Quantifying unmet need in General Practice : a retrospective cohort study of administrative data

Funding This work was supported by a grant from Chief Scientist Office, Scottish Government (reference CZH/4/1118) with Safe Haven and data linkage costs supported in lieu by the DSLS at Scottish Government.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Non-attending patients in general practice

Non peer reviewedPublisher PD

Human Resource Needs and Demand for Post-Secondary Education in the Canadian Secondary Wood Products Industry

Skilled labor shortages in manufacturing industries are being reported in a number of countries. The extent to which such shortages are affecting Canadian wood manufacturing industries is not known. The aim of this study was to survey the skills and educational needs of Canadian wood manufacturing industries, the status, capacity, and challenges that post-secondary education institutes face in meeting industries' human resource needs, and finally the attractiveness of the industry to high school job-seekers. The majority (83%) of wood manufacturing companies in Canada are experiencing problems in hiring skilled tradespeople, and 54.5% of the companies face difficulties in hiring and retaining professionals and supervisory personnel. Skilled staff shortages and competitive pressures were nominated by companies as the two most important factors restricting their growth. The skills needs of companies have changed over the last 10 years, and companies now place a much higher premium on leadership and communication skills from management, and attitude and advanced technical skills from tradespeople. Most companies offered some kind of in-house training to redress skills gaps, but less than half were likely to use the Internet to deliver in-house training. The majority of high school students were not interested in pursuing a career in the wood manufacturing industry because of its association with unsustainable forestry practices and manual labor, and the availability of more attractive career options. Lack of student interest in wood manufacturing is affecting the institutions offering relevant vocational and professional training, and nine of the thirteen institutes suffer from under-enrollment in their wood manufacturing programs. Comprehensive strategies are required to address the labor market imbalances currently affecting Canada's wood manufacturing industries

Transient chirp in high speed photonic crystal quantum dots lasers with controlled spontaneous emission

We report on a series of experiments on the dynamics of spontaneous emission controlled nanolasers. The laser cavity is a photonic crystal slab cavity, embedding self-assembled quantum dots as gain material. The implementation of cavity electrodynamics effects increases significantly the large signal modulation bandwidth, with measured modulation speeds of the order of 10 GHz while keeping an extinction ratio of 19 dB. A linear transient wavelength shift is reported, corresponding to a chirp of less than 100 pm for a 35-ps laser pulse. We observe that the chirp characteristics are independent of the repetition rate of the laser up to 10 GHz

Cost efficient narrow linewidth laser transmitter for coherent detection

Authors present a cost efficient narrow linewidth laser transmitter for future coherent detection systems. The spectral purity of the laser allows the phase modulation of data signals at bit rates as low as 155 Mb/s

Missingness’ in health care : associations between hospital utilization and missed appointments in general practice. A retrospective cohort study.

Funding: AEW DAE AMcC and PW received funding for this research from a Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office research grant (CZH/4/41118) https://www.cso.scot.nhs.uk/ with Safe Haven and data linkage costs supported in lieu by the DSLS at Scottish Government. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Acknowledgments Thank you to all the GP practices who participated in this study and for strategic support from Ellen Lynch (Health and Social Care Analytical Services, Scottish Government). The general practice data expertise of Dave Kelly (Albasoft) was invaluable. Thanks also to the eDRIS team who facilitated the safe use of our data in the Safehaven, especially Dionysis Vragkos.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Demographic and practice factors predicting repeated non-attendance in primary care : a national retrospective cohort analysis

This study was supported by a Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office research grant (CZH/4/41118) with Safehaven and data linkage costs supported in lieu by the DSLS at Scottish Government. These funding bodies had no role in the design of the study, or collection, analysis, and interpretation of data or in writing the manuscript. The authors declare no conflict of interest.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

General practice recording of adverse childhood experiences : a retrospective cohort study of GP records

This study was supported by a Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office research grant (reference number: CZH/4/41118) with Safe Haven and data linkage costs supported in lieu by the Data Sharing and Linkage Service (DSLS) at Scottish Government. These funding bodies had no role in the design of the study, nor in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data, nor in writing the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Morbidity, mortality and missed appointments in healthcare : a national retrospective data linkage study

Acknowledgments We thank all practices who participated in this study. The authors acknowledge funding from the Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office (CZH/4/41118). We acknowledge strategic support from Ellen Lynch (Health and Social Care Analytical Services, Scottish Government) and the general practice data expertise of Dave Kelly (Albasoft). Funding This study was supported by a Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office research grant (CZH/4/41118) with Safe Haven and data linkage costs supported in lieu by the DSLS at Scottish Government. These funding bodies had no role in the design of the study, nor in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data, nor in writing the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Optimum bias point in broadband subcarrier multiplexing with optical IQ modulators

This paper develops a theoretical analysis of the tradeoff between carrier suppression and nonlinearities induced by optical IQ modulators in direct-detection subcarrier multiplexing systems. The tradeoff is obtained by examining the influence of the bias conditions of the modulator on the transmitted single side band signal. The frequency components in the electric field and the associated photocurrent at the output of the IQ modulator are derived mathematically. For any frequency plan, the optimum bias point can be identified by calculating the sensitivity gain for every subchannel. A setup composed of subcarriers located at multiples of the data rate ensures that the effects of intermodulation distortion are studied in the most suitable conditions. Experimental tests with up to five QPSK electrical subchannels are performed to verify the mathematical model and validate the predicted gains in sensitivity