep the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. One approach to climate change mitigation is to decrease people’s carbon footprint. This complex problem can be approached with top-down programs and bottom-up methods. One such a bottom-up approach is the app Deedster. This app is designed to educate its users about sustainable behavior choices and encourage the users to try out these new behaviors in so-called deeds to reduce their personal carbon footprint. In this research, an exploratory qualitative approach was taken to gather insights into the suitability of the Deedster app as a tool to change individual behavior towards a more sustainable lifestyle as well as investigating obstacles to acting sustainably. App users were interviewed in the beginning and at the end of a four-week Deedster challenge. The findings suggest that the Deedster app is a suitable tool to encourage behavior change and to educate its users about sustainability topics. Based on the results, the app may be stronger in changing low-cost (less difficult) behavior changes than effortful behavior changes. However, in some cases, also effortful behavior changes were reported.  In addition, the users reported more knowledge about sustainable lifestyle alternatives and opened conversations about the app and their behavior changes with others. This study makes valuable contributions to the field of sustainable behavior changes and proposes the Deedster app as a useful method to engage more people in sustainable lifestyles.

Positiva hälsoeffekter kopplade till kultur har lett till allt fler initiativ på temat kultur och hälsa inom inte minst vård- och omsorgssektorn. Syftet med föreliggande kvalitativa studie har varit att rikta fokus mot själva arbetet i sig med att implementera kulturaktiviteter inom en vård- och omsorgsverksamhet. Elva medarbetare med varierande roller inom en kommunal äldrevårdsorganisation har intervjuats kring sina upplevelser och erfarenheter av ett internt förändringsprojekt med målet att introducera vardagsnära och individanpassade kulturaktiviteter riktade mot de boende. Resultatet har analyserats med hjälp av tematisk analys. Studiens resultat identifierar både ett genuint engagemang men också tydliga hinder och utmaningar i projektet, både på individ- och organisationsnivå. Individens roll framstår som central i relation till en realisering av projektmålet. Både utifrån driv och motivation grundat i den egna övertygelsen kring projektets visioner och mål. Men också i relation till bristande engagemang och motstånd kopplat till bland annat osäkerhet kring projektets aktiviteter och rollkonflikter. Resultatet pekar också på en bristande samsyn kring formulerade målsättningar och realistiska förutsättningar att förverkliga projektresultatet ute i verksamheten, där tid- och resursbrist samt bristande struktur och uppföljning pekas ut som hindrande faktorer. En slutsats blir att organisationen har allt att vinna på att åstadkomma trygga team och en stödjande kontext som stöttar medarbetarna att agera självständigt och uppmuntrar till att våga utmana och ta risker i arbetet med kultur. Liksom att etablera tydliga strukturer för uppföljning och återkoppling kring genomförda insatser på alla nivåer för att skapa varaktigt lärande och engagemang. / Positive health effects linked to culture have led to more and more initiatives around culture and health not least in the health care sector. The purpose of the present qualitative study is to focus on the actual work itself of implementing cultural activities within a health care setting. Eleven employees with different roles within a municipal elderly care organization have been interviewed about their experiences from an internal change project with the goal of introducing individualized cultural activities for the residents on an everyday basis. The results have been analyzed using thematic analysis. The results of the study identify both a genuine engagement and clear obstacles and challenges in relation to the project, both at the individual and organizational level. The role of the individual appears central in relation to a realization of the project goal. Both from drive and motivation based on one's own convictions about visions and goals surrounding the project. But also, in relation to lack of commitment, and resistance linked to for example perceived uncertainty in relation to specific project activities and role conflicts. The result also points to a lack of consensus on formulated objectives and realistic conditions for realizing the project result in the actual setting, where lack of time and resources as well as lack of structure and follow-up are pointed out as hindering factors. One conclusion is that the organization has everything to gain from creating safe teams and a supportive context that supports autonomy and self-regulation in order to encourage challenge and risk taking in working with culture. And also establishing clear structures for follow-up and feedback around performed initiatives at all levels to create learning and commitment.

