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The beginning of October put to an end, for now, the GOP push to repeal Obamacare. As a person with a pre-existing condition, I can breathe temporarily. I remember those [...]

Despite the important nature of the automobile in Indiana, we lack important consumer protections--and fair-minded attitudes. A few weeks ago, while searching for a car to purchase, I came across [...]

This has been a difficult few months for our nation. President Trump and his GOP partners in Congress have consistently blundered from one crisis to another. While political pundits consider [...]

I got off the airplane, grabbed my luggage and got in the taxi for the hotel. As I traveled, I realized something was very different. I have never seen this [...]

During the Muslim holy month of Ramadan (when Muslims fast from sunup to sundown) in 2004, I had the opportunity to meet a member of the MyManMitch gubernatorial campaign. Eric [...]

This has been an interesting month. Over the past month, I have had one child given a swastika at school, another child bullied, and the third feel that complaining is [...]

THE recent decision by the Plainfield-based Islamic Society of North America to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act has created concern among some Muslim Hoosiers. The act opposes discrimination against someone [...]

As I watched 'Batman v Superman,' I was struck how we were missing an important conversation about the immigration reform debate that has been raised in the GOP presidential race. [...]

The legislative session concluded with Indiana's leaders choosing ideology over common-sense ideas. Chief among these issues was the failure to provide a sustainable long-term plan for how to maintain our [...]

Times have changed. On March 3, I had the opportunity to witness my friend Eric Holcomb being sworn is as lieutenant governor of Indiana. This ceremony led me to reflect [...]

America is weaker because our leaders are busier fighting elections than keeping us safe. The biggest example of this failure is failing to have an honest conversation about our Middle [...]

INDIANAPOLIS IS home to three amazing institutions that try to improve public school education--The Mind Trust, Teach for America and IUPUI School of Education--but reform rhetoric is hurting their efforts. [...]

GOV. MIKE PENCE'S proposed expansion of health care for low-income Hoosiers through the Healthy Indiana Plan is a valuable experiment that will continue Indiana's trend as an innovator in government. [...]

Days after 9/11, President Bush went to an Islamic center and cautioned our nation against ascribing to the faith the actions by a few individual bad actors. He sought to [...]

'Mayor Ballard's announcement that he would not seek a third term was a golden opportunity for Indianapolis. On the Democratic side, we were lucky to have at least two great [...]

'Marion County Democrats are making a mistake by attacking the new World Sports Park. They are playing toward an anti-foreigner sentiment that may garner votes and attention in the short [...]

THE Healthy Indiana Plan is a good move for Indiana and our country. It allows us to provide access to health care to the uninsured poor in a way that [...]

MY congregation recently purchased a former day care in the middle of a business district to house our congregation and private school. Before purchasing this facility, we did our due [...]

THE FAILED ROLLOUT of the Obamacare health care exchanges is seen by many as a political gift to the Republican Party. There is no question that President Obama's administration failed [...]

RECENT ISTEP TEST scores seem to indicate a correlation between academic success and economic prosperity. These test results show that school districts in affluent neighborhoods have better scores than schools [...]

Removal of gold particles (40 nm and 100 nm) from fused silica and thermal oxide surfaces in dilute ammonium hydroxide solutions has been investigated. The particle removal efficiency (PRE) from fused silica surface has been found to be a strong function of ammonium hydroxide concentration and bath temperature. PRE increases from 0 to 85 % with increase in bath temperature from 30 to 80 °C for ammonium hydroxide concentration of 1 %. Addition of megasonic energy to the ammonium hydroxide bath at 30 °C has also shown to improve the PRE significantly. In the case of thermal oxide, the removal of gold particles is much easier compared to that from fused silica. Even for cleaning at 30 °C, the PRE for oxide surface increases from 10 to 90 % with increase in ammonium hydroxide concentration from 0 % to 4 %. Atomic force microscopy measurements reveal that an adhesion force of 10 mN/m exists between fused silica and gold particles in 4 % ammonium hydroxide solution as opposed to only repulsive force in the case of thermal oxide.

The In0.53Ga0.47As(001) and Si0.5Ge0.5(110) surfaces were cleaned using a downstream RF plasma. On the air-exposed In0.53Ga0.47As(001) surface, a 2 second 100 millitorr H2plasma dose fully removed carbon and oxygen. On the ex-situ wet cleaned Si0.5Ge0.5(110) surface, nearly all carbon and oxygen are removed via a 2 second exposure of 5% H2in Ar plasma. To prevent oxygen deposition from the plasma tube while maximizing the atomic H flux, for Si0.5Ge0.5(110), the plasma power, pressure, and gas composition must be controlled. The Si0.5Ge0.5(110) surface is more sensitive than the In0.53Ga0.47As(001) surface to trace oxygen in the plasma stream consistent with the higher heat of formation per Si of SiO2than the heat of formation per Ga of Ga2O3. The higher heat of formation of SiO2is expected to both increase oxygen adsorption and prevent the atomic H from forming volatile products with SiO2on Si0.5Ge0.5(110), in contrast to In0.53Ga0.47As(001).