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We report the effect of varying cobalt thickness on the temperature-dependent time decay of the electrical resistance of Co/Sb multilayer samples. We find that for a given temperature, a five fold change in the Co thickness produces a 100 fold change in the characteristic decay time of the resistance. We find that the characteristic decay time, as a function of temperature, follows an Arrhenius law. During deposition, the Co evolves single domain magnetic nanoparticles, on the Sb, in either a Volmer-Weber or Stranski-Krastanov growth mode. This metastable state is then encased in 2.5 nm of Sb producing an embedded nanoparticle system. Scanning tunneling microscopy measurements taken before sample aging (annealing at a given temperature for enough time to complete the resistance decay) and after aging show that these nanoparticles undergo morphological transformations during aging. These transformations lead to well defined time dependent decays in both the magnetization and the electrical resistance, making this material an excellent candidate for an electronic time-temperature sensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Large international comparisons describing the clinical characteristics of patients with COVID-19 are limited. The aim of the study was to perform a large-scale descriptive characterization of COVID-19 patients with asthma. Methods: We included nine databases contributing data from January to June 2020 from the US, South Korea (KR), Spain, UK and the Netherlands. We defined two cohorts of COVID-19 patients ('diagnosed' and 'hospitalized') based on COVID-19 disease codes. We followed patients from COVID-19 index date to 30 days or death. We performed descriptive analysis and reported the frequency of characteristics and outcomes in people with asthma defined by codes and prescriptions. Results: The diagnosed and hospitalized cohorts contained 666,933 and 159,552 COVID-19 patients respectively. Exacerbation in people with asthma was recorded in 1.6-8.6% of patients at presentation. Asthma prevalence ranged from 6.2% (95% CI 5.7-6.8) to 18.5% (95% CI 18.2-18.8) in the diagnosed cohort and 5.2% (95% CI 4.0-6.8) to 20.5% (95% CI 18.6-22.6) in the hospitalized cohort. Asthma patients with COVID-19 had high prevalence of comorbidity including hypertension, heart disease, diabetes and obesity. Mortality ranged from 2.1% (95% CI 1.8-2.4) to 16.9% (95% CI 13.8-20.5) and similar or lower compared to COVID-19 patients without asthma. Acute respiratory distress syndrome occurred in 15-30% of hospitalized COVID-19 asthma patients. Conclusion: The prevalence of asthma among COVID-19 patients varies internationally. Asthma patients with COVID-19 have high comorbidity. The prevalence of asthma exacerbation at presentation was low. Whilst mortality was similar among COVID-19 patients with and without asthma, this could be confounded by differences in clinical characteristics. Further research could help identify high-risk asthma patients.[Box: see text]Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/02770903.2021.2025392 .