Syfte: Syftet med studien var att undersöka vilka styrkor och svagheter som medarbetare upplever i svenska Försvarsmakten utifrån konceptet lärande organisationer. Metod: Studien har genomförts med en kvantitativ ansats genom en tvärsnittsstudie som innehåller dels OSI-enkät som är uppbyggd på en likertskala och dels en innehållsanalys av en fritextfråga. Totalt har 100 medarbetare inom den svenska Försvarsmakten svarat på enkäten. Resultatet för surveyundersökningen har analyserats genom deskriptiv statistik och ANOVA medan innehållsanalysen har genomförts genom att svaren på en fritextfråga har delats in i olika kategorier. Resultat och slutsats: Studiens resultat visade på att svaren för faktorn positiv attityd avviker med ett lägre medelvärde jämfört med de andra faktorerna. Resultatet visade även på att anställningstid har påverkan för hur man upplever organisationen där personal anställd längre än 10 år tenderar svara med lägre poäng på enkäten som helhet med en viss variation mellan olika faktorer. Vi fann också att resultatet från innehållsanalysen styrker att faktorn positiv attityd är ett stort förbättringsområde och att den svenska Försvarsmakten står inför en rad utmaningar kopplat till personalfrågor så som arbetsmiljön och en hög arbetsbelastning. Respondenterna efterlyser ett helhetstänk över organisationen, systemförståelse och moderniserade kommunikationsfunktioner. Examensarbetets bidrag: Studien har gett ett teoretiskt bidrag genom att testa och validera mätverktyget OSI i en militär kontext samt ett praktiskt bidrag i form av en ökad förståelse för vilka utmaningar den svenska Försvarsmakten står inför. Den har även bidragit till en djupare förståelse för vilka åtgärder som behöver vidtas för att den svenska Försvarsmakten ska vara flexibel och modern i sin struktur. Förslag till fortsatta studier: Studien har väckt flera idéer för framtida studier inom lärande organisationer. Det skulle vara intressant att jämföra olika förbandsdelar inom den svenska Försvarsmakten mot varandra vilket skulle ställa högre krav på större underlag. Ett annat förslag är att jämföra resultaten mellan de som sitter i chefsbefattning och icke-chefsbefattning. / Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate which strengths and weaknesses employees experience in the Swedish Armed Forces based on the concept of learning organizations. Method: The study has been carried out with a quantitative approach through a cross-sectional study which contains both a survey, structured on a Likert scale, and a content analysis where information has been collected via a questionnaire survey. A total of 100 employees within the Swedish Armed Forces responded to the survey. The results of the survey have been analysed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA, while the content analysis has been carried out by dividing the answers to a free text question into different categories. Results and conclusions: In summary, the study shows that the responses for the positive attitude factor stand out with a lower mean value compared to the other factors. Our data also shows that length of employment has an impact on how one experiences the organization, where staff employed for longer than 10 years tend to answer with lower scores on the survey as a whole with a certain variation between different factors. We also find that the results from the content analysis confirm that the positive attitude factor is a major area for improvement and that the Swedish Armed Forces are facing a series of challenges linked to personnel issues such as the work environment and the high workload that is currently present. The employees are calling for a holistic approach to the organization, system understanding and modernized communication functions. Contribution of the thesis: The study has made a theoretical contribution by testing and validating the measurement tool OSI in a military context as well as a practical contribution in the form of an increased understanding of the challenges the Swedish Armed Forces are facing. It has also contributed to a deeper understanding of what measures need to be taken in order for the Swedish Armed Forces to be flexible and modern in its structure. Suggestions for future research: The study has raised several ideas for future studies in learning organizations. We believe it would be interesting to compare different units within the Swedish Armed Forces against each other, which would place higher demands on a larger basis. In the background questions, we had also found it interesting to add and compare between those in managerial positions and non-managerial positions.

