• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.43-48
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• 2019

Aluminum nitride (AlN) is used by the semiconductor industry, and is a compound that is required when manufacturing high thermal conductivity. The AlN films with c-axis orientation and thermal conductivity characteristic were deposited by using the Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD). The AlN thin films were characterized by changing the deposition conditions. In particular, we have researched the AlN thin film deposited under optimal conditions for growth atmosphere. The epitaxial AlN films were grown on sapphire ($c-Al_2O_3$) single crystals by PLD with AlN target. The AlN films were deposited at a fixed temperature of $650^{\circ}C$, while conditions of nitrogen ($N_2$) pressure were varied between 0.1 mTorr and 10 mTorr. The quality of the AlN films was found to depend strongly on the $N_2$ partial pressure that was exerted during deposition. The X-ray diffraction studies revealed that the integrated intensity of the AlN (002) peak increases as a function the corresponding Full width at half maximum (FWHM) values decreases with lowering of the nitrogen partial pressure. We found that highly c-axis orientated AlN films can be deposited at a substrate temperature of $650^{\circ}C$ and a base pressure of $2{\times}10^{-7}Torr$ in the $N_2$ partial pressure of 0.1 mTorr. Also, it is noted that as the $N_2$ partial pressure decreased, the thermal conductivity increased.

• ALGAE
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.141-151
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• 2019

The 1982-83, 1986-87, 1991-92, and 1997-98 El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$-Southern Oscillations (ENSOs) were compared with regards to their strength and timing in the tropical Pacific Ocean, changes in ocean temperature and wave intensity, and their impacts to giant kelp populations in the Northeast Pacific. The Multivariate ENSO Index, oceanographic data, and kelp abundance data all show that the 1982-83 and 1997-98 ENSOs were stronger and resulted in greater losses of giant kelp than the 1986-87 and 1991-92 ENSOs, but that the 1982-83 and 1997-98 ENSOs differed with regard to the arrival of destructive waves relative to when the ocean waters warmed and cooled. The 1982-83 ENSO was more destructive to the giant kelp populations in central California, USA than the 1997-98 ENSO, but the 1997-98 ENSO was more destructive to the giant kelp in southern California. These events appeared similarly destructive to the populations in Baja California, Mexico. Recovery of the kelp populations also varied among the two strong ENSOs due to the ocean conditions following each ENSO. In southern and Baja California, recovery was slow following the 1982-83 ENSO, while recovery was more rapid following the 1997-98 ENSO. Unfortunately, the monitoring programs used to evaluate the kelp populations stopped shortly after the 1997-98 ENSO, resulting in a lack of data for comparisons with the more recent weak ENSOs that occurred between 2002 and 2010, or with the strong ENSO that occurred in 2014-2016. This supports the need for continued long-term monitoring programs to better understand how climate anomalies impact coastal ecosystems.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2019

The main goal of this study was to determine the genetic diversity among 36 grape cultivars grown in Palestine by using ISSR-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) fingerprints. Among the tested primers, 17 produced reasonable amplification products with high intensity and pattern stability. A total of 57 DNA fragments (loci) separated by electrophoresis on agarose gels were detected and they ranged in size, from 150 to 900 bp. Out of these fragments, 55 (88%) were polymorphic and 2 (3.5%) monomorphic. Our results also revealed an average of 3.1 loci per primer. A minimum of 1 and maximum of 10 DNA fragments were obtained (S-17, #820 and #841) and (S-31) primers, respectively. Therefore, the later primer (S-31) is considered to be the most powerful primer among the tested ones. The genetic distance matrix showed an average distance range of between 0.05 and 0.76. The maximum genetic distance value of 0.76 (24% similarity) was exhibited between the (Shami and Marawi.Hamadani.Adi) as well as (Bairuti and Marawi.Hamadani.Adi) genotypes. On the other hand, the lowest genetic distance of 0.05 (95% similarity) was exhibited between (Jandali.Tawel.Mofarad and Jandali. Kurawi.Mlzlz) along with (Shami.Aswad and Shami.mtartash. mlwn) genotypes. Furthermore, the UPGMA dendrogram generally clusters the grape cultivars into eight major clusters in addition to an isolated genotype. Based on these figures, the cultivars tested in this study could be characterized by large divergence at the DNA level. This is taking the assumption that our region has a very rich and varied clonal grape genetic structure.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.74-81
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• 2019