After the devastating forest fire in the Swedish region of Västmanland in 2014, numerous investigations and evaluations suggested measures to improve the Swedish crisis management and preparedness. Yet, after a new wave of severe forest fires in 2018, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) concluded that the lessons from 2014 had not been sufficiently implemented, since several issues reoccurred. The research area of obstacles to crisis-induced learning among public organizations is rather young, and any widely acknowledged theories are still lacking. This case study focuses on the crisis-induced learning process within MSB after the 2014 forest fire. Three hypotheses are derived from previous literature and modified to the case, and tested through a process-tracing plausibility probe according to an abductive approach. The analyzed material consists of documentation from the learning process in combination with semi-structured informant interviews with current and previous members of staff. The analysis confirms that the crisis documentation was insufficient which in most cases affected the learning process negatively. It further identifies an aspect of accessibility to this obstacle which should be considered in future research. As expected, the crisis learning was mainly based on the single-loop approach, although a few indications of a deeper organizational adjustment occurred. No significant indications of conflicting opinions within MSB were found in the documents, although some informants described how incompatible opinions had emerged. In most cases they impeded the process, as expected. However, in one case the conflicting interests were perceived to improve the learning outcome. This finding suggests that conflicting opinions, in comparison to previous claims, do not necessarily prevent learning. The relation between conflicting opinions and crisis learning must thereby be further explored. Additional indications of possible obstacles were that the process depended on individuals, the institutional memory was insufficient, the learning process differed between departments, and that lacking resources prevented the implementation of measures. The study ends by suggesting learning improvements and discussing the new insights for the hypotheses which can be used in future research.

Röjningsbehovet i Sverige är stort och de flesta skogliga myndigheter och organisationer är överens om att röjningsaktiviteten bör öka. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka drivkrafter och hinder hos olika kategorier av privata skogsägare och om detta kan användas av skogsföretag för att öka röjningsaktiviteten genom att anpassa kommunikationen. Studien har genomförts i samarbete med Södra och är gjord i tre steg; webbenkät, kategorisering och intervjuer. Resultaten visar att drivkrafterna ekonomi, fritid och naturupplevelsen samt tillfredställelse/stolthet dominerar i båda kategorierna. Hinderna som dominerar är tid och prioriteringar samt yttre påverkningar. Slutsaten är att drivkrafter och hinder inte skiljer sig nämnvärt mellan olika kategorier av skogsägare och att det inte finns någon anledning att anpassa kommunikationen.

An experimental study on post dryout heat transfer regime in annuli with flow obstacles was conducted in the High-pressure Water Test (HWAT) loop at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. An annulus consisting of two concentric heated pipes (12.7x24.3) mm, with total heated length equal to 3650 mm was employed as a test section. Three kinds of flow obstacles were used: pin-spacers, cylindrical obstacles and grid obstacles. The experiments performed in the test section with pin-spacers only were considered as the reference case. In two consecutive sets of runs, additional obstacles were placed inside the flow channel while keeping the pin spacers in the same positions. In that way the net effect of obstacles on heat transfer was measured. The experimental investigations were performed in a wide range of the operational conditions: mass flux (500-1750) kg/(m2s), inlet subcooling (10-40) K and system pressure (5-7) MPa. The wall superheat was measured at 88 different axial positions (40 on the inner tube and 48 on the outer tube) for the conditions mentioned above. A local heat transfer coefficient was calculated based on the measured annulus wall temperatures and the saturated fluid (water) properties. The results show an enhancement of the heat transfer coefficient downstream of flow obstacles. The most significant influence has been observed in case of pin spacers. This result is consistent with blockage area of various obstacles, which was the highest in case of pin spacers. The data obtained in more than 200 runs were compared with two pre-dryout and post-dryout correlations. The correlations show a slight over-prediction of the heat transfer coefficient in both pre-dryout and post-dryout regions. The thesis contains a detailed description of experimental procedures as well as an analysis of the results of measurements. / QC 20111024 / SKC: Post Dryout Regime

This thesis explores career trajectories and experiences of Czech Roma professionals in order to understand the relation between their ethnic affiliation and career development in terms of obstacles, strategies and relationships that enabled them to succeed in becoming professionals. The study produces knowledge that fills the empirical research gap about Roma professionals in the Czech Republic. Thematic analysis was used to analyze seven semi-structured interviews. The analysis concludes that the Roma professionals face obstacles that include the lack of cultural capital in families, gender-related obstacles, ‘Roma bubble’ and finally the racial prejudices and workplace incivility. However, the projects supporting Roma and a range of supportive relationships have the exceptionally important role in overcoming those obstacles. The study also contributes to the theoretical discussion about the link between social mobility of minorities and their identification. It shows that the processes of selective and consonant assimilation take place at the same time.