This thesis investigates the effect of reaction media on the efficiency of grafting hydrophobic polymers from cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP), with the goal of producing highly-modified CNCs for incorporation into latex-based pressure sensitive adhesives (PSAs). A latex is a dispersion of polymer particles in water made by emulsion polymerization; latexes are commonly used in paints, coatings, elastomers, inks/toners, household products, cosmetics, and adhesives. However, latex-based PSAs often underperform compared to their organic solvent-polymerized counterparts due to a lack of cohesive strength in the cast latex films. The environmental benefit of using latex-based PSAs synthesized in water is significant, but the development of strategies to improve their performance are required. CNCs are hydrophilic rod-shaped nanoparticles with high mechanical strength. Adding CNCs to latex-based PSAs has been shown to improve both adhesive (i.e., tack and peel strength) and cohesive (i.e., shear strength) properties and offers a degree of sustainability because CNCs are derived from natural cellulose sources such as wood pulp. However, their hydrophilicity, particularly relative to the hydrophobic polymers used in PSAs, has constrained CNCs to the continuous (i.e., water) phase of the latex. To improve CNC compatibility with the dispersed (i.e., polymer) phase and improve their distribution in cast latex films, hydrophobic polymers can be grafted from CNCs. However, CNCs with a high polymer graft density are required to ensure their compatibility with monomers/polymers during latex synthesis. To begin, grafting poly(butyl acrylate) (PBA) from CNCs using SI-ATRP in polar dimethylformamide (DMF) versus non-polar toluene was directly compared. The enhanced colloidal stability of initiator-modified CNCs in DMF led to improved accessibility to surface initiator groups during polymer grafting. As such, PBA-grafted CNCs produced in DMF had up to 30 times more grafted polymer chains than PBA-grafted CNCs produced in toluene. The PBA-grafted CNCs produced in DMF showed high contact angles when cast in a film and formed stable suspensions in toluene. This work highlights that optimizing CNC colloidal stability in a given solvent prior to polymer grafting is a more crucial consideration than solvent–polymer compatibility in the context of obtaining high graft densities and thus hydrophobic CNCs via SI-ATRP. The improved polymer grafting method in DMF was then used to produce PBA and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)-grafted CNCs at two polymer chain lengths. Polymer grafted CNCs were incorporated in situ during a seeded semi-batch emulsion polymerization to produce PBA latex nanocomposite PSAs. Viscosity measurements revealed significant differences between latexes prepared with CNCs versus polymer-grafted CNCs, with the lower viscosities of the latter suggesting their incorporation inside the polymer particles. When CNCs with short polymer grafts were introduced into PSAs at 1 wt. % loading, they exhibited comparable tack and improved peel strength compared to unmodified CNCs (and all properties improved relative to the base latex without any CNCs). This is attributed to their improved distribution throughout the PSA, the enhanced wettability of the substrate with the CNC containing latex, and the increased polymer chain mobility achieved based on the low molecular weight of the grafts. CNCs with long polymer grafts aggregated in the latex and did not improve PSA properties. PMMA-grafted CNCs slightly outperformed PBA-grafted CNCs likely due to the higher glass transition temperature of PMMA. These results provide insight into future optimization of more sustainable latex-based PSA formulations as well as new commercial CNC-latex products, where the presence of low molecular weight grafts on CNC surfaces could improve polymer mobility and tack and peel strength. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc) / When the adhesives used in tapes, labels or sticky notes are produced using water-based reactions, they normally underperform compared to conventional adhesives produced using toxic solvents. To improve such water-based adhesives, adding nanocellulose (tiny particles derived from wood pulp) during synthesis has been shown to be an asset. Nanocellulose can be chemically modified to improve its compatibility with adhesive ingredients, and thus change the role of nanocellulose during adhesive manufacturing. In this thesis, modified nanocelluloses were added to water-based adhesives to evaluate their effect on performance (i.e., strength and stickiness). It was found that the reaction conditions during nanocellulose modification were crucial for obtaining highly modified particles that are compatible with adhesive ingredients. This work aims to provide insight for future production of less environmentally taxing adhesives made in water and expand the use of nanocellulose in new commercial products.

