In this work, silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) thin films were deposited on metallic substrates (aluminium and titanium sheets) by the DC reactive sputtering technique using two different silicon targets (n-type and p-type Si wafers) as well as two Ar:N₂ gas mixing ratios (50:50 and 70:30). The electrical conductivity of the metallic (aluminium and titanium) substrates was measured before and after the deposition of silicon nitride thin films on both surfaces of the substrates. The results obtained from this work showed that the deposited films, in general, reduced the electrical conductivity of the substrates, and the thin films prepared from n-type silicon targets using a 50:50 mixing ratio and deposited on both

This study investigates the implementation of Taguchi design in the estimation of minimum corrosion rate of mild-steel in cooling tower that uses saline solution of different concentration. The experiments were set on the basis of Taguchi’s L16 orthogonal array. The runs were carried out under different condition such as inlet concentration of saline solution, temperature, and flowrate. The Signal-to- Noise ratio and ANOVA analysis were used to define the impact of cooling tower working conditions on the corrosion rate. A regression had been modelled and optimized to identify the optimum level for the working parameters that had been founded to be 13%NaCl, 35ᴼC, and 1 l/min. Also a confirmation run to establish the p

  This study aimed to obtain an isolate of a mold that has well characteristic for production of citric acid from raw materials available locally by solid-state fermentation and determination of the optimum conditions for production .Fourteen mold isolates producing acid were obtained from different sources, involved decayed fruits and soils. These isolates were subjected to initial qualitative screening followed by secondary quantitative screening In secondary screening a method combined between the submerged fermentation and solid-state fermentation was followed using a piece of sponge saturated by nutrients required for growth and production of acid. It was found that the isolate of A7 was the highest producer for citric acid tha

The research aims to analyze the television advertisement to monitor the indirect and underlying meanings behind the apparent significance in Zain’s “Ya Baghdad” Advertisement through sociological analysis, in accordance with the cultural analysis of Hofstede’s ‘Model of Cultural Dimensions’. Our choice of such a model in practical application over other models that may have provided more dimensions is due to its ability and verification in explaining cultural diversity and additionally the size of data and studies on the cultural dimension. This study’s aim is to verify the validity, stability and significance of this model before being adopted by Hofstede as a measurement tool. This model was used in order to analyze the rel

Crop diseases are usually caused by inoculum of pathogens which might exist on alternate hosts or weeds as endophytes. These endophytes, cum pathogens, usually confer some beneficial attributes to these weeds or alternate hosts from protection against herbivores, disease resistance, stress tolerance to secondary metabolites production. This study was therefore carried out to isolate potential crop pathogens which exist as endophytes on weed species in the University of Ilorin plantations. Green asymptomatic leaves were collected from 10 weed species across the plantations, and processed for their endophytic fungi isolation. Isolates were purified into pure cultures and used for molecular identification using the internal transcribed spac

This paper presents a vibration suppression control design of cantilever beam using two piezoelectric ‎patches. One patch was used as ‎an actuator element, while the other was used as a sensor. The controller design was designed via the balance realization reduction method to elect the reduced order model that is most controllable and observable. ‎the sliding mode observer was designed to estimate six states from the reduced order model but three states are only used in the control law. Estimating a number of states larger than that used is in order to increase the estimation accuracy. Moreover, the state ‎estimation error is proved bounded. An ‎optimal LQR controller is designed then using the ‎estimated states with the slid

larization modulation plays an important role in polarization encoding in quantum key distribution. By using polarization modulation, quantum key distribution systems become more compact and more vulnerable as one laser source is used instead of using multiple laser sources that may cause side-channel attacks. Metasurfaces with their exceptional optical properties have led to the development of versatile ultrathin optical devices. They are made up of planar arrays of resonant or nearly resonant subwavelength pieces and provide complete control over reflected and transmitted electromagnetic waves opening several possibilities for the development of innovative optical components. In this work, the Si nanowire metasurface

Accurate calculation of transient overvoltages and dielectric stresses from fast-front excitations is required to obtain an optimal dielectric design of power components subjected to these conditions, which are commonly due to switching and lightning, as well as utilization of power-electronic devices. Toroidal transformers are generally used at the low voltage level. However, recent investigations and developments have explored their use at the medium voltage level. This paper analyzes the model-based improvement of the insulation design of medium voltage toroidal transformers. Lumped and distributed parameter models are used and compared to predict the transient response and dielectric stress along the transformer winding. The parameters