[Participation in continuing education by German physicians--exemplified by the Schleswig-Holstein study]. / Das Fortbildungsverhalten der deutschen Arzteschaft--dargestellt am Beispiel der Schleswig-Holstein-Studie.

In order to evaluate the CME behaviour of the physicians in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, the State Society of Physicians questioned all its members (n = 10,326 and 10,698) regarding the participation in CME activities during the previous year using the same questionnaire in 1991 and 1993. Answers were obtained from 6,329/6,904 physicians where 40.2/42.2% (1991/1993) worked in free practice, 46.9 (44.6)% in hospitals, 6.2 (6.9) % in administrative and scientific institutions, 5.2 (2.9)% in various medical occupations, and 1.6 (3.3)% without medical professions. CME activities were identical in 1990 and 1992, where the study of literature was the most relevant activity (99%). Mean reading time was 5.8/5.6 hours per week (physicians in practice: 5.3/5.3 hpw, in hospital 6.4/6.6 hpw), average of read journals: 3.9/3.9 (practice: 4.3/4.3 hospital: 3.6/3.6). Video-CME was documented with 41.7/44.2% in total (practice: 50.5/52.3%-hospital: 37.2/39.9%). Regarding CME courses and conferences, traditional class-room CME was used most frequently (total: 71.9/72.6%-practice: 69.7/71%-hospital: 73.9/74.9%), followed by workshops (total: 50.3/47.9%-practice: 56.4/54.1%-hospital: 45.6/54.1%) and training in small groups (total: 16.6%-practice: 20.9/19.2%-hospital: 13.2/12%). Physicians participated in CME courses and conferences usually in the evenings (7.6/7.2 times a year), followed by halfdays courses (1.4 times), weekend courses (1.4 times) and conferences lasting several day (1.2/1.3-practice: 0.8/0.9-hospital: 1.6/1.6). This study about CME activities firstly demonstrated both the representativity of systematic questionnaires based on the rules of the medical profession, as well as the continuity of the CME behaviour in Germany. The results proof that repeated questionnaires are of little influence on the answering behaviour of physicians.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Optimization procedures for digital light beam deflectors.

The geometrical dimensions for optimum performance of digital deflectors are derived for various configurations and modes of operation. These calculations show the capacity-speed product (CSP) commonly used as a figure of merit in the evaluation of the performance of digital deflectors to be applicable only for the condition of minimum power consumption of the last deflection stage. For minimum drive voltage the CSP should be replaced by a capacity factor, and other than the commonly considered alternating stage configuration should be used. It is furthermore pointed out that beyond such figures of merit other physical parameters play an important role in the implementation of practical deflection systems, for example, in a twenty-stage system the optical inhomogeneities in each deflection stage should not distort the transmitted laser beam wavefront by more than lambda/100 per stage for a signal-to-noise ratio of 20.

Design and performance of a 20-stage digital light beam deflector.

This paper gives optical design considerations and experimental results of a 20-stage digital light beam deflector consisting of a series of nitrobenzene Kerr cells and birefringent calcite prisms. The laser beam is deflected into a two-dimensional raster of 1024 by 1024 positions with a deflection rate of 500 kHz. The optical transmission of the deflector itself is 79% for green laser light. Data about background light and resolution as well as display examples showing alphanumerics and graphics are given.