År 2007 började ett fåtal gymnasieskolor i Skåne att organisera samverkansinlärning (SI), och nu pågår ett stort projekt som syftar till att sprida konceptet till gymnasieskolor i alla kommuner i Skåne. Meningen med projektet är att öka elevernas kompetens i matematik. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vad eleverna har att säga om frivilliga SI-möten, och vilka erfarenheter de har från SI. Frågeställningarna är:Varför deltar/deltar inte elever i SI-mötena?Hur vill eleverna själva beskriva samverkansinlärning? Hur uppfattar elever nyttan av SI-möten som läranderesurs?För att undersöka detta genomfördes en enkätstudie, i en elevgrupp om 26 personer på en gymnasieskola i Skåne som erbjuds frivilliga SI-möten. Undersökningen genomfördes på en ordinarie matematiklektion. Resultaten visar att eleverna deltar på SI-möten för att de uppfattar dem som bra lärandetillfällen. De tycker det är roligt samt att det finns en trevlig, avslappnad stämning med bland annat fika. Anledningar till att de inte deltar på SI-mötena är på grund av dålig schemaläggning, låg motivation och prioritet, samt för lite eller ingen information om SI och SI-verksamheten. För att beskriva SI använder eleverna till stor del positiva ord. Bland annat använde de ''samarbete'', ''givande'', ''tänka'', ''matte'', ''fika'' och ''roligt'', men även ''svårt'' och ''folktomt'' när de beskrev SI. Eleverna har en positiv syn på SI även om de är neutrala till att införa SI-arbetsmetoder, helt eller delvis, i de ordinarie matematiklektionerna. Ett påstående som sammanfattar elevernas ståndpunkt väldigt väl är: SI-mötena är bra, men jag är så mycket i skolan så att jag inte orkar gå på dem.Nyckelord: Alternativ läranderesurs, enkät, gymnasiet, matematik, samverkansinlärning, SI, Supplemental Instruction

Many zeolites are deployed in various industrial processes owing to their robust catalytic performance and hydrothermal stability. Reactions in zeolites are catalyzed via framework aluminum. The Si/Al ratio is a metric that describes the relative aluminum content in zeolites. However, several researchers noted that the proximity of aluminum in the framework could impact the catalyst output [1–3]. In this work, the influence of paired acid sites is examined in ZSM-22. The 1-dimensional nature of ZSM-22 allows for direct assessment of aluminum proximity without the influence of channel intersection. Theoretical investigations via static density functional theory (DFT) optimization calculations on isolated and paired BAS in ZSM-22 revealed a potential increase in deprotonation potential energy (DPE), indicating a weaker acid with closer aluminum sites. One specific paired model, however, suggested stronger acid behavior, likely due to unfavorable proton-proton interactions influenced by proximity and orientation. Additionally, ammonia adsorption calculations inferred improved adsorption by isolated models, possibly due to unfavorable ammonium-proton interactions in the paired models. Reaction state calculations of ethylene and propylene oligomerization suggested enhanced stabilization of reactant molecules in paired sites. The synthesis of ZSM-22 showed sensitivity to precursor ratios and conditions, but pure samples were successfully achieved through iterative optimization. Catalytic testing of ethylene oligomerization with these samples, classified by their Si/Al ratios and unique fractions of paired acid sites, showed a correlation between higher fractions of paired BAS and increased catalytic activity and selectivity. Samples with higher fractions of paired BAS displayed a higher activity and selectivity for heavier hydrocarbons, explained by the enhanced adsorption capacity of paired BAS for larger reactant molecules, prompting further oligomerization and enhanced catalytic activity. Our findings demonstrate the impact of BAS proximity in dictating the activity and selectivity in ZSM-22 and provide valuable insights for designing more efficient industrial zeolite-based catalysts.

ポリSi薄膜トランジスタ（TFT）の高性能化について、理論的、技術的な観点から種々の問題点を導き、特にトラップ密度や粒径の大小がTFTの電気的特性に与える影響を詳細に解析し、イオン注入やその後のアニール技術などによって充分に実証を行ったものである。特にエキシマレーザアニール（ELA）を用いた、全工程が下地に影響を与えない低温プロセスは、LSIの微細化とガラス上素子特性の向上に資するものとして有益な知見と考えられる。 / 博士(工学) / Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering / 同志社大学 / Doshisha University

No description available.

