En réponse à la pandémie de la COVID-19, les gouvernements ont mis sur pied des mesures sanitaires contraignantes afin de limiter la propagation du virus (p. ex., port du masque). Lors de cette crise, les individus sont appelés à coopérer en respectant les mesures sanitaires. De nombreuses études ont démontré que la confiance envers autrui était liée positivement aux comportements coopératifs. Néanmoins, il est possible que, dans le contexte d’une crise sanitaire, les individus soient moins portés à adhérer aux mesures sanitaires lorsqu’ils sont avec des gens en qui ils ont confiance. Ce mémoire vise à examiner si la confiance envers les autres mène les individus à moins coopérer, c’est-à-dire, à moins respecter les mesures sanitaires. Plus particulièrement, nous avons pour objectif de tester si les individus sont moins enclins à respecter les mesures avec leurs proches (p. ex., amis et membres de leur famille), et si ce phénomène peut s’expliquer par la plus grande confiance que nous portons envers nos proches comparativement aux étrangers. Pour ce faire, nous avons entrepris deux études. Dans les deux études, les participants devaient lire une vignette décrivant une situation sociale (p. ex., un concert dans un parc). Les participants devaient s’imaginer assister à la situation sociale avec soit leurs proches (p. ex., amis) ou des étrangers. Les participants devaient ensuite rapporter à quel point ils (1) respecteraient les mesures sanitaires (p. ex., maintiendraient une distanciation physique) et (2) feraient confiance aux autres personnes dans la situation. Il a été démontré que les individus faisaient davantage confiance à leurs proches qu’aux étrangers. Cette plus grande confiance était liée à une moindre adhésion aux mesures sanitaires lors d’interactions sociales avec les proches. De plus, les résultats de la deuxième étude ont montré que les individus étaient moins enclins à adhérer aux mesures sanitaires avec leurs proches, même lorsqu’ils moralisaient le respect des mesures (c’est-à-dire, percevaient comme moralement « mal » le non-respect des mesures). Ce mémoire met donc en évidence un lien négatif entre la confiance et la coopération – dans certains contextes, la confiance interpersonnelle peut nuire aux intérêts collectifs. / In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments implemented stringent preventive measures to limit the spread of the virus (e.g., mask wearing). During this crisis, individuals are called upon to cooperate by complying with preventive measures. Numerous studies have shown that trust in others is positively related to cooperative behaviors. Nevertheless, it is possible that, in the context of a sanitary crisis, individuals are less likely to adhere to preventive measures with people they trust. The purpose of this paper is therefore to examine whether interpersonal trust leads individuals to be less cooperative, i.e., less compliant with preventive measures. Specifically, we aim to test whether individuals are less likely to comply with measures with their close others (e.g., friends and family members), and whether this phenomenon can be explained by the greater trust we have in our close others compared to strangers. To do this, we undertook two studies. In both studies, participants were asked to read a vignette describing a social situation (e.g., a concert in a park). Participants had to imagine attending the social situation with either their close others (e.g., friends) or strangers. Participants were then asked to report the extent to which they would (1) adhere to preventive measures (e.g., maintain physical distancing) and (2) trust others in the situation. Results showed that individuals trusted their close others more than strangers. This greater trust was related to less adherence to preventive measures during social interactions with close others. Furthermore, the second study showed that individuals were less likely to comply with preventive measures with their close others, even when they moralized compliance (i.e., perceived non-compliance as morally "wrong"). This master’s thesis thus highlights a negative link between trust and cooperation - in some contexts, interpersonal trust can undermine collective interests.

South Asians are the third fastest growing racial/ethnic minority group in the United States with distinct cultural characteristics. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has disproportionately impacted racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S, including South Asians, across several life domains: work, home life/education, social activities, economic, emotional and physical health, infection, quarantine, and positive changes. The COVID-19 pandemic may have critically impacted South Asians with traumatic event experiences and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity across several life domains. Limited work suggests high rates of interpersonal traumas and substantial PTSD symptom severity in the South Asian community. Uniquely, the current study examined which life domains impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic associated with a greater count of traumatic event types, interpersonal vs. non-interpersonal traumas, and PTSD symptom severity. Results revealed that negative experiences in social activities, as well as distress in economic, emotional, and physical health domains, were significantly associated with the count of traumatic event types. Negative social activity experiences, and distress in the economic and emotional health domains, were also significantly associated with PTSD symptom severity. Quarantine and physical health domains significantly associated with the count of interpersonal traumas, while COVID-19-related experiences (in social, quarantine, and infection domains) significantly associated with the count of non-interpersonal traumas. Findings inform clinically relevant pandemic research in a vulnerable population and provide trauma and PTSD prevalence estimates in the South Asian community.

