The role of economics in the QUERI program: QUERI Series.

Background: The United States (U.S.) Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) has implemented economic analyses in single-site and multi-site clinical trials. To date, no one has reviewed whether the QUERI Centers are taking an optimal approach to doing so. Consistent with the continuous learning culture of the QUERI Program, this paper provides such a reflection. Methods: We present a case study of QUERI as an example of how economic considerations can and should be integrated into implementation research within both single and multi-site studies. We review theoretical and applied cost research in implementation studies outside and within VA. We also present a critique of the use of economic research within the QUERI program. Results: Economic evaluation is a key element of implementation research. QUERI has contributed many developments in the field of implementation but has only recently begun multisite implementation trials across multiple regions within the national VA healthcare system. These trials are unusual in their emphasis on developing detailed costs of implementation, as well as in the use of business case analyses (budget impact analyses). Conclusion: Economics appears to play an important role in QUERI implementation studies, only after implementation has reached the stage of multi-site trials. Economic analysis could better inform the choice of which clinical best practices to implement and the choice of implementation interventions to employ. QUERI economics also would benefit from research on costing methods and development of widely accepted international standards for implementation economics.implementation science; cost analysis; cost-effectiveness; health care cost; health systems;

The political ethics of consumerism

This article draws on research into the development and growth of ethical consumption in the UK to suggest why consumerism and citizenship are not necessarily opposed practices. Consumer-oriented activism offers important pathways to political participation for ordinary people. The organisations involved in this field embed consumer-oriented activism in wider programs of mobilisation, activism, lobbying and campaigning, enrolling ordinary people in active political engagement

An Interview with Paul A. Samuelson

This paper consists of the page proofs of W. A. Barnett's interview of Paul A. Samuelson, to appear in print in the journal, Macroeconomic Dynamics, in September 2004. To our knowledge, this is the first and only interview of Paul A. Samuelson published in a professional economics journal. In addition, this is the only interview conducted personally by the Editor of Macroeconomic Dynamics, William A. Barnett. The interview covers Samuelson's views on the economics profession from 1929 to the present and an overview of Samuelson's career as one of the greatest economists of all time.history of economic thought, Samuelson, macroeconomics, microeconomics, policy

On‐line student feedback: A pilot study

This paper reports on the outcomes of two experimental trials of the use of on‐line questionnaires to assess student satisfaction with courses at the London School of Economics and Political Science. In the first year, eighteen course modules were selected from three departments, surveying a total of 1,100 student places. Students on ten of the courses were invited to complete the ‘experimental’ on‐line survey and the remainder were invited to complete the paper‐based questionnaires which have been in use for several years. In the second year, the scale of the experiment was increased, to include forty‐six courses across seven departments. Response rates were compared and possible barriers to completion of the on‐line questionnaire were considered Whilst electronic monitoring indicated that 95 per cent (first trial) and 80 per cent (second trial) of those contacted for the on‐line survey opened the introductory email, only 23 per cent (first trial) and 27 per cent (second trial) completed the on‐line survey, compared with a 60 per cent response rate on the paper‐based survey. The on‐line response is also slightly lower than that achieved by postal surveys of LSE students (30–50 per cent response rates). Whilst some technical difficulties could have acted as a barrier, motivation appeared to be the main barrier. Initial results from the second trial, which included two reminder emails and some small incentives, show that it is possible to increase the response rate, but this may still be unacceptably low for staff whose promotion prospects may be affected by results. A third trial has been proposed, looking at ways in which the process as a whole could be amended, to overcome the problem of ‘survey fatigue’ that the current system faces

Life cycle assessment (LCA) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and its environmental impact as a low carbon energy source

