This work investigates the use of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) as a high-refractive-index material for quarter-wave distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) in photonic applications. In comparison to Si3N4, a-Si:H enables enhanced optical confinement, broader omnidirectional reflectance, and improved figures of merit, including higher Purcell and quality factors, while minimizing mirror complexity. To evaluate the practical impact of these advantages, a theoretical comparison is conducted between Fabry–Pérot cavities based on a-Si:H/SiO2 and Si3N4/SiO2 DBRs, examining resonance shifts as functions of cavity refractive index (1.0–3.0) and temperature (0–250 °C). The numerical results indicate that Si3N4/SiO2 planar Bragg cavities exhibit a low thermal shift of 0.01–0.03 nm/°C and moderate refractive index sensitivity of approximately 1–10 nm/RIU, confirming their high spectral stability. In contrast, a-Si:H/SiO2 mirrors exhibit higher thermal tunability (0.03–0.1 nm/°C) and increased refractive index sensitivity (10–30 nm/RIU), making them highly suitable for sensing and tunable photonic applications
Background: Alginate impression material is the irreversible hydrocolloid material that is widely used in dentistry. The contact time between alginate and gypsum cast could have a detrimental effect on the properties of the gypsum cast. The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of various contact time intervals of Alginate impressions & type III dental stone on surface properties of stone cast. Materials and Methods: Time intervals tested were 1hour, 6 hours and 9 hours. Surface properties of stone cast evaluated were surface detail reproduction, hardness and roughness. Surface detail reproduction was determined using cylindrical brass test block in accordance with ISO 1563. Surface roughness was measured by profilometer
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We propose a novel strategy to optimize the test suite required for testing both hardware and software in a production line. Here, the strategy is based on two processes: Quality Signing Process and Quality Verification Process, respectively. Unlike earlier work, the proposed strategy is based on integration of black box and white box techniques in order to derive an optimum test suite during the Quality Signing Process. In this case, the generated optimal test suite significantly improves the Quality Verification Process. Considering both processes, the novelty of the proposed strategy is the fact that the optimization and reduction of test suite is performed by selecting only mutant killing test cases from cumulating t-way test ca
... Show MoreCoronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to a massive global socio-economic tragedy that has impacted the ecosystem. This paper aims to contextualize urban and rural environmental situations during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region.
An online survey was conducted, 6770 participants were included in the final analysis, and 64% were females. The majority of the participants were urban citizens (74%). Over 50% of the urban residents significantly (
In addition to the primary treatment, biological treatment is used to reduce inorganic and organic components in the wastewater. The separation of biomass from treated wastewater is usually important to meet the effluent disposal requirements, so the MBBR system has been one of the most important modern technologies that use plastic tankers to transport biomass with wastewater, which works in pure biofilm, at low concentrations of suspended solids. However, biological treatment has been developed using the active sludge mixing process with MBBR. Turbo4bio was established as a sustainable and cost-effective solution for wastewater treatment plants in the early 1990s and ran on minimal sludge, and is easy to maintain. This
... Show MoreRegression Discontinuity (RD) means a study that exposes a definite group to the effect of a treatment. The uniqueness of this design lies in classifying the study population into two groups based on a specific threshold limit or regression point, and this point is determined in advance according to the terms of the study and its requirements. Thus , thinking was focused on finding a solution to the issue of workers retirement and trying to propose a scenario to attract the idea of granting an end-of-service reward to fill the gap ( discontinuity point) if it had not been granted. The regression discontinuity method has been used to study and to estimate the effect of the end -service reward on the cutoff of insured workers as well as t
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