The excellent electrical and mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) provide interesting opportunities to realize new types of strain gauges. However, there are still challenges for the further development of CNT film strain gauges, for instance the lack of design rules, the homogeneity, stability and reproducibility of CNT films. This thesis aims to address these issues from two sides: simulation and experiment. Monte Carlo simulations show that both the sheet resistance and gauge factor of CNT films are determined essentially by the two-dimensional exclude area of CNTs. It was shown, for the first time, that the variation of the CNT film gauge factor follows the percolation scaling law. The sheet resistance and gauge factor both have a power-law divergence when approaching the percolation threshold. The standard deviation of film resistances, however, also increases correspondingly. These findings of simulations provide a general guide to the tailoring of material property of CNT films in strain sensing applications: a compromise should be made between the reproducibility, conductivity and sensitivity of CNT films depending on application purposes. From the experimental side, the processing parameters for the preparation of CNT dispersions were first investigated and optimized. The reproducibility of the film resistance is significantly improved by selecting a suitable sonication time. In strain measurements it was found that for most CNT films the film resistance responses nonlinearly to the applied strain. The dependence of the film resistance on the strain can be roughly divided into two regions with nearly linear behavior respectively. The gauge factor varies with the quality of CNTs and the depositing method. A gauge factor up to 8 was achieved in the high strain region. The nonlinear response behavior was found in simulations when the CNT waviness is properly taken into account. To achieve a high gauge factor and simultaneously retain the high conductivity and reproducibility, good-quality MWCNTs were integrated in polyethylene oxide (PEO). A high gauge factor up to 10 was achieved for the composite film with CNT weight fraction of 2.5%. The resistance and gauge factor can be tuned by changing the MWCNT weight fraction with respect to PEO. A careful comparison of simulation and experiment results show that a good qualitative agreement can be achieved between them in many respects.

Sammanfattning Titel: “De skandinaviska fondbolagens kriterier på hållbarhetsfonder” Kurs: 2FE75E, Företagsekonomi III - Ekonomistyrning, Examensarbete (Kandidat) Författare: Ernest Dzogovic, Victor Ekerot & Hugo Fröding Handledare: Christer Foghagen Examinator: Petter Boye Lärosäte: Linnéuniversitet, Kalmar Nyckelord: Hållbarhet, Fond, Fondbolag, Taxonomi- och Disclosureförordningen, FN-mål, Kriterier; inkludera, exkludera & påverka.   Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka varför de skandinaviska fondbolagen använder sig av olika kriterier för de aktier som ska inkluderas i deras hållbarhetsfonder.    Metod: Studiens data har insamlats genom att arbeta utefter en kvalitativ metod. Primärdata har inhämtats från de åtta respondenter som samtliga är aktiva inom fondbranschen. Sekundärdatan i studien härstammar från litteratur, vetenskapliga artiklar och webbplatser.   Teori: Teorin som ligger till grund för uppsatsen består av intressentmodellen, legitimitetsteorin, FN:s 17 globala utvecklingsmål för hållbar utveckling & ESG.    Empiri: Den insamlade empirin är baserad på intervjuer med personer verksamma inom fondbranschen och har kompletterats med hållbarhetsredovisningar samt ytterligare dokument från respektive fondbolag och lagar och förordningar.   Slutsats: Sammanfattningsvis anser vi att fondbolagen använder sig av olika kriterier till sina hållbarhetsfonder för att tillgodose sina intressenters efterfrågan, leva upp till samhällets förväntningar och bidra till klimatomställningen. Fondbolagen säkerställer att kriterierna efterföljs genom deras investeringsstrategier där de väljer att inkludera, exkludera eller påverka samtidigt som de inte investerar mer än 5% i kontroversiella sektorer. Samtliga av de Skandinaviska fondbolagen agerade efter liknande regelverk där det inte framgick några större skillnader mellan de olika. Däremot visade det sig finnas skillnader mellan statliga och kommersiella fondbolag. Slutligen anser samtliga medverkande respondenter att taxonomi- och disclosureförordningen kommer att bli omfattande för hela fondbranschen, men understryker att det ännu är i ett tidigt stadie då lagstiftningen inte är helt färdigställd. / Abstract Title: “The Scandinavian fund companies’ criteria for sustainability funds” Course: 2FE75E - Business Administration III - Management Accounting, Degree Project (Bachelor) Authors: Ernest Dzogovic, Victor Ekerot & Hugo Fröding Advisor: Christer Foghagen Examiner: Petter Boye Institution: Linnaeus University, Kalmar Key Words: Sustainability, Fund, Fund Company, Taxonomy and Disclosure Regulation, UN Objectives, Criteria; include, exclude & influence.   Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate why the Scandinavian fund companies use different criteria for the shares to be included in their sustainability funds.   Methodology: The study data has been collected by working according to a qualitative method. Primary data have been obtained from the eight respondents, all of whom are active in the fund industry. The secondary data in the study comes from literature, scientific articles and websites.    Theory: The theory on which the thesis is based consists of the stakeholder theory, the legitimacy theory, the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals & ESG.   Empirical: The collected empirical data is based on interviews with people active in the fund industry and has been supplemented by sustainability reports and additional research of documents from each fund company and laws and legislations.    Conclusion: In summary, we believe that fund companies use different criteria for their sustainability funds to meet the demand of their stakeholders, live up to society’s expectations and contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Fund companies ensure that the criteria are met through their investment strategies where they choose to include, exclude or influence while not investing more than 5% in controversial sectors. All of the Scandinavian fund companies acted according to similar regulations where no major differences were observed between them. However, it turned out that there are differences between state and commercial fund companies. In conclusion, all participating respondents believe that the taxonomy and disclosure regulation will be comprehensive for the entire fund industry, but emphasize that it is still at an early stage when the legislation is not fully completed.