A method of controllably damaging the surface of silica-based optical fibers is described, producing in short lengths the tensile strength typical of long proof-tested lengths. The stresscorrosion constant n is obtained relatively rapidly, by correlating the results of static and dynamic fatigue measurements. For damaged 125-ym-diameter fibers, with an average strength of 1.25 GPa, a value for n =20 was found, similar to that in pristine fibers.

Today’s healthcare organizations face burgeoning pressures to hire and retain nurses who face considerable workplace stress. Servant leadership behaviours are effective to mitigate workplace stressors impacting nurse burnout, job satisfaction, turnover intentions and performance. Based on a survey of 248 nursing professionals working in inpatient and outpatient care facilities, the results of this study confirm the direct buffering effects of servant leadership on hindrance stressors. Servant leadership decreases nurse burnout while increasing job satisfaction. Third, nurse burnout reduces job satisfaction, yet has no direct impact on turnover intentions or individual performance. Next, job satisfaction has a direct positive impact on individual performance and a direct negative impact on turnover intentions. The model also confirms that hindrance stressors partially mediate the relationship between servant leadership and burnout while burnout is a partial mediator between servant leadership and job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is a full mediator between servant leadership and performance and turnover intentions. Furthermore, the results show serial mediation involving hindrance stressors, burnout and job satisfaction as a link between servant leadership and performance and turnover. Finally, we provide a managerial discussion supporting servant leadership behaviours to impact overall working conditions for nurses.

HL7 International’s Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standard provides a common format for sharing health data (eg, FHIR resources) and a RESTful Application Programming Interface (eg, FHIR API) for accessing those resources via a FHIR server connected to an electronic health record system or any other system storing clinical data. Substitutable Medical Applications and Reusable Technologies (SMART) leverages FHIR to create an electronic health record (EHR) agnostic app platform. It utilizes the OAuth standard to provide for authorization and authentication. This paper describes the development and informal evaluation of Case Based Learning on FHIR (CBL on FHIR), a prototype EHR-connected FHIR/SMART platform to provide interactive digital cases for use in medical education. The project goals were to provide a more interactive form of CBL than is possible on paper to more realistically simulate clinical decision making and to expose medical students to modern informatics systems and tools for use in patient care.

A method of coating optical fibres is described which employs a transparent glass die with orthogonal viewing. Representative coating eccentricity achieved is 4.7% average (SD 4%) over 1600 m of fibre coated to 53 mu m thickness over 125 mu m outer diameter. Use of the die to measure viscous centering forces yielded a result smaller than that predicted by simple theory by a factor of five.