Search

ObjectivesTo determine the need for recovery (NFR) among emergency physicians and to identify demographic and occupational characteristics associated with higher NFR scores.DesignCross-sectional electronic survey.SettingEmergency departments (EDs) (n=112) in the UK and Ireland.ParticipantsEmergency physicians, defined as any registered physician working principally within the ED, responding between June and July 2019.Main outcome measureNFR Scale, an 11-item self-administered questionnaire that assesses how work demands affect intershift recovery.ResultsThe median NFR Score for all 4247 eligible, consented participants with a valid NFR Score was 70.0 (95% CI: 65.5 to 74.5), with an IQR of 45.5–90.0. A linear regression model indicated statistically significant associations between gender, health conditions, type of ED, clinical grade, access to annual and study leave, and time spent working out-of-hours. Groups including male physicians, consultants, general practitioners (GPs) within the ED, those working in paediatric EDs and those with no long-term health condition or disability had a lower NFR Score. After adjusting for these characteristics, the NFR Score increased by 3.7 (95% CI: 0.3 to 7.1) and 6.43 (95% CI: 2.0 to 10.8) for those with difficulty accessing annual and study leave, respectively. Increased percentage of out-of-hours work increased NFR Score almost linearly: 26%–50% out-of-hours work=5.7 (95% CI: 3.1 to 8.4); 51%–75% out-of-hours work=10.3 (95% CI: 7.6 to 13.0); 76%–100% out-of-hours work=14.5 (95% CI: 11.0 to 17.9).ConclusionHigher NFR scores were observed among emergency physicians than reported in any other profession or population to date. While out-of-hours working is unavoidable, the linear relationship observed suggests that any reduction may result in NFR improvement. Evidence-based strategies to improve well-being such as proportional out-of-hours working and improved access to annual and study leave should be carefully considered and implemented where feasible.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose and discuss a definition and a classification scheme for direct writing (DW) technologies.Design/methodology/approachBoth the definition and the classification are developed based on the perspectives of the growing DW community in the UK, through consultation with members, workshops and a survey across the community. In addition, current DW technologies and literature on classification techniques are reviewed.FindingsThe classification is structured in order to encompass current technologies, but also to be expandable to accommodate new ones that could be identified in the future as belonging to the DW remit. It is developed considering three dimensions related to DW: “Technology” to encompass all the processes, apparatuses, principles and tools which allow DW manufacturing; “Applications” to consider all the “types of manufactured goods” which could be produced with the DW technologies; and “Materials” which could be employed in DW manufacturing. The classification scheme is visualised into navigation maps and used as the basis of a software tool which can allow the community to exchange information on DW.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper proposes a classification as a tool for knowledge exchange and to support knowledge organisation and retrieval. However, the classification proposed in this paper might not be the only possible solution.Practical implicationsThe definitional framework is proposed to the DW community as a language tool to help communication among members with different perspectives and to be used to support the creation of information databases. It is embodied in a software tool through which they could file personal profiles (i.e. their expertise and interests) and hence map the community.Originality/valueIt is evident that, due to the heterogeneity of the community of scientists and practitioners interested in these technologies, many perspectives coexisted and that a communication platform is required. The authors decide to develop a classification which could be flexible enough to encompass new emerging technologies as the use of classifications as tools for supporting communication across the scientific community is well known and as the authors could not identify in literature any other DW technology classification which could satisfy these requirements.

Lithography-based integrated circuit fabrication is rapidly approaching its limit in terms of feature size. The current alternative is nanotechnology-based fabrication, which relies on self-assembly of nanotubes or nanowires. Such a process is subject to a high defect rate, which can be tolerated using carefully crafted defect tolerance techniques. This paper presents an algorithm for reconfiguration-based defect tolerance in nanotechnology switches. The algorithm offers an average switch density improvement of 50% to 100% to most recently published techniques. The algorithm is also consistent in improving the yield through minimizing false rejects as the results show over a large sample. The improvement percentage varies depending on the manufactured switch size and the desired defect-free size with the improvement in efficiency directly proportional to the size of the switch.

Achieving fault-tolerance through incorporation of redundancy and reconfiguration is quite common. The distribution of faults can have several impacts on the effectiveness of any reconfiguration scheme; in fact, patterns of faults occurring at strategic locations may render an entire VLSI system unusable regardless of its component redundancy and its reconfiguration capabilities. Such fault patterns are called catastrophic fault patterns (CFPs). In this paper, we characterize catastrophic fault patterns in mesh networks when the links are bidirectional or unidirectional. We determine the minimum number of faults required for a fault pattern to be catastrophic. We consider the problem of testing whether a fault pattern is catastrophic. When a fault pattern is not catastrophic we study the problem of finding optimal reconfiguration strategies, where optimality is with respect to either the number of processing elements in the reconfigured network (the reconfiguration is optimal if such a number is maximized) or the number of bypass links to activate in order to reconfigure the array (the reconfiguration is optimal if such a number is minimized). The problem of finding a reconfiguration strategy that is optimal with respect to the size of the reconfigured network is NP-complete, when the links are bidirectional, while it can be solved in polynomial time, when the links are unidirectional. Considering optimality with respect to the number of bypass links to activate, we provide algorithms which efficiently find an optimal reconfiguration.

Lithography based IC fabrication is rapidly approaching its limit in terms of feature size. The current alternative is nanotechnology based fabrication, which relies on self-assembly of nanotubes or nanowires. Such a process is subject to a high defect rate, which can be tolerated using carefully crafted defect tolerance techniques. This paper presents an algorithm for reconfiguration-based defect tolerance in nanotechnology switches. The algorithm offers an average switch density improvement of 50% to 100% to most recently published techniques

The catastrophic fault pattern is a pattern of faults occurring at strategic locations that may render a system unusable regardless of its component redundancy and of its reconfiguration capabilities. In this paper, we characterize catastrophic fault patterns in mesh networks when the links are bidirectional or unidirectional. We determine the minimum number of faults required for a fault pattern to be catastrophic. We consider the problem of testing whether a set of faulty processors is catastrophic. In addition, when a fault pattern is not catastrophic we consider the problem of finding optimal reconfiguration strategies, where optimality is with respect to either the number of processing elements in the reconfigured network (the reconfiguration is optimal if such a number is maximized) or the number of bypass links to activate in order to reconfigure the array (the reconfiguration is optimal if such a number is minimized). The problem of finding a reconfiguration strategy that is optimal with respect to the size of the reconfigured network is NP-complete, when the links are bidirectional, while it can be solved in polynomial time, when the links are unidirectional. Considering optimality with respect to the number of bypass links to activate, we provide algorithms which efficiently find an optimal reconfiguration.

A common technique to improve the reliability of loop (or ring) networks is by introducing link redundancy; that is, by providing several alternative paths for communication between pairs of nodes. With alternative paths between nodes, the network can now sustain several node and link failures by bypassing the faulty components. However, faults occurring at strategic locations in a ring can prevent the computation by disrupting I/O operations, blocking the flow of information, or even segmenting the structure into pieces which can no longer be suitable for any practical purpose. An extensive characterization of fault-tolerance in FLFH networks is given in this paper. The characterization has revealed several properties which describe the problem of constructing subrings and linear arrays in the presence of node failures in the FLFH network for a specific link configuration. Also in this paper, bounds are established on the degree of fault tolerance achievable in a redundant FLFH network when performing a computation that requires a fixed number of operational nodes. Also the bounds on the size of the problems guaranteed to be solved in the presence of a given number of faults in the network are derived.