We analysed associations between exposure to nightlife businesses and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 PCR test results at a tertiary hospital in Tokyo between March and April 2020. A nightlife group was defined as those who had worked at or visited the businesses. We included 1517 individuals; 196 (12.9%) were categorised as the nightlife group. After propensity score matching, the proportion of positive PCR tests in the nightlife group was significantly higher than that in the non-nightlife group (nightlife, 63.8%; non-nightlife, 23.0%; P < 0.001). An inclusive approach to mitigate risks related to the businesses needs to be identified.

A magnetic field configuration of an island divertor for a quasi-axisymmetric stellarator (CFQS) is proposed. The configuration incorporates large islands surrounding the core confinement region. The interface between the core region and the peripheral region of the island divertor is a clear magnetic separatrix similar to a tokamak divertor. The structure of divertor magnetic field lines is very regular without stochasticity and the connection length is sufficiently long for good divertor performance. Such a divertor configuration is produced in the magnetic field configuration for the CFQS device, which is now under construction in China.

The biology of the crucifer flea beetle, Phyllotreta cruciferae (Goeze), was studied in the laboratory, and under field conditions in southwestern Ontario. Field-collected adults, held in a state of induced hibernation were used for some laboratory studies. A rearing procedure was developed and a culture maintained for eight generations provided additional adults for laboratory work. Development and behaviour of the various crucifer flea beetle stages at different temperatures were studied. The mean preoviposition period ranged from 3.8 (32°C) to 22 (20°C) days. Time required for development from egg to adult varied from 24 (30°C) to 54 (20°C) days. For oviposition capability and egg to adult development, developmental thresholds were ca. 17° and 11°C, respectively, and 61 and 456 degree days were required. Crucifer flea beetle adults overwintered in leaf litter and the top 2.5 cm of soil, in windbreaks, fencerows, and cultivated areas. Adults appeared in early spring. Peak adult movement occurred at this time, primarily within 2 m of the ground, and oriented toward crucifer plots. Using heat unit summations calculated from soil temperatures, adult emergence in the field from eggs set out at various times was predicted with an accuracy of ± 3.7 days. Population studies and heat unit accumulations indicated that there was a single generation of crucifer flea beetle in 1974, and two generations in 1975. Adults were restricted primarily to cruciferous crops, with rutabaga and Chinese cabbage being the preferred hosts, among those varieties tested.

The crucifer flea beetle, Phyllotreta cruciferae (Goeze), is a pest of major economic importance on cruciferous crops in Canada. Laboratory and field tests were conducted to assess the effectiveness of insecticides which have been, or currently are used in Ontario, or which might have potential for its control. Twenty of 22 insecticides tested in the laboratory were toxic or moderately toxic by direct contact against adults. Carbofuran was 55 times and eight other insecticides 2.9 to 5.5 times more toxic than endosulfan. Of eight insecticides tested as soil treatments, diazinon, carbofuran, and dieldrin were most toxic to adults. All insecticides were less toxic in organic than in mineral soil. In field studies, concentrations of DDT and dieldrin typical of those found in mineral soils used for crucifer production in Ontario in the late 1960’s reduced crucifer flea beetle damage to radishes. As organochlorine insecticide residues decline a higher percentage of crucifer flea beetle population will survive necessitating greater emphasis on control. Two sprays of parathion, carbaryl, or endosulfan significantly reduced crucifer flea beetle damage to radishes in the early part of the growing season under moderate insect pressure. These control programs were less effective during warmer weather and(or) under severe crucifer flea beetle pressure. Soil applications of terbufos, carbofuran, and oxamyl protected cabbage grown in seed beds from attack. The latter was slightly phytotoxic. Planting–water treatments using azinphosmethyl, diazinon, and oxamyl protected cabbage transplants against early season crucifer flea beetle attack. On late cabbage, fensulfothion, azinphosmethyl, carbaryl, endosulfan, and chlorfenvinphos gave good protection.

Large variation in basic memory properties is a serious issue that hinders the practical use of ReRAM. This study revealed that one of the main factors causing variation is the presence of multiple filaments which have distinct set voltages in each memory cell. An operating filament switches to another filament having the smallest set voltage at each instant of switching. We propose a resistive switching model that takes the presence of multiple filaments into consideration. A Monte Carlo simulation based on the resistive switching model reproduces the set voltage distribution. Improvement of accuracy of the simulation can be also expected considering the fact that Vset increases at a certain probability at each instant of set switching.

We propose a parallel resistance model (PRM) in which total resistance (Rtotal) is given by the parallel connection of resistance of a filament (Rfila) and that of a film excluding the filament (Rexcl)—that is, 1/Rtotal = 1/Rfila + 1/Rexcl—to understand direct current (dc) electric properties of resistive random-access memory (ReRAM). To prove the validity of this model, the dependence of the resistance on temperature, R(T), and the relative standard deviation (RSD) of RHRS of Pt/NiO/Pt on the area of a top electrode, S, are investigated. It is clarified that both the R(T) and RSD depended on S, and all such dependencies can be explained by the PRM. The fact that Rtotal is decided by the magnitude relation between Rfila and Rexcl makes transport properties S-dependent and hinders the correct understanding of ReRAM. Smaller S is essential to observe the intrinsic transport properties of ReRAM filaments.