Sammanfattning Inledning: Covid-19-pandemin blev i början av år 2020 en global hälsokris som drabbade hela världen och ledde till att länder snabbt införde åtgärder för att minska smittan och skydda befolkningen. En av de åtgärder som vidtogs i Sverige var att möjliggöra distansarbete för yrken, där det var genomförbart. Syfte: Studiens syfte var att undersöka sektionschefers syn på och erfarenheter av hur distansarbete påverkade arbetsmiljön under covid-19-pandemin. Metod: Data samlades in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med tolv sektionschefer inom en stor svensk organisation. Dataanalysen genomfördes i form av en kvalitativ innehållsanalys på manifest nivå. Resultat: Analysen visade att distansarbetet under covid-19-pandemin hade både positiva och negativa effekter på arbetsmiljön. Vissa upplevde en bättre balans mellan arbetet och privatlivet tack vare möjligheten att utföra arbetsuppgifter hemifrån. Andra upplevde dock minskad motivation, försämrad samarbetsförmåga och mötte tekniska problem. Sektionscheferna anpassade sin ledarskapsstil för att hantera de utmaningar som uppstod i samband med distansarbetet. För att hantera distansarbetet på ett effektivt sätt var det nödvändigt med tillräckliga resurser, ökad kommunikation och mer samarbete. Sektionscheferna utnyttjade sin individuella handlingsfrihet som chefer för att ge stöd åt sina kollegor och sina medarbetare. Enligt sektionscheferna hade distansarbetet ingen betydande negativ inverkan på medarbetarnas välbefinnande. Slutsats: Distansarbetet hade såväl positiva som negativa arbetsmiljöeffekter. En positiv effekt var upplevelsen av ökad balans mellan arbete och privatliv medan en negativ effekt var minskad motivation. Distansarbete har blivit ett mer accepterat och utbrett arbetssätt efter covid-19-pandemin. / Abstract Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic emerged as a global health crisis in early 2020, im-pacting the entire world and leading countries to swiftly implement measures to reduce transmission and protect populations. One of the measures taken in Sweden was facilitating remote work for feasible occupations. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate section managers' perspectives on and experiences of how remote work affected the work environment during the COVID-19 pan-demic.Method: Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with twelve section manag-ers within a large Swedish organization. Data analysis was conducted using qualitative con-tent analysis at a manifest level. Results: The analysis revealed that remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic had both positive and negative effects on the work environment. Some experienced a better work-life balance due to the ability to perform tasks from home. However, others encountered reduced motivation, impaired collaborative abilities, and faced technical issues. Section managers adapted their leadership styles to address challenges arising from remote work. Effective management of remote work required sufficient resources, increased communication, and enhanced collaboration. Section managers utilized their individual autonomy as leaders to support their colleagues and team members. According to section managers, remote work did not significantly negatively impact employee well-being. Conclusion: Remote work had both positive and negative effects on the work environment. A positive effect was the perception of improved work-life balance, while a negative effect was decreased motivation. Remote work has become a more accepted and widespread modes of work post the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bakgrund och problem: Verksamhetsstyrningen i Region Kronoberg betraktas ske på rutin och med en tydlig struktur vilket är väsentliga principer i Malmi och Browns styrpaket. När en kris inträffar väcks det frågor om hur verksamhetsstyrningen ska gå till då den rutinmässiga processen sätts i obalans. Att studera Covid-19 och de förändringar som krisen har medfört i verksamhetsstyrningen är intressant eftersom det aldrig tidigare har inträffat en kris med dessa dramatiska egenskaper. Egenskaperna har ökat behovet av en effektiv verksamhetsstyrning. Styrpaketet som är en del av verksamhetsstyrningen har kritiserats av forskare som menar att för mycket fokus läggs på det finansiella perspektivet. Covid-19 har bevisat att om störst fokus riktas mot den finansiella biten kommer krishanteringen inte kunna vara tillräckligt effektiv. Därmed behöver paketet vara mer socialt fokuserat. Eftersom att endast styrpaketet inte är tillräcklig i krissituationer brukar ledningen under kriser även utveckla en krishanteringsmodell som också blir en del av verksamhetsstyrningen. