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Inappropriate antimicrobial prescribing contributes to increasing antimicrobial resistance. An antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) program in the form of quality improvement activities that included audit and feedback, clinical decision support and education was developed to help optimise prescribing in general practice. The aim of this study was to evaluate the implementation of this program (Guidance GP) in three general practices in Melbourne, Australia, between November 2019 and August 2020. Thirty-one general practitioners (GPs) participated in the program, with 11 GPs and three practice managers participating in follow-up focus groups and interviews to explore the acceptability and feasibility of the program. Our findings showed that the quality improvement activities were acceptable to GPs, if they accurately fit GPs' decision-making process and workflow. It was also important that they provided clinically meaningful information in the form of audit and feedback to GPs. The time needed to coordinate the program, and costs to implement the program were some of the potential barriers identified. Facilitators of success were a "whole of practice" approach with enthusiastic GPs and practice staff, and an identified practice champion. The findings of this research will inform implementation strategies for both the Guidance GP program and AMS programs more broadly in Australian general practice, which will be critical for general practice participation and engagement.

This work proposes a new method for the fabrication of multifunctional Metal Matrix Composite (MMC) structures featuring embedded printed electrical materials through Ultrasonic Additive Manufacturing (UAM). Printed electrical circuitries combining conductive and insulating materials were directly embedded within the interlaminar region of UAM aluminium matrices to realise previously unachievable multifunctional composites. A specific surface flattening process was developed to eliminate the risk of short circuiting between the metal matrices and printed conductors, and simultaneously reduce the total thickness of the printed circuitry. This acted to improve the integrity of the UAM MMC's and their resultant mechanical strength. The functionality of embedded printed circuitries was examined via four-point probe measurement. DualBeam Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Focused Ion Beam (FIB) milling were used to investigate the microstructures of conductive materials to characterize the effect of UAM embedding energy whilst peel testing was used to quantify mechanical strength of MMC structures in combination with optical microscopy. Through this process, fully functioning MMC structures featuring embedded insulating and conductive materials were realised whilst still maintaining high peel resistances of ca. 70 N and linear weld densities of ca. 90%. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd, Funding: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK via the Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Additive Manufacturing, grant number EP/I033335/2

The formation of smart, Metal Matrix Composite (MMC) structures through the use of solid-state Ultrasonic Additive Manufacturing (UAM) is currently hindered by the fragility of uncoated optical fibers under the required processing conditions. In this work, optical fibers equipped with metallic coatings were fully integrated into solid Aluminum matrices using processing parameter levels not previously possible. The mechanical performance of the resulting manufactured composite structure, as well as the functionality of the integrated fibers, was tested. Optical microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Focused Ion Beam (FIB) analysis were used to characterize the interlaminar and fiber/matrix interfaces whilst mechanical peel testing was used to quantify bond strength. Via the integration of metallized optical fibers it was possible to increase the bond density by 20–22%, increase the composite mechanical strength by 12–29% and create a solid state bond between the metal matrix and fiber coating; whilst maintaining full fiber functionality. © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd., Funding: Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) via the Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Additive Manufacturing.

This experience report presents a study on the fault tolerance (FT) support capabilities of various COTS standards prior to their inclusion in design of dependable systems. A standalone analysis and relative comparison of the FT attributes for SCI, ATM, Future-bus+ and Fiber Channel is presented.

This paper presents a discussion of the dependability issues related to the design of mission critical systems which utilize standards based elements. A system level perspective is taken in the analysis which examines the collective operation of system elements and the impact of dependability. The implications of frameworks, fault models, and fault containment properties are discussed. An approach for dependable system design is proposed which incorporates the evaluations of various standards. A technique based on the use of option trees identifies the desired design space for which different design candidates can be proposed. A set of filters derived from system requirements are used to prune the option trees. Since our focus is primarily related to dependability aspects, the selection of filters is related to attributes affecting reliability and fault tolerance. © 1995, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc, AIAA. All rights reserved.