Aluminum oxide thin films were prepared by dc reactive sputtering technique using different mixing ratios of argon and oxygen gases (90:10, 70:30, 50:50, 30:70, and 10:90). These films were characterized to introduce their crystalline structures, surface morphology, and elemental composition. A progressive transition occurs from a predominantly amorphous to a highly crystalline Al2O3 film as the oxygen content in the Ar:O2 gas mixture is increased. Increasing the oxygen content leads to a progressive decrease in surface roughness, resulting in smoother and more uniform films with finer granular features. The oxygen-rich environments yield the smoothest surfaces, while argon-rich environments result in significantly rougher surfaces. These f

Abstract: This study aims to investigate the backscattering electron coefficient for SixGe1-x/Si heterostructure sample as a function of primary electron beam energy (0.25-20 keV) and Ge concentration in the alloy. The results obtained have several characteristics that are as follows: the first one is that the intensity of the backscattered signal above the alloy is mainly related to the average atomic number of the SixGe1-x alloy. The second feature is that the backscattering electron coefficient line scan shows a constant value above each layer at low primary electron energies below 5 keV. However, at 5 keV and above, a peak and a dip appeared on the line scan above Si-Ge alloy and Si, respectively, close to the interfacing line

A new approach for baud time (or baud rate) estimation of a random binary signal is presented. This approach utilizes the spectrum of the signal after nonlinear processing in a way that the estimation error can be reduced by simply increasing the number of the processed samples instead of increasing the sampling rate. The spectrum of the new signal is shown to give an accurate estimate about the baud time when there is no apriory information or any restricting preassumptions. The performance of the estimator for random binary square waves perturbed by white Gaussian noise and ISI is evaluated and compared with that of the conventional estimator of the zero crossing detector.

A new technique for embedding image data into another BMP image data is presented. The image data to be embedded is referred to as signature image, while the image into which the signature image is embedded is referred as host image. The host and the signature images are first partitioned into 8x8 blocks, discrete cosine transformed “DCT”, only significant coefficients are retained, the retained coefficients then inserted in the transformed block in a forward and backward zigzag scan direction. The result then inversely transformed and presented as a BMP image file. The peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) is exploited to evaluate the objective visual quality of the host image compared with the original image.

Background: Morphological and histological examination of the testes can provide a suitable insight into the health of the reproductive system. Aim: The objective of the current study was to investigate the morphological and histological features of the testes of local pigeons (Columba livia domestica) at mature and immature stages of age. Methods: Two groups of collected specimens underwent macroscopic and microscopic investigation to evaluate and compare the main general properties of their testes. Results: The findings indicated that the testis has an oval shape in both pre-puberty and post-puberty stages, situated on the inner side of the kidney towards the caudal extreme of the lungs. However, the left testis was bigger than those on t