This study reports the CW $CO_2$ laser scribing of soda lime glass. In this study, scribing experiments are carried out at different laser powers, scan speeds, and focal positions to investigate the effect of the process parameters on the interaction characteristics between a laser beam and glass. In particular, the interaction characteristics are analyzed and described with the input laser energy per unit length. According to the experimental results, the damage threshold for the glass surface was found to exist between 0.072 and 0.08 J/mm. The input laser energy in this region induced partial melting of the surface and grain-shaped cracks. These cracks tended to increase as the input laser energy increased. At the laser input energy larger than 1 J/mm, a huge crack propagating along the scan direction was produced, and the volume below the scribed area was fully melted. The growth of this crack finally resulted in the complete cutting of the glass at the input laser energy above 8 J/mm. It was found that both the width and depth of the scribed line increased with increasing input laser energy. For the beam focusing at the rear surface, the width of the scribed line varied irregularly. This could be ascribed to the increased asymmetry of the beam intensity distribution when the laser beam was focused at the rear surface. Under this condition, a large burr was only produced on one side of the scribed line.

• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.22-30
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• 2022

The reinforcement learning algorithm has proven its potential in solving sequential decision-making problems under uncertainties, such as finding paths to route data packets in wireless sensor networks. With reinforcement learning, the computation of the optimum path requires careful definition of the so-called reward function, which is defined as a linear function that aggregates multiple objective functions into a single objective to compute a numerical value (reward) to be maximized. In a typical defined linear reward function, the multiple objectives to be optimized are integrated in the form of a weighted sum with fixed weighting factors for all learning agents. This study proposes a reinforcement learning -based routing protocol for wireless sensor network, where different learning agents prioritize different objective goals by assigning weighting factors to the aggregated objectives of the reward function. We assign appropriate weighting factors to the objectives in the reward function of a sensor node according to its hop-count distance to the sink node. We expect this approach to enhance the effectiveness of multi-objective reinforcement learning for wireless sensor networks with a balanced trade-off among competing parameters. Furthermore, we propose SDN (Software Defined Networks) architecture with multiple controllers for constant network monitoring to allow learning agents to adapt according to the dynamics of the network conditions. Simulation results show that our proposed scheme enhances the performance of wireless sensor network under varied conditions, such as the node density and traffic intensity, with a good trade-off among competing performance metrics.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.43-57
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• 2022

One of the instances which demand structural engineer's greatest attention and upgradation is the changing live load requirement in bridge design code. The challenge increases in developing countries as the pace of infrastructural growth is being catered by the respective country codes with bigger and heavier vehicles to be considered in the design. This paper presents the case study of India where Indian Roads Congress (IRC) codes in its revised version from 2014 to 2017 introduced massive Special vehicle (SV) around 40 m long and weighing 3850 kN to be considered in the design of road bridges. The code does not specify the minimum distance between successive special vehicles unlike other loading classes and hence the consequences of it form the motivation for this study. The effect of SV in comparison with Class 70R, Class AA, Class A, and Class B loading is studied based on the maximum bending moment with moving load applied in Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis. The spans considered in the analysis varied from 10 m to 1991 m corresponding to the span of Akashi Kaikyo Bridge (longest bridge span in the world). A total of 182 analyses for 7 types of vehicles (class B, class A, class 70R tracked, class 70R wheeled, class AA tracked, AA wheeled, and Special vehicle) on 26 different span lengths is carried out. The span corresponding to other vehicles which would equal the bending moment of a single SV is presented along with a comparison relative to Standard Uniformly Distributed Load. Further, the results are presented by introducing a new parameter named Intensity Factor which is proven to relate the effect of axle spacing of vehicle on the normalized bending moment developed.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.697-706
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• 2022