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att skapa en djupare förståelse för verksamhetsstyrningens roll i Region Kronoberg under Covid-19 och hur den har förändrats i en organisation som drabbas av en chockartad kris samt vilka lärdomar som krisen har gett upphov till. Metod: Studien som är en enfallsstudie har genomförts med medarbetare från högre och lägre positioner i Region Kronoberg. Uppsatsen har en kvalitativ forskningsdesign med semistrukturerade intervjuer. Insamlingen av det empiriska materialet beskrivs djupare i metodkapitlet. Utöver semistrukturerade intervjuer har även dokument används i syfte att komplettera intervjuerna. Slutsats: Studien visar på att styrpaket och krishantering, som är delar av verksamhetsstyrningen, har misslyckats i rollen som krishanterare under Covid-19. Den främsta anledningen till det är krisens långvarighet och modellernas brist på förmågan att vara   situationsanpassade. Eftersom pandemin inte var lik någon tidigare kris har drastiska förändringar i verksamhetsstyrningen förekommit. Ändringarna har bland annat identifierats i prioriteringar och planeringsprocesser. Uppsatsen för även diskussioner kring vilka lärdomar som finns av Covid-19, som i sin tur kan vara användbara inför en framtida kris. De främsta lärdomarna är att krisen kräver en god organisationsstruktur med tydliga roller. Detta gör att det behövs en högre grad av inkludering av personal, vilket i sin tur kräver en god kommunikation. Just de icke-finansiella aspekterna kommunikation och personal behöver få mer fokus i en långdragen kris. En ytterligare lärdom är att beredskapen för kriser måste vara högre för att minimera de negativa konsekvenserna. / Background and problem: Management Control in Region Kronoberg is characterized by routines and clear structures, which are crucial principles of Malmi and Brown's Management Control Systems as a package. However, when a crisis occurs, all the routines and structures of an organisation get disturbed. Thus, questions about how management control should be executed in a crisis arise. Studying Covid-19 and the changes it has brought in management control is fascinating since there has never before been a crisis with such dramatic characteristics. These exceptional characteristics have in turn increased the need for an effective Management Control. Management Control Systems as a package, which is a part of management control, has been criticised by some researchers who claim that too much focus is placed on the financial part of an organisation. Covid-19 pandemic has proven that managing a crisis by putting the major focus on the financial state of an organisation is insufficient. Management Control Systems as a package thus needs to be more socially oriented. Since Management Control Systems as a package only is not enough in managing a crisis situation, the management of an organisation usually develops a Crisis Management model, which also becomes a part of Management Control. Purpose: The study aims to generate a deeper understanding of the role of Management Control in Region Kronoberg during Covid-19 and how it has changed in an organisation which has been affected by a shock-like crisis as well as the lessons learned, which the crisis has given rise to. Method: The study is of type one-case and has been carried out with employees from both higher and lower positions at Region Kronoberg. The paper has a qualitative research design with semi-structured interviews. The collection of the empirical material is described in more depth in the method chapter. In addition to semi-structured interviews, documents have also been utilized in order to supplement the interviews. Master thesis, Master of Science in Business and Economics, School of Business and Economics at Linnaeus University in Växjö, Spring 2023.    Conclusion: The study has concluded that both the Management Control Systems package, as well as Crisis Management, which are parts of Management Control, have failed in their role as crisis managers during Covid-19. The main reason for this is the duration of the crisis and the models' lack of ability to be adaptive to current situations. Due to the fact that the pandemic was unlike any previous crisis, drastic changes in Management Control have occurred. The changes have been identified in priorities and planning processes, among other things. The essay also discusses the lessons that can be learned from Covid-19, which in turn may be useful for a future crisis. The main lessons learned are that the crisis requires a good organizational structure with clear roles. For this to be possible a higher degree of inclusion of personnel is needed, which in turn is achieved by clear communication. It is precisely the non-financial aspects such as communication and personnel that need to receive more focus during a long-term crisis. Another lesson learned is that preparedness for a crisis must be higher in order to dampen the unfavorable consequences of it.

