A thin-film transistor consisting of a ZnO active layer and a ZrO2 insulating layer was fabricated on a tin-doped indium oxide sputtered glass substrate as well as on a SiO2/Si wafer. The ZnO and ZrO2 layers were deposited by a sol–gel, dip-coating procedure. The resultant ZrO2 layer was about 150 nm thick and the ZnO layer 70 nm thick. The ZnO layer consisted of a single-grain thickness while the ZrO2 layer consisted of about 10 nm grains and was rather porous. The multilayered film consisting of ZnO/ZrO2/ITO/glass was transparent with 60–85% transmittance in the visible region and exhibited characteristics of a field-effect transistor. The multilayered film of the ZnO/ZrO2/SiO2/Si wafer was also examined and the behavior of the thin-film transistor was confirmed. The ZrO2 layer deposited on the SiO2/Si wafer minimized leakage through the insulating layer.

Since 1968, 152 patients with unexplained renal hematuria have been treated at our clinic. Renal angiography in 46 patients who did not respond to conservative therapy revealed 21 abnormalities of the vascular system. Of these 21 patients 10 had or were suspected to have renal pelvic and ureteral varices, and 8 had congenital anomalies of either the inferior vean cava or the renal vein. Therefore, it was confirmed that vascular abnormalities were associated with the unexplained renal hematuria in these cases. Since these congenital anomalies might easily induce congestion in the renal venous system they might be the predisposing condition of the renal hematuria. Epinephrine-assisted renal phlebography has been a useful technique to detect anomalies of the venous system.

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Climate changes due to global warming may affect paddy cultivation considerably. Climate changes directly affect rice plant growth, and within paddy cultivation catchments, alter the hydrological regime including flood patterns and water availability for irrigation, and drainage. Although increased atmospheric CO 2 concentrations in the future may enhance plant growth through the CO 2 fertilization effect, impacts of climate change on agriculture are complicated and difficult to predict precisely. This is especially the case for assessing impacts on paddy cultivation, where basin hydrological behavior needs to be understood in detail. Possible adaptations to reduce negative impacts should be tailored to local conditions, which modify climate change impacts on paddy cultivation. In this article, climate change impacts on paddy cultivation are reviewed and a general adaptation strategy is discussed with special reference to the Japanese context.

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