[Abstract]: A life cycle assessment is an environmental management methodology documented by the International Standards Organization (ISO2006) for researching the impact a product has on the environment. Liquefied natural gas is a product contributing to the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. These emissions can be minimized by analysis of its source and adopting appropriate process technology throughout the product lifecycle. Natural gas for many years was regarded as a volatile waste product within the oil and coal industries, and was subsequently vented into the atmosphere resulting in pollution. Natural gas is now accepted as a source of low carbon energy assisting the transition from heavy fuels to renewable energy. Liquefying the natural gas has proved to be an economic method for transporting this energy to the market place where pipeline infrastructure is unavailable. Australia has large resources of natural gas in conventional off-shore wells and underground coal-seams. Demand for energy security has positioned Australia to capitalize on its natural resources and supply low carbon energy to fuel economic growth in Asia. The production of liquefied natural gas in Australia is forecast to grow above one hundred million tons per annum within the next five years, becoming the world’s second largest supplier behind Qatar. Natural gas has a calorific value of approximately 40 MJ/m3, with greater than eighty five percent Methane content. Liquefied natural gas is produced by cooling natural gas to its boiling point of minus 161°C, becoming 1/600th its original volume. It is stored in insulated tanks at normal atmospheric pressure before being loaded on-board ships and transported to market. Ships used to transport liquefied natural gas range in size between 135,000m³ and 265,000m³. Once delivered to market, liquefied natural gas is used for cryogenic storage and re-gasified for domestic gas supply, power generation and industrial manufacturing. This study assesses the environmental impact of liquefied natural gas during liquefaction, shipping and re-gasification using a life cycle assessment approach. Greenhouse gas emissions are quantified in the form of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions and recommendations are made for process and technology improvements. Liquefaction of natural gas produces emissions during the removal of carbon dioxide from inflow gas, fuel used in gas turbines compressors and fuel used by power generation turbines. Shipping liquefied natural gas generates emissions from fuel used by the ships engines and re-gasification generates emissions from fuel used to operate pumps and power turbines. A thirty eight percent improvement in efficiency has been identified in the lifecycle of liquefied natural gas from Australia compared to global production, resulting in only six and a half grams of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions per mega Joule of energy delivered to Asian markets

A comparative study of phenolics in chestnut (Castanea), and their relationships with resistance to Endothia Parasitica

American chestnut (Castanea dentata Borkh.) was a highly valued forest species in the Appalachian region prior to introduction of the chestnut blight fungus (Endothia parasitica (Murr.) A. & A.), which practically eliminated it. Since no control method has been devised and oriental species and hybrids are not generally satisfactory replacements, breeding resistant individuals through selection offers some hope of reestablishment. A chemical method for screening resis-tant individuals for retention in a breeding program would be of great benefit. Since phenolic compounds have been implicated in disease resistance of some cultivated crops and forest and fruit trees, this study is an initial attempt to develop a chemical screening method by studying comparative phenolic composition of five types of inner bark samples. Inner bark of individual American chestnut trees was sampled from sound and infected stems, sound roots and debudded twigs. Sound inner bark from exotic (blight resistant) chestnut individual trees was also sampled. A stepwise extraction of air-dried bark samples was carried out in a Soxhlet apparatus using four organic solvents of increasing polarity; this resulted in twenty crude extract groups. Each extract group was investigated by one- or two-dimensional thin-layer chromatography. Phenolic compounds were located by spraying chromatograms with ferric chloride-potassium ferricyanide. Over 225 phenolic components were located. In some cases components from different samples extracted with the same solvent were indistinguishable. Some components were tentatively placed into more specific chemical classes. These compounds were found to most likely be derivatives of flavonoids, catechins, leucoanthocyanins, guaiacol and vanillin acid. A distinctive difference in chromatographic pattern was noted between American chestnut sound bark extracts and infected bark extracts from the same trees. There was almost no correlation between American chestnut root bark extracts and stem bark extracts. Little correlation was noted between American chestnut and exotic chestnut extracts; only eight components were found to be indistinguishable. Several similarities were noted between American chestnut sound stem bark and debudded twig extracts from the same trees. Individual tree data indicated considerable qualitative and quantitative variation among American chestnut trees in the extractable phenolic composition of their inner bark. A method adaptable to small quantities of extract was applied to bioassays with E. parasitica. In general, bioassay results did not correspond with observed field resistance to the chestnut blight fungus. Extracts from American chestnut infected bark extracts were most inhibitory; those from root bark of the same species least inhibitory

Inside the Economist's Mind: The History of Modern Economic Thought, as Explained by Those Who Produced It