The reaction of CO2 gas with OPC, OPC-BFS and OPC-PFA composite cement systems were studied using XRD, SEM and TG to investigate the applicability of these materials to immobilise carbon arising from graphite waste. XRD results suggested that calcite formed in OPC system after the carbonation reaction, whereas calcite and vaterite were observed in OPCBFS and OPC-PFA systems. In OPC system, nearly half of Ca(OH)2 was consumed to form CaCO3. In OPC-BFS and OPC-PFA systems, the amount of CaCO3 formed, corresponded to the consumption of greater than 100% of Ca(OH)2 initially present, suggesting that other hydration products e.g. C-S-H were also consumed, either directly or indirectly during the carbonation process. The OPC-BFS system became more porous after carbonation. OPC-PFA system indicated a high efficiency on the conversion of Ca in the system into CaCO3.

Phase-change memory is promising because it has a simple structure and has scalability that originates from its unique operating mechanism. However, the programming current should be reduced in accordance with the scaling of cell size [1,2]. We previously reported PCM (Phase Change Memory) cells that operate under 1.5-V/100-μA writing pulses [3, 4]. This PCM had a cell structure composed of 180-nm-W (tungsten) bottom contact to an O-GST (Oxygen-doped GeSbTe) film. Its low-power characteristic is suitable for 0.13-μm generation embedded applications. In the present study, we introduced a new W/O-GST/TaO/W cell structure and found further decrease of programming current the improved stability in the fabrication process. We analyzed the mechanism by which oxygen in GST and the additional TaO layer reduce the power consumption during SET/RESET operations.

We systematically investigated the optimum growth condition of wide-bandgap quaternary InAlGaN for ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) grown on SiC by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). We obtained intense UV emission in the wavelength of 315-370 nm from quaternary InAlGaN, which was as high as blue emission from InGaN. We found that the optimized growth temperature of quaternary InAlGaN is shifted from 790 to 870 °C as the emission peak wavelength is changed from 370-315 nm. The strongest PL was obtained with the wavelength around 330 nm. The growth condition for intense PL is found to be decided by two factors, i.e., the carrier confinement in In segregation region and crystalline quality. We also found that the small In mole fraction of 2-5 % is enough to obtain maximally PL intensity for InAlGaN, which is much smaller value than that for InGaN, due to the large carrier confinement with small In fluctuation.

Optical and electrical properties of 340 nm-band bright UV-light emitting diodes (LEDs) were compared between In0.03Al0.20Ga0.77N and other active regions. Single peaked and high efficiency ultraviolet (UV) emission at 345 nm from In0.03Al0.20Ga0.77N LEDs is achieved under continuous current injection conditions. Any significant broadening and peak shift of the electroluminescence (EL) spectrum were not observed. We attribute such a good properties to using of high quality InAlGaN-quaternary active layer. The EL intensity of the InAlGaN quaternary-based LED showed more one order of magnitude higher intensity than that of AlGaN and GaN based LEDs. Additionally, The I-L characteristics of the InAlGaN quaternary-based LED showed a linearly increasing of intensity with increasing of injection current density, that is also observed for InGaN based LEDs. This shows the recombination efficiency of the InAlGaN-based LED is as much as that of InGaN based LEDs. From these results InAlGaN quaternary is expected to be a promising material for UV LEDs and LDs.

Mg-doped quaternary InAlGaN is very attractive for use as p-side layers of 300-nm band ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) or laser diodes (LDs), because high hole conductivity is expected to obtain for wide bandgap (~4 eV) InAlGaN with Mg-doping. We fabricated p-n junction diode consisting of Mg-doped In0.02Al0.28Ga0.70N and Si-doped Al0.25Ga0.75N, and demonstrated intense UV emission under CW current injection at room temperature. The rising voltage in I-V curve was around 3.8 V and the breakdown voltage was as high as 10 V. Single peaked intense emission was observed at 340 nm from around InAlGaN/AlGaN p-n junction area without any deep level emission. Also we found that Ni/Au electrode directly fabricated on Mg-doped InAlGaN is useful. From these results, Mg-doped InAlGaN is considered to be very attractive for use as p-side layer of UV-LEDs or LDs.

Optical and electrical properties of 340 nm-band bright UV-light emitting diodes (LEDs) were compared between In0.03Al0.20Ga0.77N and other active regions. Single peaked and high efficiency ultraviolet (UV) emission at 345 nm from In0.03Al0.20Ga0.77N LEDs is achieved under continuous current injection conditions. Any significant broadening and peak shift of the electroluminescence (EL) spectrum were not observed. We attribute such a good properties to using of high quality InAlGaN-quaternary active layer. The EL intensity of the InAlGaN quaternary-based LED showed more one order of magnitude higher intensity than that of AlGaN and GaN based LEDs. Additionally, The I-L characteristics of the InAlGaN quaternary-based LED showed a linearly increasing of intensity with increasing of injection current density, that is also observed for InGaN based LEDs. This shows the recombination efficiency of the InAlGaN-based LED is as much as that of InGaN based LEDs. From these results InAlGaN quaternary is expected to be a promising material for UV LEDs and LDs.