Mäns våld mot kvinnor är ett omfattande samhällsproblem, där internationell forskning visar att mäns våld mot kvinnor tenderar att öka under samhällskriser. Syftet med studien är att undersöka om öppenvårdens praktiska arbete med våldsutsatta kvinnor såväl påverkades som förändrades av covid-19-pandemin. Studien syftar också till att undersöka om socialarbetare inom öppenvården upplever att mäns våld mot kvinnor förändrades under pandemin och i så fall hur. Studien baseras på semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem socialarbetare inom öppenvården. För att analysera resultatet har tematisk analys tillämpats, med grund i de teoretiska begreppen handlingsutrymme, organisatorisk resiliens, makt och kontroll samt social isolering. Studien visar att våld gentemot kvinnor ökade och blev grövre under pandemin till följd av de restriktioner som infördes, samtidigt som färre kvinnor sökte hjälp för sin utsatthet under pandemin. Vidare förändrades öppenvårdens praktiska arbete på grund av pandemins restriktioner, gällande ett digitaliserat klientarbete och anpassade arbetssätt. Slutligen konstateras det att öppenvårdens praktiska arbete med våldsutsatta kvinnor återgått till hur det var innan pandemin, samtidigt som nya digitala möjligheter har uppkommit. Våldet har även ökat efter pandemin, vilket medfört att öppenvården idag har ett större fokus på våld samt bristfälliga resurser. / Men's violence against women is an extensive social problem, where international studies implies that men’s violence against women tend to increase during crises in the society.The aim of this study is to examine if the practical work in the open care with female victims of domestic violence was affected and changed due to the covid-19-pandemic. The study also aims to examine whether social workers in the open care experience that men's violence against women changed during the pandemic and if so how. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with five social workers in the open care. Thematic analysis has been applied to analyze the results, based on the theoretical concepts: capacity for action, organizational resilience, power, control and social isolation. The study indicates that the violence increased during the pandemic and was more severe due to the effects of the pandemic restrictions. Furthermore, the study found that although the violence increased, fewer victims sought aid during the pandemic. The pandemic also changed the practical work in the open care, regarding digitized client work and adapted working methods. Finally, the practical work in aid of abused women at the open care has mostly returned to pre-pandemic ways. However, digital opportunities have emerged. The domestic violence has also increased after the pandemic, resulting in a larger focus on violence and lack of resources in the open care today.

Background The covid-19 pandemic has been an inescapable tragedy that affects all countries and their economic systems. Due to Covid-19, e-commerce has risen and people more and more purchase goods online. Therefore, it's critical to identify and assess the effects of these behavioral changes on Swedish customers' online purchase intentions and to evaluate the impact on future intentions for online shopping. Purpose From an online consumers’ perspective, investigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on customer buying behavior towards online shopping explored through the Theory of Planned Behavior. Method In this thesis qualitative methodology is used by the authors which has been noticed by using an inductive approach that is based on positivism and it involved 10 semi-structured interviews with Swedish customers in different cities of various ages. Conclusion Based on the results, it is observed that there is a slight increase in Swedish customers' online shopping levels during the Covid-19 pandemic, but many of our participants' behaviors do not appear to indicate that the pandemic has had a significant impact on their online shopping habits. Instead, other components of the TPB model appear to be having a greater impact on our respondents' future intentions.