The effect of varied light intensities on the growth of daughter plants during propagation and after transplant to raised beds were examined in 'Sulhyang' strawberry. To this end, four treatments in controlling solar radiation inside a plastic house were made: 55% retractable shading and 35, 55, and 75% fixed shading. The plastic house was shaded only from 11:00 to 16:00 in June and 10:00 to 16:00 in July to September for the treatment of 55% retractable shading. The mean solar radiation inside the plastic house in the retractable 55% shading treatment was 317 W·m^-2 and those in the 35, 55, and 75% fixed shading treatments were 183, 165, and 116 W·m^-2, respectively, at 10 o'clock in the morning. The 55% and 75% fixed shading resulted in taller daughter plants with wider leaf areas than 55% retractable shading. The retractable shading also showed higher leaf numbers, crown diameters, root weights, and fresh weights compared to fixed shading treatments. Regarding the inorganic element contents, daughter plants grown under 75% fixed shading had 1.35% total nitrogen content followed by 1.19% in 35% fixed shading, 1.14% in 55% fixed shading, 1.14% in open culture, and 1.10% in 55% fixed shading. After 54 days following the transplant of daughter plants to a raised bed, the fresh weight of the aboveground part was the heaviest in the 55% retractable shading and non-shading treatments. The 75% fixed shading treatment had the lowest fresh weight of the aboveground plant parts. The results of this study could be used for the production of high-quality daughter strawberry plants.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2022.06a
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• pp.1242-1242
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• 2022

Annually, several construction workers fall ill, are injured, or die due to heat-related exposure. The prevalence of work-related heat illness may rise and become an issue for workers operating in temperate climates, given the increase in frequency and intensity of heatwaves in the US. An increase in temperature negatively impacts physical exertion levels and mental state, thereby increasing the potential of accidents on the job site. To reduce the impact of heat stress on workers, it is critical to develop and implement measures for monitoring physical exertion levels and mental state in hot conditions. For this, limited studies have evaluated the utility of wearable biosensors in measuring physical exertion and mental workload in hot conditions. In addition, most studies focus solely on male participants, with little to no reference to female workers who may be exposed to greater heat stress risk. Therefore, this study aims to develop a process for objective and continuous assessment of worker physical exertion and mental workload using wearable biosensors. Physiological data were collected from eight (four male and four female) participants performing a simulated drilling task at 92oF and about 50% humidity level. After removing signal artifacts from the data using multiple filtering processes, the data was compared to a perceived muscle exertion scale and mental workload scale. Results indicate that biosensors' features can effectively detect the change in worker physical and mental state in hot conditions. Therefore, wearable biosensors provide a feasible and effective opportunity to continuously assess worker physical exertion and mental workload.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.154-165
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• 1993

A stochastic method using continuous time Markov process is presented to model the one-dimensional convective nuclide transport in geologic media, which have usually heterogeneous feature in physical/geochemical parameters such as velocity, dispersion coefficient, and retardation factor resulting poor description by conventional deterministic advection-dispersion model. The primary desired quantities from a stochastic model are the mean values and variance of the state variables as a function of time. The time-dependent probability distributions of nuclides are presented for each discretized compartment given the volumetric groundwater flux and the intensity of transition. Since this model is discrete in medium space, physical/geochemical parameters which affect nuclide transport can be easily incorporated for the heterogeneous media as well as remarkably layered media having spatially varied parameters. Even though the Markov process model developed in this study was shown to be sensitive to the number of discretized compartments showing numerical dispersion as the number of compartments are increased, this could be easily calibrated by comparing with the analytical deterministic model.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.201-207
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• 2023

Eu³⁺-doped SnO² (SnO²:Eu³⁺) phosphor thin films were grown on quartz substrates by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. The deposition temperature was varied from 100 to 400 ℃. The X-ray diffraction patterns showed that all the thin films had two mixed phases of SnO₂ and Eu₂Sn₂O₇. The 880 nmthick SnO²:Eu³⁺ thin film grown at 100 ℃ exhibited numerous pebble-shaped particles. The excitation spectra of SnO²:Eu³⁺ thin films consisted of a strong and broad peak at 312 nm in the vicinity from 250 to 350 nm owing to the O^2--Eu3+ charge transfer band, irrespective of deposition temperature. Upon 312 nm excitation, the SnO²:Eu³⁺ thin films showed a main emission peak at 592 nm arising from the ⁵D₀→⁷F₁ transition and a weak 615 nm red band originating from the ⁵D₀→⁷F₂ transition of Eu³⁺. As the deposition temperature increased, the emission intensities of two bands increased rapidly, approached a maximum at 100 ℃, and then decreased slowly at 400 ℃. The thin film deposited at 200 ℃ exhibited a band gap energy of 3.81 eV and an average transmittance of 73.7% in the wavelength range of 500-1100 nm. These results indicate that the luminescent intensity of SnO²:Eu³⁺ thin films can be controlled by changing the deposition temperature.