Polymer-derived ceramics (PDCs) are exceptional ultra-high temperature and stable multifunctional class of materials that can be synthesized from a polymer precursor through thermal decomposition. The presented research focuses on 1-D nanofibers, 2-D films and 3-D bulk, carbon-rich silicon carbon nitride (SiCN) ceramics. 1-D nanofibers were prepared via electrospinning for light weight, flame retardant and conductive applications. The commercially available CerasetTM VL20, a liquid cyclosilazane pre-ceramic precursor, was mixed with polyacrylonitrile (PAN) in order to make the cyclosilazane electrospinnable. Carbon-rich PDC nanofibers were fabricated by electrospinning various ratios of PAN/cyclosilazane solutions followed by pyrolysis. Surface morphology of the electro spun nanofibers characterized by SEM show PDC nano?bers with diameters ranging from 100-300 nm. Also, thermal stability towards oxidation showed a 10% mass loss at 623°C. 2-D carbon/SiCN films were produced by drop-casting a mixture of PAN/cyclosilazane onto a glass slide followed by pyrolysis of the film. Samples ranging from 10:1 to 1:10 PAN:cyclosilazane were made by dissolving the solutes into DMF to produce solutions ranging from 1% to 12% by weight. Green, heat-stabilized, and pyrolyzed 8% films were examined with FTIR to monitor the change in chemical structure at each step of the ceramization. SEM shows that high PAN samples produced films with ceramic embedded spheroid components in a carbon matrix, while high cyclosilazane samples produced carbon embedded spheroid. Finally, this research focuses on the challenge of making fully dense, 3-D bulk PDCs materials. Here we present a composite of SiCN with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) aerogels as a route for fully dense bulk PDCs. Incorporation of the rGO aerogel matrix into the SiCN has its pros and cons. While it lowers the strength of the composite, it allows for fabrication of large bulk samples and an increase in the electrical conductivity of the PDC. The morphology, mechanical, electrical properties and thermal conductivity of graphene-SiCN composite with varying rGO aerogel loading (0.3-2.4%) is presented. The high temperature stability, high electrical conductivity and low thermal conductivity of these composites make them excellent candidates for thermoelectric applications. Generally, carbon-rich SiCN composites with improved thermal and electrical properties are of great importance to the aerospace and electronics industries due to their expected harsh operating environments.

In recent times, plasmonics has been a hallmark in improving optoelectronic device performance as well as in improving sensing. Confining light in dimensions below the diffraction limit and subsequently converting the incident photons into localized charge-density oscillations called localized surface plasmons, optical enhancements of the local fields by many orders of magnitude is possible. This dissertation explores the use of such surface plasmon resonances in core multishell nanostructures and demonstrates the values of such structures in energy harvesting and sensing. Additionally, it also shows the use of emerging plasmonic materials like metal nitrides (TiN, ZrN) instead of traditional plasmonic materials (Au, Ag) in the nanostructure designs. Utilizing the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in metallic components of core multishell nanowires, calculations of the local density of states as a measure of emission were made using a Green’s function method, while the absorption and scattering were simulated using the Mie formalism. Combining both the absorption and the emission, the quantum efficiency of white LEDs was calculated and the optimal material/dimensions for maximal performance was determined for different phosphor components in a white LED. Additionally, the use of ZrN as a plasmonic cloak for noise cancellation in Si photodetectors is shown and the performance is compared with an Au cloak. Using the developed methodology, it is proved that ZrN cloaks can outperform Au cloaks in a certain region of the visible spectrum, showing the benefit of using such plasmonic systems in place of traditional materials. The fabrication of the different components of the core multishell nanowires is also presented, and in particular, fabrication of ultra-thin (sub-10 nm) plasmonic TiN is achieved. Utilizing plasmon hybridization, a tunable double resonance feature is observed in Au/SiO2/Au core shell shell (CSS) nanoparticles, which have been then demonstrated to improve the photocatalytic performance in hematite. In particular, the double resonance peak allows absorption of light beyond the band gap of hematite and subsequent conversion into photocurrent through hot electron injection. Comparison has been made with Au nanoparticles, and it has been shown that the CSS nanoparticles outperform Au nanoparticles significantly. These CSS nanoparticles have also been used for bioimaging, in particular for Raman spectroscopy, with strong results at high densities of the nanoparticles. Utilizing stronger scattering SiO2/Au Nanoshells, it has been possible to work towards single particle imaging of molecules and demonstration of this phenomenon has been shown here through the use of coherent Raman scattering spectroscopy.