Denna studie har i syfte att undersöka vilka kännetecken som bidrar till ett effektivt ledarskap under kris, i detta fall Covid-19 pandemin. Studien är upprättad för att bidra med kunskap och förståelse för de relevanta delar och kännetecken som är viktiga under oförutsägbara situationer. Studien är avgränsad till en fallstudie i form av kvantitativ analys där den empiriska insamlingen skett utifrån intervjuer. Nio chefer från besöksnäringen intervjuades genom en semistrukturerad metod för att skapa möjligheten för respondenterna att ge en verklighetsförankrad berättelse. Tidigare forskning inom området ledarskap i kris visar på att ledarskap utgår från vilken stil en ledares idealbild förknippas med. Forskningen har därmed utgått från ledarskapsstilar som teori för att för att djupare beskriva olika fenomen och faktorer som är viktiga. Ledarskapsstilar som Transaktionellt och Transformativt ledarskap har varit i stort fokus under tidigare studier om området. Reflexivt ledarskap är framtaget från den insamlade empirin och kommer tillsammans med transaktionellt och transformativt ledarskap att ligga till grund för analysen av empirin. Studien resulterade i fyra kännetecken som är viktiga att ta hänsyn till samt ger möjligheten att vara reflexiv vid användning av kännetecken. Kännetecknen är kopplad till relationen sinsemellan ledare och medarbetare. Studien resulterar även i hur stort inflytande distansarbete har fått under Covid-19 pandemin. Vår empiri och analys är ense om att ledarskap under kris är helt beroende av kontext och sammanhang. / This study aims to investigate which characteristics contribute to effective leadership during a crisis, in this case the Covid-19 pandemic. The study is established to contribute knowledge and understanding of the relevant parts and characteristics that are important during unpredictable situations. The study is limited to a case study in the form of quantitative analysis where the empirical collection has been based on interviews. Nine managers from the hospitality industry were interviewed using a semi-structured method to create the opportunity for the respondents to provide a reality-based story. Previous research in the field of leadership in crisis shows that leadership is based on the style with which a leaders´s ideal image is associated. The research has thus used leadership styles as theory to describe more deeply different phenomena and factors that are important. Leadership styles such as Transactional and Transformational leadership have been the primary focus in previous studies on the field. Reflexive leadership is derived from the collected empirical data and will, together with transactional and transformational leadership, form the basis for the analysis of the empirical data. The study resulted in four characteristics that are important to take into account and provide the opportunity to be reflexive when using characteristics . The characteristics are linked to the relationship between leaders and employees. The study also results in how much influence remote work has had during the Covid-19 pandemic. Our empirical data and analysis agree that leadership during a crisis is entirely dependent on context.

Contexte : En raison de la pandémie COVID-19, de nombreux programmes pédiatriques spécialisés en troubles des conduites alimentaires (TCA) ont fourni des soins à distance. L'état actuel de la pratique dans les programmes canadiens demeure toutefois inconnu. Ce mémoire vise donc à décrire les adaptations effectuées dans les programmes pédiatriques spécialisés en TCA au Canada et l'impact de ces adaptations sur l'expérience de prestation de soins. Méthodes : Une méthodologie mixte a été utilisée pour interroger des professionnels de la santé travaillant dans des programmes pédiatriques spécialisés en TCA au Canada à l'aide d'un questionnaire transversale et d'entretiens semi-structurés, entre octobre 2021 et mars 2022. Des statistiques descriptives et une analyse de contenu qualitative one été employés. Résultats : Dix-huit professionnels ont répondu au questionnaire. Six d'entre eux ont participé aux entretiens. La majorité des participants ont fourni des services multidisciplinaires à distance durant la pandémie par vidéoconférence (17/18) ou par téléphone (17/18). Souvent, ces services ont été combinés à des soins en personne. La plupart des participants (16/18) s'attendaient à ce que les soins virtuels soient utilisés dans le futur. L'analyse qualitative du contenu a permis de faire ressortir cinq thèmes décrivant l’expérience personnelle des professionnels de la santé qui fournissaient des soins durant la pandémie : (1) répondre à une demande accrue avec des ressources insuffisantes; (2) s'adapter aux changements dans la prestation des soins dus à la pandémie de COVID-19; (3) faire face à l'incertitude et à l'appréhension; (4) les soins virtuels en tant qu'outil clinique acceptable et utile; et (5) les conditions optimales et les attentes pour l'avenir. La plupart des participants aux entretiens avaient une vision globalement positive des soins virtuels. Conclusions : Tous les participants ont été en mesure de fournir des soins multidisciplinaires virtuels et les ont jugés acceptables en tant qu'outil supplémentaire au traitement standard. Ainsi, les soins hybrides, combinant le traitement en personne et virtuel, peuvent être bien adaptés au traitement des TCA chez les jeunes et contribuer à améliorer l’accès aux soins dans le futur. / Background: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many specialized pediatric eating disorder (ED) programs adapted their services and provided care at a distance. The current state of practice in Canadian programs, however, remains unknown. Thus, this thesis aims to describe the adaptations made in specialized pediatric ED programs in Canada and the impact of these adaptations on health professionals’ experience of providing care. Methods: A mixed methods design was used to survey healthcare professionals working in specialized pediatric ED programs in Canada. Data were collected between October 2021 and March 2022 using a cross‐sectional questionnaire and via semi‐structured interviews. Quantitative data were summarized using descriptive statistics and qualitative data were interpreted using qualitative content analysis. Results: Eighteen healthcare professionals completed the questionnaire, of whom six participated in the semi‐structured interviews. The questionnaire showed that, unlike prior to the pandemic, the majority of participants provided multidisciplinary services at a distance, via videoconferencing (17/18) or telephone (17/18). In many cases, this was combined with in-person care. Most participants (16/18) expected that virtual care would continue to be used after the pandemic. Qualitative content analysis generated five themes describing the personal experiences of the health professionals who were providing care during the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) responding to increased demand with insufficient resources; (2) adapting to changes in care due to the COVID‐19 pandemic; (3) dealing with uncertainty and apprehension; (4) virtual care as an acceptable and useful clinical tool, and (5) optimal conditions and future expectations. Most interview participants had globally positive views of virtual care. Conclusions: All participants were able to provide multidisciplinary care virtually and found it to be acceptable as an additional tool to standard treatment. Thus, hybrid care, combining in-person and virtual treatment, may be well-suited to specialized pediatric ED treatment in Canada in the post-pandemic period. It may be a useful tool for increasing access to care in the future.

