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With the number of social media users being recently estimated to be around 3.96 billion, social media sites present a vast pool of potential participants and data for researchers. Reflecting the growth of this technology and volume of data, data protection laws have been updated across the European Union (EU) and apply to the movement of data in and out of the EU. This article discusses how to approach ethical considerations in light of these new laws and the ethos they represent. We provide this in the context of collecting Twitter data for a pilot study and discuss the considerations in line with legal and ethical guidelines. Our decided approach is offered as an example of the outcome of such considerations. It is clear from this discussion that any approach to ethics, particularly where social media is concerned, requires a reflective and tailored approach.

With the number of social media users being recently estimated to be around 3.96 billion, social media sites present a vast pool of potential participants and data for researchers. Reflecting the growth of this technology and volume of data, data protection laws have been updated across the European Union (EU) and apply to the movement of data in and out of the EU. This article discusses how to approach ethical considerations in light of these new laws and the ethos they represent. We provide this in the context of collecting Twitter data for a pilot study and discuss the considerations in line with legal and ethical guidelines. Our decided approach is offered as an example of the outcome of such considerations. It is clear from this discussion that any approach to ethics, particularly where social media is concerned, requires a reflective and tailored approach.

Line edge roughness (LER) reduction is critical during the patterning process definition and development, as the critical dimension (CD) and pitch scale in advanced semiconductor technology nodes. In this paper, we will focus on a 7nm self-aligned double patterning (SADP) process for use in back end of line (BEOL). Specifically, we will investigate LER from various lithography options and how LER changes through downstream processes, including mandrel etch, spacer deposition, hard mask open, dielectric etch and wet clean. We characterized LER as a function of several mandrel etch parameters such as O2 flow rate, over etch rate percentage and polymer deposition rates. We also characterized LER response to dielectric etch parameters and found that while some etch processes may smooth high frequency LER, there are additional cases where the final etch and wet-clean increased LER and line wiggling. Overall, we observed that lithography is the primary source of LER and we have the opportunity to reduce LER by both design and process optimization. In this paper we focused on characterization of a standard logic cell with varied CD and pitch. We looked through various designs, retargeting as well as both negative tone developer (NTD) and positive tone developer (PTD) resists for the LER reduction. We also analyzed the image log slope (ILS) of each corresponding edge and the process windows of the resist candidates. We concluded that ILS improvement and resist selection are the primary knobs to reduce LER. With optimization, we can achieve LER close to the process assumption targets for 7nm technology node. Further LER reduction techniques are definitely needed in both 7nm and future nodes even with migration from 193nm to EUV lithography.

BackgroundHealth and well-being services, in common with many public services, cannot be delivered by a single organisation and require co-ordination across several organisations in a locality. There is some evidence, mostly from other sectors, that middle managers play pivotal roles in this co-ordination by developing networks of relationships with colleagues in other organisations. These networks of relationships, established over time, provide contexts in which managers can, collectively, create the knowledge needed to address the challenges they encounter. Relatively little is known, however, about how these knowledge-creation processes work in a health-care context.AimThis study focuses on how health and well-being managers collectively create knowledge. Our objectives were to develop a better understanding of the way that knowledge is created within and between health-care organisations, across different managerial levels, and of the role played by informal networks in those processes.MethodsThe study was undertaken in health and well-being services in three sites in northern England, employing a case study design. The field methods used were landscape mapping, structured data collection for network analysis and latent position cluster analysis, and semi-structured interviews for narrative analysis. Our network modelling approach used the concepts of latent position network models and latent position cluster models. We used these models to identify clusters of people within networks, and people who acted as bridgers between clusters. We then interviewed middle managers who – on the evidence of our cluster models – occupied similar positions in our graphs. The latter were used to produce practice-based narratives of knowledge creation.ResultsOur narrative results showed that middle managers were synthesisers, in three different senses. First, they draw on different types of information, from a range of sources – quantitative routine data about populations and services, reports on progress against contractual targets, research evidence, and intelligence from colleagues in other localities. Second, they are able to link national policies and local priorities, and reconcile them with local operational realities. They are not always successful, but can integrate the different approaches and working practices of NHS, local authority, private and voluntary organisations. Third, they are able to link ideas, negotiation and action. We found that the network results were most usefully represented asclusters, explaining relationships between actors. Actors within clusters had common attributes, and as a result we were able to interpret the broad purpose of each of the clusters in the graphs for each site. The most useful number of clusters was three or four for both network types, and for both sampling periods, at each of the three sites. The clusters at all three sites had a mix of organisations represented within them. There was a mix of seniorities of managers in all clusters. Relationships were simultaneously formal and informal: formal contracts were managed in a context of ongoing conversations and negotiations. Relationships were simultaneously stable and fluid, with stable ‘cores’ of managers but memberships that varied substantially between two periods of data collection.ConclusionsOur theory about knowledge creation was broadly supported. Managers of health and well-being services develop and maintain knowledge collectively. Their collective efforts are typically manifested either in projects requiring multiorganisational inputs or in taking ideas from genesis to the delivery of a new service. The cluster modelling suggests that networks of managers are able to maintain relationships, and hence conserve technical and prudential knowledge, over months and years. Priorities for future work include establishing the value of latent cluster modelling in understanding the work of groups and teams in other health and social care settings, and studying knowledge creation in the context of the interorganisational co-ordination of services.FundingThe National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research programme.

Here we report direct observation of DC Kerr electro-optic modulation using silicon nanocrystals. The enhanced DC Kerr effect could enable ultrafast CMOS compatible electro-optic modulators.

Based on a nationwide survey of 1,200 respondents predominantly in the twelve to twenty-two age range, alcohol advertising appears to contribute to certain forms of problem drinking. There is a moderately positive correlation between the amount of day-to-day exposure to beer, wine, and liquor ads and both excessive alcohol consumption and drinking in hazardous contexts such as automobile driving. These relationships remain significant when demographic attributes and interpersonal influences are controlled. The evidence indicates that advertising stimulates consumption levels, which in turn leads to heavy drinking and to drinking in dangerous situations. When respondents are shown specimen advertisements depicting excessive consumption themes or hazardous drinking situations, these concepts are readily perceived and many infer an implicit endorsement of such behavior by the sponsoring companies. These results have implications for designing alcohol abuse education messages that can effectively counteract the impact of advertising.