Renewable and clean energy is urgently needed to cope with the climate crisis. Photovoltaics (PV) has been the fastest growing technology in the clean energy market due to its low cost, and the abundance of solar energy. The capacity of silicon-based PV is rapidly expanding with evolving technologies. Passivating the solar cell’s electrical contacts is a widely accepted strategy for the PV industry to improve device power conversion efficiency (PCE). Polycrystalline silicon (Poly-Si) passivating contacts are one of the promising concepts in the emerging class of passivating contacts. In this dissertation, the passivation mechanism of Poly-Si passivating contacts is investigated. Moreover, the influence of dopant diffusion on the passivation quality is revealed. To address the side-effects of dopant diffusion, a thin buffer layer is inserted between the Poly-Si(p) layer and the $SiO_x$ layer. With such a buffer layer, the passivation of the Poly-Si passivating contact is improved, which in turn, enhances the device PCE. In addition to passivating contacts, this dissertation also explores carrier-selective contact of crystalline silicon (c-Si) and low work function metal – Li. Li is a very reactive metal which makes the fabrication process a challenge. To overcome such a challenge, the c-Si/ Li contact is fabricated by thermally decomposing stable $Li_3N$ powder instead of metal evaporation. The c-Si/Li contact shows an excellent electron-selective transport performance with a 0.39 eV energy barrier. Full-area Si/Li rear contact devices are fabricated, and >19% PCE and >80% fill factor are achieved. To accelerate the device optimization, a physical model embedded machine-learning approach is applied to transparent conductive oxide (TCO) materials optimization. In this work, empirical correlations between sputtering parameters and the deposited TCOs’ electrical properties are established. Then a Bayesian Parameter Estimation (BPE) algorithm is applied to learn the empirical model. With this BPE network, the TCOs’ electrical properties are successfully predicted with limited material characterizations. Thanks to the combination of BPE and a physical model network, the material optimization process is significantly accelerated. In summary, this dissertation explores different aspects to develop novel passivating and carrier-selective contacts for c-Si solar cells, and introduces an approach to accelerate the development processes.

Silicon has been the fundamental material for most semiconductor devices. As Si devices continue to scale down, there is a growing need to gain a better understanding of the characteristics of Si-based nanostructures and to develop novel fabrication methods for devices with extremely small dimensions. Ion beam implantation as a ubiquitous industrial method is a promising candidate for introducing dopants into semiconductor devices. Although the interactions between ion beams and Si nanostructures have been studied for several decades, many questions still remain unanswered, especially when the size of the target structure and the interaction volume of the incident ion beam have similar extents. Recent studies have demonstrated different potential use cases of ion beam interactions with Si nanostructures, such as Si nanocrystals (SiNCs). One of them is to use SiNCs embedded in a SiO2 layer as the Coulomb blockade for a single electron transistor (SET) device. In this work, we demonstrate the ion beam synthesis of SiNCs, as well as other ion beam interactions with Si-based nanostructures. To build the basic structure of a room-temperature SET, both conventional broad-beam implantation and a focused Ne+ beam from a helium ion microscope (HIM) were used for ion beam mixing. Subsequent annealing using rapid thermal processing (RTP) triggered phase separation and Ostwald ripening, where small nucleated Si clusters merge to form larger ones with the lowest surface free energy. Various ion implantation parameters were tested, along with different conditions during the RTP treatment. The SiNC structures were examined with energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM) to determine the optimum fabrication conditions in terms of ion beam fluence and thermal budget for the RTP treatment. Due to their small size and the resulting quantum confinement, SiNCs also exhibited optical activity, which was confirmed by photoluminescence spectroscopy on both broad-beam irradiated blank wafers and vertical hybrid nanopillar structures with embedded SiNCs. By scanning a laser probe over the sample and integrating the signal close to the emission peak, 1 μm-wide micropads with embedded SiNCs could be spatially resolved and imaged, demonstrating a new method of patterning and visualizing the SiNC emission pattern. To integrate SiNCs into vertical nanopillars for the fabrication of the SET, a fundamental study was conducted on the interaction between ions and vertical Si nanopillars. It was discovered that irradiating vertical Si nanopillars with ion fluence up to 2×1016 cm−2 immediately caused amorphization and plastic deformation due to the ion hammering effect and the viscous flow of Si during the irradiation. However, amorphization could be avoided by heating the substrate to above 350 °C, which promotes dynamic annealing. Several factors, including substrate temperature, ion flux, and nanostructure geometry, determine whether ion irradiation causes amorphization. Furthermore, at sufficiently high substrate temperatures, increasing ion fluence gradually reduced the diameter of the nanopillars due to forward sputtering from ions on the sidewalls. With a fluence up to 8×1016 cm−2 from broad-beam Si+, the diameter of Si nanopillars could be reduced by 50% to approximately 11 nm. Similar experiments were conducted on vertical nano-fin structures, which were thinned down to about 16 nm with Ne+ irradiation from the HIM. However, electrical measurements with scanning spreading resistance microscopy (SSRM) showed that the spreading resistance of the fins increased, even at a lower fluence of 2×1016 cm−2, which was too high for subsequent device integration. Nevertheless, these findings contributed to achieving the CMOS-compatible manufacturability of room-temperature SET devices and furthered our understanding of the fundamentals of ion interactions with Si nanostructures.