Cities are home to more than half of the world’s population, and this figure is set to continue to rise amidst ongoing global urbanization trends. Against this backdrop, urban development is increasingly confronted with multifaceted challenges. These range from public health emergencies, exemplified by the COVID-19 global pandemic, to the environmental hazards driven by climate change, including extreme heat waves and more frequent severe storms. Confronted with these substantial risks, the urgency of devising and implementing strategies for sustainable and resilient urban development has become paramount. Given this context, the work presented in this thesis aims to advance understanding of some critical urban sustainability challenges, and to develop models, tools, and sensing systems that can support progress towards a more sustainable and resilient urban future. The first part of the thesis focuses on the role and usage of urban parks during a global public health emergency. Urban parks became critical for maintaining the well-being of urban residents during the COVID-19 global pandemic. To examine the impact of COVID-19 on urban park usage, New York City (NYC) was selected as a case study, and SafeGraph mobility data, which was collected from a large sample of mobile phone users, was used to assess the change in park visits and travel distance to a park based on park type, the income level of the visitor’s census block group (visitor CBG) and that of the park census block group (park CBG). All analyses were adjusted for the impact of temperature on park visitation, and the research work was focused primarily on park visits made by NYC residents. Overall, for the eight most popular park types in NYC, namely – Community Park, Flagship Park, Jointly Operated Playground, Nature Area, Neighborhood Park, Playground, Recreation Field/Courts and Triangle/Plaza – visits dropped by 49.2% from 2019 to 2020. The peak reduction in visits occurred in April 2020. Visits to all park types, excluding Nature Areas, decreased from March to December 2020 as compared to 2019. Parks located in higher-income CBGs tended to have lower reductions in visits, with this pattern being primarily driven by visits to large parks, including Flagship Parks, Community Parks and Nature Areas. All types of parks saw significant decreases in distance traveled to visit the park, with the exception of the Jointly Operated Playground, Playground, and Nature Area park types. Visitors originating from lower-income CBGs traveled shorter distances to parks and had less reduction in travel distances compared to those from higher-income CBGs. Furthermore, both before and during the pandemic, people tended to travel a greater distance to parks located in high-income CBGs compared to those in low-income CBGs. Finally, multiple types of parks proved crucial destinations for NYC residents during the pandemic. These included Nature Areas to which the visits remained stable, along with Recreation Field/Courts which had relatively small decreases in visits especially for lower-income communities. Results from this particular research study can support future park planning by shedding light on the different users of certain park types before and during a global crisis, where access to green spaces can help alleviate the human well-being consequences associated with mitigating the crisis, including the type of “lockdown” or limited mobility policies implemented in 2020 during the COVID-19 global pandemic. The second part of the thesis investigates the role of urban greening and other land surface features in influencing the urban heat island effect in NYC. The urban heat island (UHI) effect describes the phenomenon whereby cities are generally warmer than surrounding rural areas. UHI effects can exacerbate extreme heat events, leading to an increase in heat-related illness and mortality. Here, the runoff coefficient was used as a numerical surrogate for urban greening, with lower runoff coefficients being associated with higher fractions of urban greening. Using a high-resolution landcover GIS dataset developed for New York City (NYC), which classified the city into more than 13 million land patches, the runoff coefficient of land use across the entire city was mapped down to a resolution of 30m×30m, along with five other variables including surface albedo, distance to water bodies, land surface elevation, building density and building height. Daytime land surface temperature (LST) in summer was used as a surrogate for the UHI effect in NYC, and the work investigated the relationship between the runoff coefficient and LST. The work also examined the relationship between LST and the variables of surface albedo, distance to a water body, land surface elevation, building density and building height. Results indicate that runoff coefficient can explain a large portion of variability related to urban LST, with lower runoff coefficients (more greenery) being associated with lower LST. Use of the five other variables improves the predictability of LST, although the influence each variable has on LST varies with urban setting and context. The research work presented in this part of the thesis also shows the disproportionately