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We investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on call volumes and call characteristics using data from a national crisis helpline. Data were extracted for 215,066 calls to Taiwan’s national suicide prevention hotline (January 2018–May 2020). We used negative binomial regression to investigate changes in the weekly number of calls during the early period of the COVID-19 outbreak (January 21, 2020–May 25, 2020), relative to that expected according to the pre-pandemic trend. The call characteristics during the pandemic period (February 18, 2020–May 31, 2020) were compared between COVID-19 related vs unrelated calls. Higher-than-expected call volumes started from the 6th week of the pandemic and reached a peak in the 14th week, which was 38% (rate ratio = 1.38, 95% confidence interval 1.26–1.51) higher than that expected based on the pre-pandemic trend. The higher-than-expected call volumes were mainly attributable to higher-than-expected calls from non-suicidal and male callers. Calls in which COVID-19 was mentioned (13.2%) were more likely to be from male and first-time callers, occur outside 12 am–6 am, last less than 5 min, and were less likely to be from callers who had previous suicide attempts, recent suicidal ideation or suicide plans or actions than COVID-19 unrelated calls. Callers who made COVID-19 related calls were more likely to request information than other callers. Crisis helplines should strategically adapt to the increased need and callers’ specific concerns related to the outbreak.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences may affect population mental health and suicide risk.Aims: To explore the experiences among suicidal individuals who made calls to a suicide prevention hotline and to identify factors and psychological responses that may influence suicide risk.Method: We identified 60 eligible recorded calls to Taiwan’s suicide prevention hotline (January 23-May 31, 2020) and analyzed the transcripts using the framework analysis.Findings: We identified three themes: (a) effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on society (impacts on local economies, the fear of contagion, and disruptions caused by outbreak control measures); (b) stress experienced by callers, including increased challenges (financial burden, restricted freedom of movement, interpersonal conflicts, feelings of uncertainty, and education/career interruption) and reduced support (reduced access to health services and social support); and (c) the callers’ psychological responses to stress, including anxiety, sleep disturbance, depression, loneliness, hopelessness, and entrapment, which may increase suicide risk.Limitations: Only the experiences among those who sought help by calling the hotline during the early months of the pandemic in 2020 were explored.Conclusion: Our findings revealed the potential process underlying the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on suicide risk and have implications for prevention and intervention strategies.

Driven by increasingly strict environmental protection regulations, advanced clean combustion and after-treatment technologies have been applied to diesel engines so as to achieve zero impact emissions. After-treatment systems can realize highly efficient conversion within a certain temperature range. Thermal management technology is important in rapidly improving the temperature in after-treatment systems. However, the traditional thermal management technology is characterized by the trade-off between thermal efficiency and exhaust gas temperature. On the basis of numerical simulations and experimental tests method on a heavy-duty diesel engine, this study investigated the potential of improving exhaust gas temperature from the aspects of fuel system and air system. Focus was directed toward the influence of intake throttle, exhaust throttle, intercooler cooling control, and variable geometry turbocharger (VGT)-coupled retarded intake valve closing timing technology (RIVCT) on exhaust gas temperature and thermal efficiency. Results showed that the VGT–RIVCT can improve thermal efficiency and exhaust gas temperature and effectively solve the trade-off problem of the traditional thermal management technology. In this study, we adopted thermal insulation, post-injection, and VGT–RIVCT, to achieve the temperature of selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system in the cold WHTC cycle reaching 190 °C in the 450th second, and significantly reduce NOx emissions.

Due to inappropriate protective measures during construction, building structures in cold regions can easily suffer from frost heaving damage during the wintering period. Such damage is relatively invisible and can hardly be detected. According to the actual engineering conditions, this paper comprehensively analyzes the destructional form of each building element at low temperatures as well as discusses the methods to detect and evaluate damage of buildings at low temperatures. The author finds that: Under low-temperature environment, punching failure often occurs between the foundation slab and bearing platform and the anchor connection between the pile and bearing platform can easily become ineffective.

Optimal operation of distribution network is widely concerned in recent years. As an important part of optimal operation, the reconfiguration of distribution network is a focus of research. This paper proposes an interactive reconfiguration algorithm of distribution network based on GridLAB-D and uses a typical feeder sample to illustrate the effectiveness of this algorithm.

A chemical method was used to deposit dicalcium phosphate dehydrate coatings on AZ91 magnesium alloy. The aim was to improve the biodegradation behavior of magnesium alloy in a simulated body fluid. The microstructures of the coating before and after immersion in the simulated body fluid were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results indicated that the dicalcium phosphate dehydrate coatings exhibited two morphologies during the pre-calcification process. The titration speed of the pre-calcification process had great influence on the morphologies of the pre-calcification coatings. As the soaking time increased, the diffraction peaks of dicalcium phosphate dehydrate disappeared and hydroxyapatite precipitated on the coated substrate surfaces. This indicates the dissolution of dicalcium phosphate dehydrate during the immersion process. The structures of the dicalcium phosphate dehydrate coatings and the formation mechanisms of the hydroxyapatite coatings were investigated in detail.

