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Specially formulated frit materials have been applied in thick film superconductors similar to the standard thick film materials in order to achieve processing parameters closely compatible with conventional thick film technology and alumina substrates. The applied frits have improved the adhesion and superconductor properties at the same time due to a superconductor bridge formation between the grains. Both YBCO and BSCCO systems have been analyzed. The results are promising.

The mechanical properties of eight solder alloys from the Pb‐Sn‐In‐Ag alloy systems were determined over the temperature range ‐200°C to 100°C, using uniaxial tensile tests, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), acoustic pulse methods and dilatometry. In general, the strength and elastic modulus of the alloys studied was inversely dependent on temperature. PbSn, PbIn and SnIn alloys were observed to turn superplastic with elongations over 100 per cent at temperatures of 50°C or above. The Pb‐based and In‐Sn eutectic solders possessed superplasticity at temperatures greater than 50°C. From these results, deformation and fracture processes are reviewed, and the appropriate fracture mechanism is proposed.

As announced in the May issue of Hybrid Circuits, ISHM‐Benelux is organising a one‐day conference on applications of hybrid circuit technology.

Two members of ISHM‐Hungary, Professor Zsolt Illyefalvi‐Vitéz, ELC representative, and Professor Gábor Harsányi, president and TPC representative, attended the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on MCM‐C/Mixed Technologies in Florida, USA, in May co‐sponsored by ISHM‐US and organised by:

The Benelux chapter has made a habit of organising meetings with a scientific and commercial accent more or less alternately. This approach has proven to be successful in the past three years. The 1986 Autumn meeting will be another display meeting. A number of papers will be presented by suppliers of materials and equipment for the hybrid and surface mounting industry. In a 300 m2 exhibition room about 25 companies will display their products. The programme of the day leaves ample opportunity for meeting colleagues and suppliers. The meeting will be held in the ‘Jaarbeurs Vergadercentrum’ in Utrecht on 16 October from 9.30–17.00. The annual ISHM‐Benelux general membership meeting will precede the lectures.

Due to the complexity of and variations in additive manufacturing (AM) processes, there is a level of uncertainty that creates critical issues in quality assurance (QA), which must be addressed by time-consuming and cost-intensive tasks. This deteriorates the process repeatability, reliability and part reproducibility. So far, many AM efforts have been performed in an isolated and scattered way over several decades. In this paper, a systematically integrated holistic view is proposed to achieve QA for AM.

A systematically integrated view is presented to ensure the predefined part properties before/during/after the AM process. It consists of four stages, namely, QA plan, prospective validation, concurrent validation and retrospective validation. As a foundation for QA planning, a functional workflow and the required information flows are proposed by using functional design models: Icam DEFinition for Function Modeling.

The functional design model of the QA plan provides the systematically integrated view that can be the basis for inspection of AM processes for the repeatability and qualification of AM parts for reproducibility.

A powder bed fusion process was used to validate the feasibility of this QA plan. Feasibility was demonstrated under many assumptions; real validation is not included in this study.

This study provides an innovative and transformative methodology that can lead to greater productivity and improved quality of AM parts across industries. Furthermore, the QA guidelines and functional design models provide the foundation for the development of a QA architecture and management system.

This systematically integrated view and the corresponding QA plan can pose fundamental questions to the AM community and initiate new research efforts in the in-situ digital inspection of AM processes and parts.

This study was designed to examine burnout in US emergency medical services (EMS) providers. It examined burnout scores measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) on a convince sample of US EMS providers as well individual variables associated of burnout in this population.

This study used a convince sample, recruited using social media, of EMTs and paramedics and engaged them in an online survey to obtain information on burnout in this population. The responses were analyzed using stand statistical approached in order to determine MBI burnout scores, as well as which individual variables were influential in contributing to burnout in EMS.

This study found that most EMS providers had high levels of depersonalization and medium levels of personal accomplishment and emotional exhaustion. Gender differences were found as they were differences based on agency type and response area.

The main limitation is the nature of sample recruitment. The use of social media for the recruitment of this type of study has not been done before. Furthermore, it is a convince sample. This issue has limited impact on the results and the ability to apply them more generally because despite the convince nature of this sample, the sample is similar to those used in other studies as well as reflect that national statistics on the make of this population. The second major limitation of this study is that it does not include job specific and organization specific factors that may contribute to burnout. The findings for the variables used in this study suggest that future works should encompass these variables as well.

This study sets a clear foundation for further examination of US EMS providers and burnout. It helps to establish key ideas that can be followed up. Difference and key issues among US EMS providers need to be understood on a more comprehensive level before the assertion that they are similar to EMS providers worldwide. Ultimately, there is a need to develop better screening tools to assess burnout in EMS as well as to develop prevention and intervention programs based on clear empirical data.

Burnout EMS provides are a harm to themselves as well as the organization that employ them. The cost of burnout EMS provider crosses over to patient care and provision of care.

This study is one of the first to examine such a large US-based sample of EMS providers using the MBI. Other studies have used smaller sample or other tools to assess burnout in providers