higher exposure to urban heat in lower-income communities in NYC. The findings can be used to develop strategies to mitigate UHI effects in NYC and other cities around the world. In the third part of the thesis, a wireless environmental sensing system is developed for monitoring urban green spaces, with demonstrated application for stormwater management. The monitoring of urban green spaces, including monitoring of soil conditions and soil health, is crucial for sustainable urban development and ecological resilience. Leveraging advances in wireless environmental sensing, a LoRaWAN-based system capable of measuring air temperature/humidity, soil temperature and moisture, and soil moisture dynamics is designed and deployed across seven diverse urban green spaces for a full year at Columbia University’s Morningside Campus in New York City. The data collected by this sensing network reveals notable variations in soil moisture across the seven monitored sites, which are influenced by a combination of vegetation type, soil conditions, and physical settings. Monitored lawns consistently showed higher soil moisture levels due to their slower draining soil type, underlying concrete structures, and lower canopy rainfall interception and transpiration loss, whereas one monitored tree pit site with a more rapidly draining soil type showed significantly lower soil moisture throughout the study period, despite having comparable physical settings with another monitored site. Seasonal trends indicated lower summer moisture in some monitored areas due to increased evaporation and transpiration under high temperatures, while others areas maintained higher soil moisture as a result of frequent irrigations. Models were developed to quantify soil moisture response to rainfall events. It was found that the increase in soil moisture at each monitored site was highly dependent on the rainfall depth and the initial soil moisture. Overall, the results show that a range of diverse green spaces can help retain and drain storms up to certain sizes of 30-50mm. However, proactively designed soil drainage systems are needed to handle extreme storm events above 50mm. The study highlights the effectiveness of LoRaWAN technology in urban environmental monitoring and provides valuable insights into how different urban green spaces can contribute to stormwater management. The findings presented in this portion of the thesis demonstrate the instrumental role that monitoring, data analysis and modeling can play in helping city planners and environmental managers optimize urban green spaces for ecological benefits and enhance urban resilience, including in the face of stressors such as climate change. Overall, with its data-driven, evidence-based insights, this work contributes to the understanding of the multifaceted urban sustainability challenges in a changing environment, including public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 global pandemic, and climate change induced environmental hazards such as extreme heat events and more frequent severe storms. Alongside deepening understanding, the developed quantitative models and sensing technologies presented in this thesis offer practical solutions to support urban development towards a more sustainable and resilient future.

Education field has been affected by Covid-19 pandemic, same as many other aspects of our lives during this period. Many universities and schools had to close for physical education and had to find different kinds of solutions to continue their educational activities. Therefore, the purpose of this master's thesis is to study students' experiences of using M-learning in higher education during the pandemic to see how they have been affected by this type of learning in their education during the time that Covid-19 changed the routine lives of students. To conduct this master's thesis an explanatory sequential mixed methods approach is used in order to get a deeper understanding of the students' learning experience. The results of this research show that using M-learning during the Covid-19 pandemic has positive effects on learning experiences of most of the participants, and a great number of the students have not seen any effects on their grades. Advantages of using M-learning are ease of use, convenience, understanding the concepts by searching on their own and independent learning experience, being able to participate in lectures from anywhere, even in time of sickness, and easily accessing course materials. On the other hand, the disadvantages of this type of learning are losing physical face-to-face interactions with teachers and other students, low level of activeness from the other students in discussions in the online lectures, losing motivation, and missing learning physical experience in some courses. The challenges that students have experienced with M-learning are low internet connection, problems with batteries of mobile devices, small screen of smartphones for reading files, some technical problems regarding the online lectures, and experiencing different types of distractions by using mobile devices and attending online classes. Finally, participants agree to recommend M-learning in times of crisis.