This is the front matter from a book of interviews to be published by Blackwell. The book is coedited by W. A. Barnett and P. A. Samuelson. The front matter includes the Table of Contents, Coeditor Preface by W. A. Barnett, Coeditor Foreword by Paul A. Samuelson, and History of Thought Introduction by E. Roy Weintraub. The front matter highlights some of the more startling and controversial statements contained in the interviews and puts the interviews into context relative to the history of modern economic thought. The interviews reprinted in this book include: (1) Wassily Leontief interviewed by Duncan Foley. (2) David Cass interviewed jointly by Steven Spear and Randall Wright. (3) Robert E. Lucas interviewed by Bennett T. McCallum. (4) Janos Kornai interviewed by Olivier Blanchard. (5) Franco Modigliani interviewed by William Barnett and Robert Solow. (6) Milton Friedman interviewed by John Taylor. (7) Paul A. Samuelson interviewed by William A. Barnett. (8) Paul Volcker interviewed by Perry Mehrling. (9) Martin Feldstein interviewed by James Poterba. (10) Christopher Sims interviewed by Lars Peter Hansen. (11) Robert Shiller interviewed by John Campbell. (12) Stanley Fischer interviewed by Olivier Blanchard. (13) Jacques Drèze interviewed by Pierre Dehez and Omar Licandro. (14) Tom Sargent interviewed by George Evans and Seppo Honkapohja. (15) Robert Aumann interviewed by Sergiu Hart. (16) James Tobin and Robert Shiller interviewed by David Colander.history of economic thought, Samuelson, macroeconomics, microeconomics, policy, interviews

Spinor dynamics in an antiferromagnetic spin-1 thermal Bose gas

We present experimental observations of coherent spin-population oscillations in a cold thermal, Bose gas of spin-1 sodium-23 atoms. The population oscillations in a multi-spatial-mode thermal gas have the same behavior as those observed in a single-spatial-mode antiferromagnetic spinor Bose Einstein condensate. We demonstrate this by showing that the two situations are described by the same dynamical equations, with a factor of two change in the spin-dependent interaction coefficient, which results from the change to particles with distinguishable momentum states in the thermal gas. We compare this theory to the measured spin population evolution after times up to a few hundreds of ms, finding quantitative agreement with the amplitude and period. We also measure the damping time of the oscillations as a function of magnetic field.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Organisation and mechanism of bacterial twin arginine translocases

The bacterial Tat pathway facilitates the translocation of pre-folded proteins over the cytoplasmic membrane. In Gram-negative bacteria, TatA, TatB and TatC (each an integral membrane protein) are the essential components. Most of our understanding of Tat function in bacteria has come from studies on Escherichia coli, a Gramnegative bacterium. Gram-positive bacteria have Tat systems that are composed of just a single TatA and TatC protein. The absence of TatB suggests a different organisation and translocation mechanism to the Tat systems of Gram-negative bacteria. Here the Tat pathway of Bacillus subtilis, a Gram-positive bacterium, was analysed in detail for the first time revealing important structural differences to the E. coli Tat pathway. Complementation experiments reveal the Tat pathway of B. subtilis is active in E. coli, pointing to functional conservation between Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. The complexes formed by TatA and TatC in B. subtilis were investigated. TatA and TatC form a tight complex that is significantly smaller than its E. coli TatABC counterpart, possibly reflecting the presence of a different number of TatA and/or TatC units within this complex. TatA in B. subtilis like in E. coli also forms homooligomeric complexes separately from TatC. Unlike E. coli TatA complexes that vary enormously in size, the TatA complexes of Gram-positive bacteria are small and homogeneous in nature, suggesting an entirely different translocation mechanism involving a single defined translocon rather than a spectrum of size variants as proposed for E. coli. The TatA proteins from Gram-positive bacteria may be bifunctional and perform the roles of E. coli TatA and TatB. Here the first direct evidence to support this hypothesis is presented and domains important for both TatA and TatB roles identified. Finally a soluble population of TatA identified in B. subtilis was analysed and evidence is presented that suggests it maybe mis-localised