Background: Critical Care Nurses (CCNs) frequently provide end of life (EOL) care in intensive care units (ICUs). Barriers to EOL care in ICUs exist and have been previously published, but qualitative reports from CCNs themselves remain scarce. Qualitative data exploring barriers faced during ICU EOL care may increase awareness of obstacles and help remove them. Objective: Excluding family experiences, what are the major themes recounted by CCNs when asked to share common obstacles experienced in providing ICU EOL care? Methods: Members of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses were randomly surveyed and responses to a single qualitative question were used. Results: There were 104 participants who provided 146 responses reflecting EOL obstacles which were divided into 11 themes; 6 physician- related obstacles and 5 nursing-and-other related obstacles. Top three EOL ICU barrier themes were inadequate physician communication, physicians giving false hope and nursing-related obstacles. Conclusion: Poor physician communication is the main obstacle noted by CCNs during ICU EOL care followed by physicians giving false hope. Heavy patient workloads were also a major barrier in CCNs providing EOL care.

Problem of unutilized energy saving potential in the multifamily housing stock of European Union has been emphasized by the European Commission (2008). Comparative study at hand takes tenant – owner associations of Stockholm and Vilnius as study cases. The goal is to find out what are the motivating and obstacle factors that create reasons for tenant – owner associations to invest or to delay investment into energy saving measures. Further aim is to generate suggestions for energy saving policy improvements based on the motivating and obstacle factors for the given capitals. Targets have been implemented by series of interviews held with board leaders of tenant – owner associations. Comparative study has revealed that main obstacles for energy saving renovation is of informational nature – lack of precise, reliable and verified data distracts from investments, since it is difficult to estimate the expected payback and other financial figures. Findings in the perspective of motivating factors are of monetary nature – tenant–owner associations are mostly motivated by monetary savings.

En anledning till att DevOps har blivit populärt hos många organisationer med fokus på mjukvaruutveckling beror på att det för utveckling och drift närmare varandra vilket ökar effektiviteten. Vidare framgår det att det finns en kunskapslucka i implementationen av DevOps. Syftet med detta arbete var därför att undersöka hur svenska organisationer hanterar implementationen av DevOps. Studien utredde även vilka hinder som uppkommit och hur dessa hinder hanterats av organisationerna. I denna undersökning genomfördes semistrukturerade intervjuer för att samla in nödvändig kvalitativa data för att svara på studiens frågeställningar. Dessa intervjuer genomfördes hos fem svenska organisationer för att samla ett brett dataunderlag. För att öka förståelsen hos den insamlade datan utfördes en tematisk analys som sedan jämfördes med tidigare litteratur inom området. Studien fann att endast två av de tre implementationsmetoder som identifierats i en tidigare studie fanns implementerade i svenska organisationer. Studien presenterar vilka implementationsmetoder som kan passa olika organisationer, vilka hinder som kan förekomma med vald implementationsmetod, samt en uppdaterad översikt hur organisationer har gått tillväga i Sverige med implementationen av DevOps. / A reason why DevOps has become popular in many organizations with a focus on software development is because it brings development and IT-operations closer to each other, which increases efficiency. Furthermore, it appears that there is a knowledge gap in the implementation of DevOps. The purpose of this work was therefore to investigate how Swedish organizations handle the implementation of DevOps. The study also investigated which obstacles arose and how these obstacles were handled by the organizations. In this survey, semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect the necessary qualitative data to answer the question posed. These interviews were conducted at five Swedish organizations to gather a broad base. To create an understanding of the data, a thematic analysis was performed which was then compared with previous literature in the field. The study found that only two of the three implementation methods identified in a previous study were implemented in Swedish organizations. The study presents which implementation methods can suit different organizations, what obstacles may occur with the chosen implementation method, and an updated view on how organizations have proceeded in Sweden with the implementation of DevOps.