Hyperphosphatemia, secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) and anemia are common secondary complications in hemodialysis patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Compared with conventional hemodialysis (CHD), short daily hemodialysis (sDHD) has been found to be more effective in patients with ESRD. The objective of this study was to determine whether sDHD could improve hyperphosphatemia, SHPT and anemia in patients with ESRD.Twenty-seven patients (11 women and 16 men, 46.8 ± 13.4 years old) were switched from CHD to sDHD. All hematologic parameters were measured prior to the switch (baseline), at 3 months after the switch (sDHD(1)) and at 6 months after the switch (sDHD(2)).The serum phosphate decreased from 2.54 ± 0.32 mmol/L at baseline to 2.15 ± 0.36 mmol/L (p0.001) at sDHD(1) and 1.97 ± 0.33 mmol/L (p0.001) at sDHD(2). Calcium-phosphate product decreased from 5.18 ± 1.24 mmol(2)/L(2) at baseline to 4.20 ± 0.71 mmol(2)/L(2) (p0.001) at sDHD(1) and 4.02 ± 0.83 mmol(2)/L(2) (p0.001) at sDHD(2). The serum PTH levels decreased from 223.9 ± 124.7 pmol/L at baseline to 196.3 ± 101.3 pmol/L (p0.05) at sDHD(2). The hemoglobin concentration increased significantly from CHD to sDHD. However, the requirement for erythropoietin (EPO) dose decreased from 6847.8 ± 1057.3 u/week at baseline to 5869.6 ± 1094.6 u/week (p0.05) at sDHD(2).sDHD may decrease serum phosphate, calcium-phosphate product and PTH, increase hemoglobin levels and decrease exogenous EPO dose requirements compared with CHD in hemodialysis patients.

The physical explanations both of positive or negative shear lag are given in this paper. The shear lag effects occur attributing to the abrupt change of shear stress at junction upper the web. The abrupt change of shear stress or called shear stress jump changes the stress magnitude of the flange bending stress, which attenuates gradually at increasing distances from the web. Meanwhile, the abrupt change of shear stress from zero to the flange shear stress also influences the bending stress state at the centerline of the slab. The method to determine the shear lag has given, which is based on the Euler-Bernoulli elementary theory of bending. Considering the transversal distribution of the shear stress at the junction upper the web, the real flange bending stress could be calculated all on the section.

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, [CdCl2(C7H10N2O2S)2], contains two complex molecules with similar configurations. The CdII atoms are each six-coordinated by two thiazole N and two carbonyl O atoms from the 2-(2-amino-1,3-thiazol-4-yl)acetate ligand, and by two Cl− anions in a distorted octahedral geometry. In the crystal, intra- and intermolecular N—H...Cl hydrogen bonds create parallel chains along [1-10]. C—H...Cl interactions also occur.

On the basis of home and abroad relative works, the Laplace equation, and the basic definition of the electron transit time, we derived mathematically the formulae of potential distribution function and the formulae of the electron transit time function inside an ideal spherical vacuum microelectronics diode. Using our formulae, a rough value of the electron transit time for an ideal spherical vacuum microelectronics diode has been calculated. By introducing a concept of an equivalent diode, a rough value of the electron transit time inside a spherical vacuum microelectronics triode has also been calculated. From those values, the application potential of those vacuum microelectronics diode or triode can be estimated at MW and THz regime.

To prepare a novel MRI targeted contrast agent Gd-DTPA-Granzyme B monoclonal antibody (mAb) and to test its reaction conditions.The Granzyme B mAb was coupled with DTPA,and then conjugated with Gd. The Gd-DTPA antibody was characterized using MALDI-TOF-MS. Cytotoxicity test was performed with MTT assay, and immune activation was examined with immunohistochemistry.MALDI-TOF-MS demonstrated that the molecular weight shifted from granzyme B mAb (133986) to Gd-DTPA-GB mAb (139736), which indicated the conjugation of the antibody with Gd-DTPA. The molar ratio of Gd per IgG molecule was about 20. MTT assay showed that Gd, DTPA, Gd-DTPA and Gd-DTPA-GB mAb groups did not make an impact on cell viability, and there were no significant differences among 4 groups (P0.05). Immunohistochemistry results showed that compared with the positive control group the targeted contrast agent had a high immune activity.The novel contrast agent Gd-DTPA-Granzyme B mAb prepared in this study keeps a good immune activity and has no significant cytotoxicity.

This new Vacuum Microelectronics (VME) Flat Panel Camera tube (FPC) VME-FPC, made by the same techniques used in Microtip Flat Panel Display (FPD), has been formed upon the baseplate and the faceplate, the baseplate made from the Field Emission Array (FEA) and the gates, the faceplate made from the photoconductive layer and the transparent conductive layer. The VME-FPC works when the electrons emitted from a Field Emitter Array (FEA) scan a photoconductive layer under the control of a clock. This VME-FPC offers many advantages: simple structure inside the tube, high resolution, high sensitivity, low tube volume, low energy consumption and long life, etc. We predict that the application of this type of FPC will have broad applications in high definition TV, video communication, medical apparatus and instruments.

In this paper, we reported three methods of making ohmic contact of the tungsten filament cathode array with the glass as the medium. Also, two shaping techniques of the tungsten filament cathode array were mentioned. Finally, we showed the SEM pictures of the shaping results.

his report are given of two experimental progresses from vacuum micro-electronics (YlkfE) field of interest. One aspect of interest is a simple method to monitor the type or nature of a diamond thin jlm resultants from the microwave plasma chemical vapour deposition (MPCVD). A very stable Raman microprobe which was in cooperation with the micro-sampling techniques plus a standard diamond sample have been used to evaluate rapidly the Jilm resultants. Combining above method with the SEA4 morphology observation, a simple and rapid monitor method to offer the nature of a film is formed without using several surface analysis equipments . Another aspect of interest is, for thejrst time in our ME area, we observed successfully a very small thin Jilm which have only about 2 micrometers diameter and was grown on the top of a trp of a silicon Jield emission array (Si-FEA). The research result and analysis in detail will be given.