In the present work, the feasibility of formation near-ideal ohmic behavior of In/n-Si contact efficiently by 300 s duration Nd:YAG pulsed laser processing has been recognized. Several laser pulses energy densities have been used, and the optimal energy density that gives best results is obtained. Topography of the irradiated region was extensively discussed and supported with micrographic illustrations to determine the surface condition that can play the important role in the ohmic contact quality. I-V characteristics in the forward and reverse bias and barrier height measurements have been studied for different irradiated samples to determine the laser energy density that gives best ohmic behavior. Comparing the current results with

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most significant threats to public health worldwide. As opposed to using traditional antibiotics, which are effective against diseases that are multidrug-resistant, it is vital to concentrate on the most innovative antibacterial compounds. These innate bacterial arsenals under the term «bacteriocins» refer to low-molecularweight, heat-stable, membrane-active, proteolytically degradable, and pore-forming cationic peptides. Due to their ability to attack bacteria, viruses, fungi, and biofilm, bacteriocins appear to be the most promising, currently accessible alternative for addressing the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) problem and minimizing the negative effects of antibiotics on the host’s m

Nanoparticles have gained considerable interest in recent times for oil recovery purposes owing to significant capabilities in wettability alteration of reservoir rocks. Wettability is a key factor controlling displacement efficiency and ultimate recovery of oil. The present study investigates the influence of zirconium (IV) oxide (ZrO2) and nickel (II) oxide (NiO) nanoparticles on the wetting preference of fractured (oil-wet) limestone formations. Wettability was assessed through SEM, AFM and contact angle. The potentials of the nanoparticles to alter oil-wet calcite substrates water wet, was experimentally tested at low nanoparticle concentrations (0.004–0.05 wt%). Quite similar behaviour was observed for both nanoparticles at the same

The possible effects of COVID-19 vaccines on reproductive health and male fertility in particular have been discussed intensely by the scientific community and the public since their introduction during the pandemic. On news outlets and social media platforms, many claims have been raised regarding the deleterious effects of COVID-19 vaccines on sperm quality without scientific evidence. In response to this emerging conflict, we designed this study to evaluate and assess the effect of the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 vaccine on male fertility represented by the semen analysis parameters.

Self-compacting concrete (SCC) is an innovative concrete that does not require vibration for placing and compaction. It is able to flow under its own weight, completely filling formwork and achieving full compaction, even in the presence of congested reinforcement. The effect of external sulfate attack was studied-Es (very sever exposure SO4>10000ppm) according to ACI 318-11. The mix design method of SCC used is according to EFNARC 2002, and then must satisfy the criteria of filling ability, passing ability and segregation resistance. The experimental program focuses to study two different chemical composition of sulfate resistance Portland cement with different percentage of silica fume replacement by weight of cement and W/cm (0.3 and 0.3

In this paper, Min-Max composition fuzzy relation equation are studied. This study is a generalization of the works of Ohsato and Sekigushi. The conditions for the existence of solutions are studied, then the resolution of equations is discussed.

Cohesive soils present difficulties in construction projects because it usually contains expansive clay minerals. However, the engineering properties of cohesive soils can be stabilized by using various techniques. The research aims to elaborate on the influences of using hydrated lime on the consistency, compaction, and shear strength properties of clayey soil samples from Sulaimnai city, northern Iraq. The proportions of added hydrated lime are 0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5% and 10% to the natural soil sample. The results yielded considerable effects of hydrated lime on the engineering properties of the treated soil sample and enhancement its strength. The soil's liquid limit, plasticity index, and optimum moisture content were de

Discrete Krawtchouk polynomials are widely utilized in different fields for their remarkable characteristics, specifically, the localization property. Discrete orthogonal moments are utilized as a feature descriptor for images and video frames in computer vision applications. In this paper, we present a new method for computing discrete Krawtchouk polynomial coefficients swiftly and efficiently. The presented method proposes a new initial value that does not tend to be zero as the polynomial size increases. In addition, a combination of the existing recurrence relations is presented which are in the n- and x-directions. The utilized recurrence relations are developed to reduce the computational cost. The proposed method computes app

The present study deals with the experimental investigation of buried concrete pipes. Concrete pipes are buried in loose and dense conditions of gravelly sand soil and subjected to different surface loadings to study the effects of the backfill compaction on the pipe. The experimental investigation was accomplished using full-scale precast unreinforced concrete pipes with 300 mm internal diameter tested in a laboratory soil box test facility set up for this study. Two loading platforms are used namely, uniform loading platform and patch loading platform. The wheel load was simulated through patch loading platform which have dimensions of 254 mm *508 mm, which is used by AASHTO to model the wheel load of a HS20 truck. The pipe-soil system

Fractal image compression gives some desirable properties like fast decoding image, and very good rate-distortion curves, but suffers from a high encoding time. In fractal image compression a partitioning of the image into ranges is required. In this work, we introduced good partitioning process by means of merge approach, since some ranges are connected to the others. This paper presents a method to reduce the encoding time of this technique by reducing the number of range blocks based on the computing the statistical measures between them . Experimental results on standard images show that the proposed method yields minimize (decrease) the encoding time and remain the quality results passable visually.