E-Cigarettes Use Behaviors in Japan: An Online Survey

Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use has become increasingly widespread throughout the world, including in Japan. However, little is known about how e-cigarettes are used in Japan, a country with heavy restrictions on nicotine-containing e-liquids and/or vaping products. This study examined e-cigarette use (e-cigarette use duration, frequency of use, device type, electrical resistance, nicotine use, favorite e-liquid flavors) among users in Japan, through an online survey using a web-based self-reported questionnaire which included questions about sex, age, combustible cigarette and heated tobacco product (HTP) use behaviors. Of 4689 e-cigarettes users analyzed, 93.5% were men and 52.9% had been using e-cigarettes for 1–3 years. Over 80% used e-cigarettes every day; 62.3% used nicotine liquid, and half of the nicotine liquid users used nicotine salt. The most popular liquid flavor was fruit (prevalence: 68.1%), followed by tobacco (prevalence: 48.4%). While 50.9% were e-cigarette single users, 35.2% were dual users (e-cigarettes and cigarettes or HTPs) and 13.8% were triple user (e-cigarettes, cigarettes and HTPs). This is the first comprehensive survey of Japanese e-cigarette users and our finding suggest more than half use nicotine liquid, although e-cigarettes containing nicotine liquid have been prohibited by the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act since 2010 in Japan. The study also showed 49.1% of participants used cigarettes and/or HTPs concurrently (dual or triple users).

Influence of Sweat on Joint and Sensor Reliability of E-Textiles

This article addresses reliability under the sweat of interconnection techniques for the mounting surface mounted device (SMD) components and fully printed humidity sensors onto conductive stretchable textile ribbons. Samples underwent testing for the effect of ageing by artificial sweat on their electrical resistance using both alkaline and acidic artificial sweat. The best results in terms of electrical resistance change were obtained for samples soldered to the conductive fibers interwoven in the ribbon. However, this method can damage the ribbon due to the high temperature during soldering and significantly reduce the mechanical properties and flexibility of the ribbon, which can lead to a limited service life of samples. On the other hand, adhesive bonding is a very interesting alternative, where the above-mentioned properties are preserved, but there is a significant effect of sweat ageing on electrical resistance. The results of fully printed graphene-based humidity sensors show that, for the intended use of these sensors (i.e., detection of changes in moisture on the human body), usage of the samples is possible, and the samples are sufficiently reliable in the case of sweat degradation. In addition, the response of the sensor to humidity is quite high: 98% at a relative humidity of 98%.

SPECIFIC FEATURES OF APPLICATION OF CADMIUM AS A NEUTRON-ABSORBING SCREEN WHILE DOPING SILICON IN A NUCLEAR REACTOR

The gradient of the neutron field in a nuclear reactor and the requirements for the permissible spread of the specific electrical resistance over the volume of the silicon ingot makes it necessary to develop an irradiation device. This is especially true for large silicon ingots. One of the options for reducing the gradient of the neutron flux along the height of the ingot is the use of neutron-absorbing screens in the design of the irradiation device. At the WWR-K reactor, cadmium with a natural isotopic composition is used as a neutron-absorbing screen material. The paper presents the results of a study of an irradiation device with a cadmium screen. The effect of a cadmium screen on the neutron-physical characteristics of an irradiation device for silicon doping is shown.

Influence of process parameters on the characteristics of electrohydrodynamic-printed UV-curing conductive lines on the fabric

As a similar technology to the near-field static electrospinning, the emerging electrohydrodynamic (EHD) printing technology with digital printing process and compatibility of viscous particle-blended inks is one of the simplest methods of fabricating multifunctional electronic textiles.With increasing demands for textile-based conductive lines with controllable width and excellent electrical performance, it’s of great importance to know the influence of key process parameters on the morphology and electrical properties of EHD-printed UV-curing conductive lines on the fabric. This work will systematically explore the effect of the EHD printing process parameters (i.e. applied voltage, direct-writing height, flow rate and moving velocity of the substrate) on the morphology and electrical performance of the EHD-printed textile-based conductive lines, especially focus on the diffusion and penetration of inks on the rough and porous fabric. The UV-curing nano-silver ink with low temperature and fast curing features was selected, and the line width and electrical resistance of printed lines under different process parameters were observed and measured. The results showed that, unlike previous results about EHD printing on smooth and impermeable substrates, the ink diffusion related to fabric textures had a greater effect on the fabric-based conductive line width than the applied voltage and direct-writing height in the case of a stable jet. Meanwhile, the relationship between the line width and the flow rate met the equation of = 407.28 ∗ 1⁄2 , and the minimum volume on fabric per millimeter was 0.67μL to form continuous line with low electrical resistance. Additionally, the higher substrate moving velocity resulted in a smaller line width, while it deteriorated the thickness uniformity and electrical property of printed lines. Generally, due to the effect of surface structure of the fabric on the spreading and penetrating behavior of inks, the flow rate and the substrate moving velocity are two significant parameters ensuring the electrical property of printed lines. It is believed that these findings will provide some guides for applying electrohydrodynamic printing technology into flexible electronics on the woven fabric.

Damage detection in cementitious materials with optimized absolute electrical resistance tomography

Electrical resistance tomography (ERT) serves as a non-invasive, non-destructive, non-radioactive imaging technique. It has potential applications in industrial and biological imaging. This paper presents an optimized inverse algorithm, named Newton’s Constrained Reconstruction Method (NCRM), to detect damage in cementitious materials. Several constraints were utilized in the proposed algorithm to optimize initial parameters. The range and spatial distribution of conductivities within the sample were chosen as two main constraints. Two sets of numerical and a set of experimental voltage data were used to reconstruct conductivity distribution images based on this algorithm. To evaluate the quality of reconstructed images, two image quality evaluation indicators, correlation coefficient and position error were used. Results show that the proposed algorithm NCRM has the ability to enhance the reconstructed image quality with fewer artifacts and has better positioning accuracy.